My husband and I have been researching and visiting preschools around the base. It has been quite exhausting But we finally settled on one! I decided to create this blog post as a way to help jog my memory and also as a way of sharing information easily with other mamas in our area. There were a basic set of questions that I asked all the schools. If a question is blank it means I forgot to ask that school that question. The first school we visited I did not have my questions fully fleshed out and so their information is a bit more sparse than some of the other schools. Please note that Harrison is 2 years and that we are looking for part-time care, our questions were a bit tailored to those needs. Also, my credentials: I am a certified Secondary school economics, history, and political science teacher as well as a certified middle school math teacher. When looking for a preschool I personally valued play based, outdoors, and heavy arts. I readily admit that I am a hippie teacher and do not give homework in my own classroom and try to be outside as much as possible with my high schoolers. I tried to be as unbiased as possible with the questions but feel full disclosure is necessary and helpful. Feel free to PM me on Facebook if you have any questions!
Enjoy!
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy:
2. Rates/Hours:
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment:
4. student/teacher ratio:
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold:
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training:
7. Do you help potty train:
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy:
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup:
10. What are your child release and security policies:
11. Sick policy:
12. discipline policy:
13. Daily schedule/naptime:
14. Meals and who provides:
15. Do you have field trips:
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class:
17. Holidays/school closures:
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early:
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going:
20. What is the age grouping:
21. How do you handle violent play themes:
22. Cell phone policy:
23. Time spent outside:
24. How often are the toys cleaned:
25. Other:
26. religion:
Santa Monica International Preschool
*Please note this was the first school we visited and I didn't know exactly all the questions I wanted to ask of the preschools. After this school I really nailed down what was important to us.
1. Educational Philosophy: Traditional
2. Rates/Hours:
- 45,000yen/month (9am-3pm, M-F)
- 50,000yen/month (6am-6pm, M-F)
- 5000 yen registration fee, one time
- 30,000 yen supply fee, annual
- 7,000 yen/month lunch/bento (optional)
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling
4. student/teacher ratio: 1 teacher: 10 students, generally 20+ students in the classroom with a teach and one assistant
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: ?
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: yes, have or receiving training
7. Do you help potty train: ?
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: ?
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: ?
10. What are your child release and security policies: ?
11. Sick policy: 100+ degree fever go home
12. discipline policy: Time outs, 2 years = 2 minutes sit on chair or removed from the group. Talk about issues first, chair is last resort
13. Daily schedule/naptime:
- 900-950: morning song and exercise, walking in the line, phonics and calendar, break/potty time
- 950-1040: lesson time with assessment/boardwork
- 1040-1130: lunch time
- 1130-130: nap
- 130-200: snack time
- 200-300: activity for gross motor OR sensorial OR fine motor OR playground OR verbal/social skills
14. Meals and who provides: bento or provide your own lunch
15. Do you have field trips: not for the two year old class but for the older classes they do
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: They have windows for you to see into the classroom as well as video monitoring. I did not ask the question but it did not seem like you could pop in the classroom whenever you would like.
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays followed
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: ?
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: Speak to parents at pickup, letters home, emails, calendars
20. What is the age grouping: 1-2 years old
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: ?
23. Time spent outside: 1.5 hours total per week. One hour on Wednesday's and half an hour on Thursday's
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other:
26. religion: They do have a christmas program but other than that we did not see a heavy religious influence present in the school.
Language: English only, the teachers are not allowed to speak any other language other than english. The teachers are all Philippino. I did ask if they could speak Tagalog to my son and the woman seemed shocked I would want that.
East West Montessori
https://okinawahai.com/east-west-monte/
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: Montessori
2. Rates/Hours:
- half day program (830-1230 M-F): 40,000 yen/month OR 400,000 yen/year (Sept-Jun)
- full-day program (830-230 M-F): 47,000 yen/month OR 470,000 yen/year (Sept-June)
- 700 yen/hour for hourly care
- Lunch (optional): 7000 yen/month
- School shirt: 2000 yen
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling, there is a waiting list!
4. student/teacher ratio:
- 2 year old classroom: 1:6
- 3-6 years old classroom: 1:12
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: lead teachers are Montessori trained while the assistants are not or are working being Montessori trained
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: yes, with three teachers being trained this summer
7. Do you help potty train: yes, especially in the 2 year old class. They have a toilet in the classroom
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: 830-845am drop off, 230-245pm pick up. They ask that parents stay in the car while the teachers get the students out of carseats. The parking lot is very small so they want it to be efficient. The head teacher gets the students out of the car and the assistant takes them back to the classroom.
