Update on the Tadika_2015

Eight years have passed since we started the tadika. Time flies. But it wasn't easy. What were the salient points in those 8 years? The incidents i remember?

For some inexplicable reason, the angsanna trees that lined on the highway side of the house have died. I suspect termites because we had a termite infestation prior to that. Now that termite infestation is another story. We had first contracted a small timer to get rid of the termites. He came about 2 or 3 times and stopped coming after that. And we had paid him in advance. Big mistake. We then contracted Rentokil and they are both professional and expensive. But they got the job done. No termites and they do bi-annual checks to see there is no new termite infestation.

Coming back to the angsanna trees. The fact they died was a blessing in disguise. The leaf fall was horrendous. Everyday we had to sweep the leaves from the garden and porch. Also the branches were hovering over the house and posed a danger.

Last year was a make-over for the school. The make-over comprised the following:

• changed all the wooden windows to aluminium ones
• installed steel security doors 
• installed additional air-conditioners
• renovated and extended the kitchen
• renovated the bathrooms to make them more child friendly
• made more window openings so that there will be more light
• tiled up the porch
• more electrical sockets for the kitchen and bathroom
• converted all the open drains into concealed drains 
• re-routed the kitchen waste and bath water into the sewage. This is the correct way. Only rain water should run in the drains.
• painted the whole house

While the whole activity was going on, the children had to be housed in the adjoining house. It was fortunate that we were staying next door to the kindergarten. The whole renovation took about 3 months to complete.

On the educational front, we are continuously looking at best practices to see how we can improve further. After my visit to Garden International school in 2013, we implemented the Jolly Phonics reading programme. Also looking to implement Singapore Maths.

As the school is growing in student numbers, the challenge is to maintain the quality. Two of the teachers are now enrolled in a Montessori Diploma course. On the job training needs beefing up for the new teachers.