hello mommies! I already started to look for preschools near our area. I live in NIA Village and I am willing to send my baby as far as Congressional/Mindanao Ave. and Tandang Sora/Visayas Ave area only since these places are accessible. However, I went in Gingerbread this afternoon to inquire about the tuition fee and I was shocked that their tf for jellybeans (3yo kids) ranges from as low as 75k and as high as 112k depending on the payment options. I also went to John Dewey and their tf ranges from 57k-65k. I admit that sending a child to preschool is way too expensive.
Now, I am seeking your kind advice and if you can suggest good and affordable schools which does not sacrifice the education of little kids especially on this stage. I know some but it's good that somebody can refer according to their satisfied experience which can attest that their kids learned a lot. if possible, I'm looking for english as medium of instruction.
Have you heard or can you please give me insights for ROMARINDA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, ACELINA MONTESSORI, LITTLE LAMB PRE SCHOOL, CARMEL CHILD LEARNING CENTER? if you can add some then that would be more helpful.
There are also big schools like St. Anthony, Colegio de San Lorenzo and Montessori in Visayas Ave but I doubt that they teach nursery in English. I'm very much concerned because I don't want my baby to be bullied someday since her last name (hubby's surname) is something that can be teased about and they might call her funny names as what my hubby and brother and sisters-in-law experienced when they were young. I studied in St. James from kinder to HS and as what I read earlier, I will not be sending her there since the good teachers were gone.
TIA! I hope there are also GT moms who lives in NIA NPC 
hi sis, we're also from NIA (fronting st. anthony) my daughter is currently enrolled at UP PAUW-CCC. We tried UP CDC noong una but we weren't picked dun sa lottery. anyway, napaganda naman coz my daughter is doing great sa PAUW and may service naman na naghahatid sa area natin. they have am and pm classes and this year, for pm classes parang 3 kids lang sila na hinahatid-sundo nung service. buti na lang pumayag si mang jojo (the service guy)
i highly recommend UP PAUW, altho nagtaas na sila ng TF this year, super affordable pa din compared sa mga TF ng ibang schools na nababasa ko dito sa GT. last year kasi nasa 23k+ lang ang TF ng new applicants, but this year TF for continuing students is around 27k+ kung full payment & around 30k+ pag installment. just to give you an idea--
1. class size is around 20 kids, with 1 teacher + 1 assistant. 18 kids sila sa class ng daughter ko (pre-nursery)
2. they have am & pm classes
3. progressive
4. the classrooms are a bit small pero surprisingly ok naman siya. no aircon but maaliwalas naman yung place coz madaming puno yung area ng PAUW.
5. they fumigate the school (we were sent notices about the fumigation stuff)
6. magagaling yung teachers & hindi pretentious
7. mataas "daw" ang passing rate nila sa UPIS and ateneo/miriam -- how do i even check this kaya?
8. they do immersions outside the classroom, like the other day, kwento ng anak ko tinuro daw ni teacher yung about sa trees so they all went outside to see the trees and then nagpalipad daw sila ng kite afterwards.
8. enjoy yung daughter ko dito and marami talaga siyang natutunan this past school year. she became really independent and during assessment, pinakita sa akin nung teacher yung progress nya sa writing (lines, curves etc), workbooks, yung activities na ginagamitan ng scissors etc -- ay, amazing talaga! nagulat din nga yung teacher, akala nya kasi super review or practice kami sa bahay eh literal, we dont do that. (puro laro at bonding lang kami sa bahay lol)
actually, last year naisip ko, come 2013 we will try our luck again at UP CDC but now hindi na siguro. we're really happy with UP PAUW and i suggest you drop by the school to see if it suits you. some parents kasi, they get turned off pag nalaman na walang aircon etc,
anyway, several kids from our compound are enrolled at bloomfields & i was able to check that out last year. its a 2-door apartment that was converted into a school. the alloted parking area (2 cars, i think?) became the playground pero the head teacher said that they dont allow the kids to use that "playground" coz malamok. the area has several vacant lots kasi w/ lots of talahib, and yun yata ang cause bakit maraming lamok. classrooms are airconditioned but they are really small. parang 2 classroom na yung baba (sala area then the kitchen/dining area, which is separated by the stairs). the 2nd floor are also classrooms for the bigger kids. the head teacher seems very nice and mukhang ok din naman yung teacher dun sa class na na-observe ko (nursery class). so far, wala namang negative feedback about bloofields afaik but the house-turned-into-a-classroom really turns me off a bit. parang sikip an sikip ako dun sa place. btw, the TF at bloomfields is around 30k but that was last year pa. baka nagtaas na ngayon?
also, there were 2 kids from our compound na enrolled sa st. anthony last year. ok sana coz tatawid lang sila nasa school na sila di ba but kamusta naman, nag-transfer na sila pareho. Sabi ng parents hindi daw maganda ang turo. hth.