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: ?
10. What are your child release and security policies: ? The school was gated and difficult to escape in my opinion.
11. Sick policy: fever of 100.5 student is sent home.
12. discipline policy: no timeout, natural consequences. talk to them and try again. example, if you don't help cleanup you can wait in the office. "Let's try again tomorrow"
13. Daily schedule/naptime: In the full-day class the students have a 1.5 hour nap in the classroom. IN the half-day program there is no nap.
14. Meals and who provides: bentos provided by the school, i cannot remember if you can bring in your own lunch. They do ask the parents to provide snack and you will be assigned a snack week.
15. Do you have field trips: yes, i believe they went to the zoo. They also went to a fire house.
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: They have monitors in the office and you are welcome to come and sit in the office and watch your child at any time. They do ask that you not go in the classroom to not upset the flow of the class.
17. Holidays/school closures: They follow American holidays as well as taking an extra day off around New Year for the teachers.
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: ?
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: At drop off/pick up the teacher will talk to you. Every friday you receive a weekly log. Progress reports are twice a year.
20. What is the age grouping: 2 year olds
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: ?
23. Time spent outside: 30-45 minutes outside on their rooftop playground that is shaded, overlooks a main road. they believe playtime is extremely important for motor skills and communication.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. other:
26. religion: I believe they have a christmas program but I cannot remember. There did not seem to be any religious aspect to the education.
Language: ?
Overall impression: This was one of our top picks because it met so many of our requirements. Smaller class sizes, montessori education, outdoor time, family/home like environment, etc.
Early Learners International Preschool
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: International
2. Rates/Hours:
- M-F 6am-6pm: 56,160 yen
- M-F 6am-3pm: 48,600 yen
- M-F 9am-6pm: 54,000 yen
- M-F 9am-3pm: 43,200 yen
- 3 day a week 6am-6pm: 50,760 yen
- 3 day a week 6am-3pm: 43,200 yen
- 3 day a week 9am-6pm: 48,600 yen
- 3 day a week 9am-3pm: 37,800 yen
- registration fee: 10,800 yen
- insurance fee: 2000 yen
- school supply (includes t shirt): 20,000 yen
- sibling discount of 5%
- hourly extended care of 500 yen / 300 yen for 30 minutes
- late pickup fee 100 yen per minute after 6pm
- all prices subject to 8% consumption tax
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling
4. student/teacher ratio: 1:7 ratio with 20 students maximum in the classroom. at 8 students an assistant is added to the classroom. at 15 students two assistants are added to the classroom
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: The two year old teacher, Ms. Camilla has a degree in early education. Some of the other teachers were not certified teachers so just ask.
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: all the teachers will be receiving CPR training in August
7. Do you help potty train: yes they do, they request that the child be sent in pull-ups instead of diapers.
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: 830-855 drop off time, 915am is the cutoff (they ask the child stay home for the day if you will be later). 240-245om pickup time, you can park and walk into the school if you wish or you can drive by to pickup.
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: see above
10. What are your child release and security policies: the front door to the school is always unlocked and, in my opinion, it would be easy for a child to run out the front door. They are working on getting the gate fixed at the top of the stairs. They are on the second story with a very large activity room on the first floor.
11. Sick policy: 100.1+ fever please go home (no prorated tuition for sick time)
12. discipline policy: positive reinforcement. They do have a time out chair in the classroom or thy will take the m to a separate room to calm down. The children are never touched except on one occasion they had to physically lift a child and remove them because they were hitting another child.
13. Daily schedule/naptime: nap time is from 1200-130pm for the two year old class, they sleep in their classroom
14. Meals and who provides: parents provide the meals and snacks
15. Do you have field trips: yes, they do have some field trips
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: unannounced visits are fine. they do have windows to see into each classroom but no video monitors that I saw. it might be difficult to spy on your kids without being seen by them and causing a disruption.
17. Holidays/school closures: american holidays
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: 2 week notice to pull child
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: facebook page, email, phone number, as well as an app they use for the daily report. It is okay to say we don't want his face on Facebook and they will blur his image.
20. What is the age grouping: 2-3 year olds in the Mercury class but mostly 2 year olds who are going to turn 3.
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: Teachers can be on cell phones at nap time. Each classroom has a tablet for uploading photos and updating the app. This seemed to be an issue with some of the teachers and the woman at the front told me to tell her if she ever sees a teacher on their cell phone during school hours.
