Preschool Hunting: The Final Edition

Like what I've mentioned before, initially we have four choices of preschool for the little man. I'm done with preschool #1 and since preschools 2, 3 and 4 are all near our place approximately 5-10 minutes travel time, I had the best time to check them in one day. So during my 1 week bed rest after I had my surgical operation last month, I allotted one day to check these schools together with Inay and Xian for ocular visit. Nung nag-ocular kami, magkakalapit din lang yung inikutan namin. hehe. Unfortunately, I don't like preschool #3 because of some factors, imagine yung feeling na first impression pa lang pero sablay na. preschool #4 naman (which is also a catholic school where I graduated) is my last choice if ever preschool #2 will not pass my standards.

So I'll just focus this post on our preschool of choice.

Preschool #2: St. Jude Science and Technological School

They're one progressive school in our town being 4 years only in the business.The name is quite confusing at first because it doesn't sounds like a "normal preschool name" but they're actually one. While there are several existing schools offering pre-elem, elementary  and highschool courses within our town, SJSTI is the first Science and English-speaking school in the area. They also offer grade school and high school that's why the name is a little bit different. What I like about this school is that it is somehow aligned to our family values or values that I wanted to teach him since I also studied in a catholic school.

I don't have any photos of the facilities to share since I'm too shy to take pictures that time since the principal is there.haha! But they have nice classrooms and clean playground, same thing with other facilities.The school for me provides a conducive environment for the little man's growth,away from the noise of the vehicles in the street. While we're checking the school, we saw some hollow blocks and other construction materials present that time but that's understandable since they're undergoing some expansion.The approved building plan also is very promising. The staff  and teachers are courteous and even the security guard speaks in English.  There are a couple of students at the area that time and seems like they're well-disciplined. We also saw the school canteen and most of the foods we saw there are nutritious ones. Wala akong napansin na junk foods.  And although may mga big kids na kasama sa school, the pre-elem's classrooms are far from the elementary and high school so I don't have to worry na may makakabangga sa kanya na malaking bata. You know naman mga kids, they have the tendency to get rowdy sometimes especially with the little ones.

The tuition fee is ok and fit nicely in our budget and I believe that it commensurate to the quality of education they provide. The best thing about it is that when I asked Xian if he already like there as his school, he answered me with "yes" and everytime may magtatanong sa kanya sa family namin kung saan sya papasok he'll proudly reply with "St. Good (Jude)!" so that's a big factor for us to consider-- Xian liked preschool #2.

Here's one of Xian's snapshot during our ocular visit.

With their mission "Your partner in the holistic development of  your child" . After careful deliberation with hubby Allan and weighing the pros and cons of our top 2 school of choice -- Silvercrest School and St. Jude and carefully comparing them, we came to our mutual decision and that is we're finally going to send Xian to St. Jude!  We'll see and try there muna for 1 year. After all St. Jude passed our criteria especially the convenient location without sacrificing the quality of education. Although sayang yung discount sa Silvercrest as one of Xian's benefit as my son, who knows maaavail din naman nya yun in the future pag big kid na sya. 

I already enrolled Xian at St. Jude's 1 month summer "practice" class which will start on Monday. This also served na din as reservation fee and they'll just deduct 50% of what I paid for the summer class from the actual tuition fee for the whole year.The staff said that it's more of playtime and socialization and some activities for kids in preparation for the opening of classes this June. As promised, I will be the one to accompany the little man to his school on Monday. I already filed a vacation leave. :)

So yes, we will finally send a kid to preschool! I'm a bit excited and scared. Hopefully, Xian's first day will be a smooth one.Wish us lots of luck.hahaha!