Life after House on the Hill is an ongoing series where we look back at how the various graduates have been doing! In this article, we look at graduate Emma and her life in primary school.
Graduate of Year 2019 – Emma
Parents’ Names – Gin and Tamir
1. What did you like about House on the Hill?
When we came in to see House on the Hill for the first time it was very apparent to us that in this place the children are at the centre of doing.
My strongest impression going into one of the classrooms was a big and open space with many kids in it quietly and independently learning, playing, drawing, and exploring.
2. At any point in Emma’s pre-school years did you have any reservation on how she will cope in Primary/Grade school?
Emma grew up in Israel until the age of 5. The Israeli pre-school programs are quite different than in Singapore. A lot of attention is given to the child’s social skills and creativity. there’s a lot of playing, dancing singing, and crafting but it’s not so “academic”. We wanted to find a place that in a way continues what she was already used to but will give her skills to overcome the big change laying ahead.
I had lots of reservations about how Emma will cope in primary school, but I was very confident that House on the Hill and the Montessori approach is the right way to prepare her for that change
3. Do you think Emma was well prepared for Primary/Grade school in terms of Self Care, Confidence, Curriculum?
Our family moved to Singapore a year before Emma started P1, and she had quite a big gap in her linguistic skills in English and Chinese as her first language was actually Hebrew. We felt that the Montessori approach will help her to gain the tools for learning and catching up quickly.
I believe that the year in House on the Hill (excluding 2 months of Circuit Breaker) have made her catch up with her foundations and her approach towards studies.
4. How is Emma coping with Primary 1/Grade 1?
Emma is catching up fast. She’s enjoying school and had settled in very fast. We feel that her ability to face the new challenges with the confidence she can overcome them, made it much easy for her. So even though she’s still missing a lot of knowledge she’s able to make sense of things and quickly learn
5. Your overall experience at House on the Hill.
Our experience was great. We felt that Emma is in good and responsible hands. We felt that everyone’s focus is to educate and nurture while understanding that every child needs are unique.
The teachers were really doing their best to help Emma progress and we could see her developing day by day. HotH’s approach is holistic from playing and learning to health and nutrition experts. Emma had a lot of fun.
6. What advice do you have for new parents of House on the Hill?
We felt that every kid is different and to allow he/her to learn the way to learn is more important than mastery of subjects at this age.