Why we are different

Chiltern House instils a love of learning in their preschoolers

Named after Julia Gabriel’s parents’ home in England, Chiltern House strives to create the nurturing qualities of home – warmth, security and love, offering full childcare services within a comprehensive preschool curriculum. It is the start of a child’s independent experience away from home and prepares students for confident, successful entry into primary school. The aim of the programme is to nurture growing independence along with positive self-esteem and self-image, and to instil a love of learning through a child’s earliest learning experience.

The curriculum provides a complete and thorough grounding in reading and language arts, mathematics, physical education, music, Mandarin, computer discovery, cooking and science, and art and craft, to prepare children for regular school in Primary 1.

Curriculum

We believe that a complete and thorough grounding in all areas of the curriculum is essential to give children a firm base on which to build. From this base we are confident that our students will grow and flourish throughout their academic career.

At Chiltern House we use a thematic approach to the curriculum to spark a child’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm, to provide stimulation for learning and to enable greater retention. All areas of our curriculum are linked to an age appropriate theme that changes once or twice a term. These themes allow exploration and discovery of key areas of pre-primary learning in a concrete and tangible way.

Small class size

With our excellent student to teacher ratio (two teachers to a class of twelve to sixteen students), each teacher has ample opportunity to follow each child’s progress in great detail. We are able to offer extra help in any area where it may be needed and to enrich the programme for those students whose ability necessitates it.

Children are often divided into small numbers for certain areas of the curriculum and given the opportunity to work together in pairs or small groups, with the teacher present as a guide, mentor or observer.

Parents as Partners

A strong parent-teacher relationship is a cornerstone of our philosophy at Chiltern House. Channels of communication are always kept open and active between school and home. At Chiltern House, before joining the centre, parents are invited to meet with the Head of Centre to share information about their child and their hopes for his or her preschool years. At this meeting the relationship between school and home begins.

As each centre has a non - teaching Head of Centre and at least one non - teaching administrator, Chiltern House staff are able to spend time talking to parents about curriculum and aims for their children. Parents are invited to a formal meeting once a year to discuss the curriculum in depth and scheduled meetings with the teachers occur at least once a term. At these meetings the teachers share the child’s portfolio, which illustrates their development over the term. At the same time parents are able to ask any questions they may have regarding the programme and their child’s progress.

Parent Discussion Groups are held at least once a term at Chiltern House and are facilitated by the Principal and Head of Centre. Here a variety of topics are discussed, all relevant to the running of the school and quality of the programmes.

Parents are invited to come into the school as a parent helper, either on a regular basis or during outings and special events. This enables parents to play a more active part in their child’s schooling and at the same time have good insight into what the teacher does in the classroom.