23. Time spent outside: M and F for 45 minutes - 1 hour.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: Japanese Language class twice a week for 30 minutes
26. religion: the students are taught about all religions. I did not see any specific religious influence in the school.
Language: English only with Japanese class. The teachers are from all over the world. The two year old teacher is from England and other teachers are from Japan, United States, and (I think) the Philippines.
Overall Impression: we really liked this school for the international feel. The lessons the students were learning were wonderful (ex. Jewish holidays, Japanese language classes, Greek dance, etc). This school spoke to my international relations background. The school did seem to be growing quite fast and the only thing that made us nervous was the experience of the teachers. The full day length was also something we were concerned about but are considering it.
Sunshine Montessori
https://okinawahai.com/sunshine-montessori-school/
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: Montessori
2. Rates/Hours:
- Half day toddler 1-3.5 years (900-1200 M-F): 35,000 yen
- full day toddler 1-3.5 years (900-300pm M-F): 45,000 yen
- Half day primary 3.5-6 years (830-1230 M-F): 35,000 yen
- full day primary 3.5-6 years (830-230 M-F): 45,000 yen
- kindergarten 5-6 years (830-330 M-F): 48,000 yen
- registration fee 10,000 yen (non-refundable)
- Work Bond deposit 25,000 yen (this deposit is held and only kept if the child leaves the school without proper notice, but what that proper notice was I could not nail down)
- school fee 30,000 yen for toddler, 35,000 yen for primary, 35,000 yen for kindergarten (non-refundable, annual fee for materials, trips, and teacher training)
- waiting list fee 10,000 yen (will go towards registration fee when child is accepted into school)
- late pickup fee 1000 yen for every 15 minutes
- if you pay for the whole year in one payment you receive a 20,000 yen discount
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling but an annual contract
4. student/teacher ratio: 10:1
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: Head Teacher is certified but the assistant is not
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: once year, some of the teachers need to receive the training at the moment
7. Do you help potty train: yes, they do help. Once the child is potty trained they will be moved to the primary class.
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: 10 minute grace period before and after the academic program
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: yes, 500 yen for extra hours before the drop off time or after pickup time. after school closes you will be charged a 1000 yen per every 15 minutes.
10. What are your child release and security policies: the school seemed well secured with several locked doors, video monitoring, and passing by a reception desk to exit the building
11. Sick policy: 100 degrees or higher go home
12. discipline policy: thinking chair. talk to the child "that wasn't the right behavior" if behavior doesn't improve on chair for 5-10 minutes
13. Daily schedule/naptime: naptime is only for the full day program from 1200-230pm
14. Meals and who provides: school provides meals, you cannot bring your own lunch. My son has a sensitivity to carrots and they were a bit concerned as many of their meals have carrots. They could not change the meals for him. parents are asked to bring snack. When we did go into the classroom the students were eating pizza and canned pineapple.
15. Do you have field trips: ?
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: Parents are welcome to visit the office to observe from the monitor.
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: all new students are accepted on a six week trial basis. the school determines if a child should continue at SMS or not. Tuition and fees are non-refundable except for school initiated dismissal. One month notice, in writing, is required if you wish to discontinue attending the school. you will be required to pay the 25,000 yen. release from the rest of the whole year's obligation only given for PCS moves, but must submit copy of orders at least 30 days prior to withdrawal.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: weekly message via email. daily report written by teacher. monthly newsletter.
20. What is the age grouping: mainly 2 year olds. 2-3.5 but usually moved once potty trained.
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: teachers can use cell phones for photos.
23. Time spent outside: outside every day or dance time inside. they try to go out earlier than 10 am.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: This was the most "Japanese" of all the schools we have visited. They also offer piano lessons, violin lessons, swimming lessons, and ballet. All during school hours. We were impressed with how "school-like" this one was as opposed to others that seemed less school and more play (not necessarily a bad thing having more play)
26. religion: while we were there the children ate lunch. They said a prayer at the beginning thanking God for their food and it was followed with the Japanese "itadakimasu". Other than that we did not see any religion visible in the school.
Language: English primarily with Japanese language class included. Mix of Japanese and Pilipino workers.
All Souls Preschool
https://okinawahai.com/all-souls-episc/
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: Creative Curriculum and Zoophonics
2. Rates/Hours:
- 2 days a week Tuesday and Thursday from 910-130pm: $180/month
- please note they do have a three day a week program as well but I forgot to ask the prices on those classes
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling
4. student/teacher ratio: 3:11 for the two year old class and 1:7 for the 3 year old class
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: at least a Bachelor's degree for the head teacher and a high school diploma for the assistants. The two year old teacher had a Master's in elementary education.
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: yes, required
7. Do you help potty train: yes
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: ?
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: $5 fee
10. What are your child release and security policies: all doors locked, doors only unlocked during pickup time. The school seemed very secure with high fences and no real way to get to the classrooms without several doors being walked through.
11. Sick policy:fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. 100 degree fever/vomiting/diarrhea...go home.
12. discipline policy: time out based on age to "think about it". Stop light method for discipline. red, yellow, and green with every child starting on green at the beginning of the day. misbehave and your clip gets moved to yellow and then red.
13. Daily schedule/naptime: teacher will send the schedule once school gets closer to starting on Sept 4th.
14. Meals and who provides: parents provide lunch and snacks
15. Do you have field trips: yes, one chaperone per child required to go on the field trip. They hvave gone to the Wonder Museum at the zoo, for example.
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: Yes, just need to come up to the office to check in
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays.
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: There is a registration deposit of $300. If you PCS you would get some of that money back but not all because the materials and insurance had already been purchased for your child.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: Daily report as well as a private facebook page for each class. Parents can invite family to view the page as well to see the child as they progress
20. What is the age grouping: 2 year old class and a 3 year old class. The children move up at the end of the year (not once they are potty trained)
21. How do you handle violent play themes:?
22. Cell phone policy: teachers keep their phones on them on silent. they use them to take photos of the class and post photos after class. Facebook can also be used to communicate with the teachers, eg "Johny had a hard time this morning, how is he doing now?"
23. Time spent outside: once a day for thirty minutes
24. How often are the toys cleaned: once a week but the surfaces (clorox wipes) and floors (mopped) are cleaned daily
25. Other:
26. religion: 20 minute class once a week with a different teacher. Students are taught bible verses, bible stories, and songs. The school is best described as non-denominational as it cannot really push a certain version of Christianity too much. There is a christmas program, easter program, and end of year program.
Language: English only, no Japanese spoken. The teachers are all Americans.
Rainbow Montessori
https://okinawahai.com/rainbow-montess/
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: Montessori
2. Rates/Hours:
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling
4. student/teacher ratio: 10 to 1
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: none, but the owner has a credential in Montessori education
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: no, they are planning to get all teachers recertified but do not have anything scheduled yet.
7. Do you help potty train: yes
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: Walk your child in before 9am (845-850). 3pm pickup.
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: 550 yen for late pickup
10. What are your child release and security policies: secretary watches who goes in and out, please note we were able to walk right through the doors and into the classrooms while we looked for someone to help us.
11. Sick policy: if the child looks sick they will call the parents.
12. discipline policy: Warnings, third time in the time out chair for 3 minutes
13. Daily schedule/naptime: there is a naptime
14. Meals and who provides: we bring lunch and snack for the child. In the older classroom each child is assigned snack duty for one week
15. Do you have field trips: the bigger kids go places but the two year old classroom does not
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: schedule with the front office to make a visit
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays and Children's Day
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: if you are Posing please submit orders. To cancel or switch preschools you must pay the withdrawal fee of 10,000 yen.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: Teachers talk with parents in the afternoon during pickup. Calendar and monthly gazette are also given.
20. What is the age grouping: Blue Room is 18 months-3 years, when the child is potty trained they will immediately move up to the 3-5 year old classroom.
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: No cell phones allowed in the classroom
23. Time spent outside: Every morning they are outside on the playground. I could not get a more specific answer than this.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: Required uniform (t-shirt and shorts or skorts for girls)
26. religion: no specific religion present that I could see.
27. Language: English only, no Japanese spoken, sometimes they count in Tagalog, Spanish, and Japanese but that is all. The teachers are all Pilipino.
Baby123
The Questions: *PLEASE NOTE: the director seemed a bit rushed when I take to her and so I did not ask all the questions that I normally would, it felt a bit rude to keep her from watching the children. This is why more of the questions are left blank than usual.
1. Educational Philosophy: Japanese traditional, yochien
2. Rates/Hours: 40,000 yen for 20 hours/week or 45,000 yen for 30 hours/week
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling
4. student/teacher ratio: maximum 30 students with 2-3 teachers at a time
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: all the teachers have a Bachelor's degree and one of the teacher's has a master's degree. All of the degrees are in education with the exception of one teacher who has a degree in engineering. All of the degrees are from Japanese universities.
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: yes, every year
7. Do you help potty train: yes
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: ?
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: Fee is $5 for the first five minutes and $1 for every minute after that
10. What are your child release and security policies: ?
11. Sick policy: ?
12. discipline policy: If there is biting, hitting, or not listening they inform the parents. Mostly they just talk to the parents as the children are too little for time out.
13. Daily schedule/naptime: Nap is for full time students and is from 1200-200pm
14. Meals and who provides: Parents provide the meals
15. Do you have field trips: For the children that are over three yes, they go to the beach and the sea wall.
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: Parents can come for the birthday party, but it was unclear if parents could stop in. The space is small and having parents might make for distraction or get in the way.
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays and Children's Day, Obon Holiday, and Dec 25-Jan 4th are all taken by the school
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: if you are PCSing let them know ASAP. For other reasons I did not get an answer.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: Facebook messenger as well as each child having a notebook where notes about their day are kept (bowel movements, eating, sleeping, etc)
20. What is the age grouping: 1-3 years old
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: The cell phone is used by the director to take photos every day. I'm not sure if the other teachers can use cell phones
23. Time spent outside: Every day, but I could not get an answer on how long.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: This school was the most like a Japanese yochien, in my very humble opinion. A bit more strict perhaps than a typical American school. When I visited many of the rooms were being used for nap time by the children so I'm not sure if they didn't have many toys or if they were put all away. It did seem that much of the time for the older children was spent outdoors. They do not have a playground of their own and instead walk to public playgrounds, the beach, and or the seawall every day. The lessons that were taught did not seem overly long but they were more typical, sit down in a group and listen to the teacher sort of lessons.
26. religion: none that I could see
27. language: All Japanese teachers who speak in english and Japanese. the bigger kids work with the director on learning Japanese language and hiragana/katakana. This was something we were very impressed with as language is very important to us.
Okinawa Montessori School International
The Questions:
1. Educational Philosophy: Montessori
2. Rates/Hours: 40,000 yen for 0800-1200 M-F, extended program 55,000 yen 0900-1500 M-F
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling, but the school year starts in September and April, they follow both American and Japanese school terms. For example, if your son or daughter started their kindergarten program in April, when you PCSed it would could for kindergarten if he complete the year. He could start first grade in an American school the following September.
4. student/teacher ratio: 8-10:1 depends on how many students are doing one-on-one time with the teacher
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: The director is formally Montessori certified but the teachers are not. However, the teachers have been with the school since 2000 and personally trained by the director. The director stressed to me how important it is to have continuity for the children in terms of the teachers staying for the long term.
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: They take the training every two years.
7. Do you help potty train: no. Pull ups are okay, please tell the staff his schedule so they can help him go potty.
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: 10 minute grace period before and after. If there is an emergency please call them. For example, she mentioned that sometimes it is difficult to get out of the gate. They understand this and will not charge.
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: For any regular tardiness the charge is 750 yen per hour.
10. What are your child release and security policies: Signed letter/email to say the name of the person picking up the child. They will ask for ID if it is a person that doesn't normally pick up the child. Example she gave, they have asked for a Father's ID because they did not recognize him.
11. Sick policy: child allowed to return to school 24 hours after last medication is given. If the child is sick for three days in a row they ask for a Doctor certificate saying the child is healthy.
12. discipline policy: the rules are explained to the class from the beginning. They talk to the child as much as possible. They ring the bell only when they are misbehaving and that is usually enough. If not, they are asked to go to the kitchen to watch the fish or sit beside the teacher.
If the child is hitting or disrupting class the child is sent home. At worse, a child will sit in a teachers lap and the teacher gives them a bear hug to stop the hitting or other violent behavior. Since 1993 only twice has a child been sent home.
13. Daily schedule/naptime:
outside play once all parents have left (on rainy days they have movement videos)
circle time
phonics/shapes/letters and individual lessons
story time
go home!
14. Meals and who provides: parents provide snack. PLEASE NOTE there is no lunch time, lunch would be provided after school is over at noon.
15. Do you have field trips: yes, fieldtrips are taken as a family (the whole school). they have one in the summer, one the last week of January/first week of february to either strawberry or orange picking, and one in April depending on the weather
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: yes, it can be disrupting so please come at the end of the day
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays, 99% of kids are military
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: pay until last month you are here. but your registration agreement is for the whole academic year.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: email and talking to the teachers. they ask that if you want to talk to the teacher to come 10 minutes after pickup time.
20. What is the age grouping: 2.5-4.5 for the little kids class, and everyone older is in the bigger kids class.
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: There is a school cell phone. teachers have their cell phones for emergencies as they have their own children.
23. Time spent outside: 10-15 minutes per day in the summer and 30 minutes if its not hot. Friday is Funday and so they are outside longer.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: please note on Friday's they watch the Magic School Bus tv show as part of Friday Funday. Please also note I was extremely impressed with the Director. She reminded me of my Grandmother in many good ways. She is extremely dedicated and cares deeply for the school and the students.
26. religion: only religion I saw was a calendar with saints listed on it. I couldn't tell if they were Catholic or Orthodox saints though. No other religion found/seen in the school.
1. Educational Philosophy: Montessori
2. Rates/Hours: 40,000 yen for 0800-1200 M-F, extended program 55,000 yen 0900-1500 M-F
3. Rolling/semester/season enrollment: rolling, but the school year starts in September and April, they follow both American and Japanese school terms. For example, if your son or daughter started their kindergarten program in April, when you PCSed it would could for kindergarten if he complete the year. He could start first grade in an American school the following September.
4. student/teacher ratio: 8-10:1 depends on how many students are doing one-on-one time with the teacher
5. What kinds of credentials do the teachers hold: The director is formally Montessori certified but the teachers are not. However, the teachers have been with the school since 2000 and personally trained by the director. The director stressed to me how important it is to have continuity for the children in terms of the teachers staying for the long term.
6. Do all the teachers have CPR/first aide training: They take the training every two years.
7. Do you help potty train: no. Pull ups are okay, please tell the staff his schedule so they can help him go potty.
8. Drop off/pickup strictness of policy: 10 minute grace period before and after. If there is an emergency please call them. For example, she mentioned that sometimes it is difficult to get out of the gate. They understand this and will not charge.
9. Do you charge a fee for late pickup: For any regular tardiness the charge is 750 yen per hour.
10. What are your child release and security policies: Signed letter/email to say the name of the person picking up the child. They will ask for ID if it is a person that doesn't normally pick up the child. Example she gave, they have asked for a Father's ID because they did not recognize him.
11. Sick policy: child allowed to return to school 24 hours after last medication is given. If the child is sick for three days in a row they ask for a Doctor certificate saying the child is healthy.
12. discipline policy: the rules are explained to the class from the beginning. They talk to the child as much as possible. They ring the bell only when they are misbehaving and that is usually enough. If not, they are asked to go to the kitchen to watch the fish or sit beside the teacher.
If the child is hitting or disrupting class the child is sent home. At worse, a child will sit in a teachers lap and the teacher gives them a bear hug to stop the hitting or other violent behavior. Since 1993 only twice has a child been sent home.
13. Daily schedule/naptime:
outside play once all parents have left (on rainy days they have movement videos)
circle time
phonics/shapes/letters and individual lessons
story time
go home!
14. Meals and who provides: parents provide snack. PLEASE NOTE there is no lunch time, lunch would be provided after school is over at noon.
15. Do you have field trips: yes, fieldtrips are taken as a family (the whole school). they have one in the summer, one the last week of January/first week of february to either strawberry or orange picking, and one in April depending on the weather
16. Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe class: yes, it can be disrupting so please come at the end of the day
17. Holidays/school closures: American holidays, 99% of kids are military
18. How much notice is needed to switch preschools or pull child out early: pay until last month you are here. but your registration agreement is for the whole academic year.
19. How do you communicate with parents about how things are going: email and talking to the teachers. they ask that if you want to talk to the teacher to come 10 minutes after pickup time.
20. What is the age grouping: 2.5-4.5 for the little kids class, and everyone older is in the bigger kids class.
21. How do you handle violent play themes: ?
22. Cell phone policy: There is a school cell phone. teachers have their cell phones for emergencies as they have their own children.
23. Time spent outside: 10-15 minutes per day in the summer and 30 minutes if its not hot. Friday is Funday and so they are outside longer.
24. How often are the toys cleaned: ?
25. Other: please note on Friday's they watch the Magic School Bus tv show as part of Friday Funday. Please also note I was extremely impressed with the Director. She reminded me of my Grandmother in many good ways. She is extremely dedicated and cares deeply for the school and the students.
26. religion: only religion I saw was a calendar with saints listed on it. I couldn't tell if they were Catholic or Orthodox saints though. No other religion found/seen in the school.
27. language: English and Japanese. They have a daily Japanese language lesson from a Japanese teacher. There are different levels with the ultimate goal of having the children write hiragana and katakana. The teacher stays for one hour and works one on one with each child. 4 times a week (not on friday's).
