Trial Class @ Julia Gabriel Centre- Playnest (6-18 months)

I've been contemplating to go for a trial at Julia Gabriel Centre, especially when many have compared it to Bibinogs, the playschool that baby Reagan is currently attending weekly. 

I took the 1pm time slot but due to the congested traffic at Orchard,  we were nearly 20mins late when we reached the school. Fortunately the first 20 mins was free-play time with the toys laid out on the mat, so I guess we didn't miss out anything much. There were around 5 other babies and parents with 3 teachers in the class.

After the toys were kept, all of us sat in a circle and sang the greeting and introduction songs. The teacher brought out a bear puppet and went around interacting with the babies. I made Reagan give the bear a big "Hi-5" and encouraged him to pat it gently. Next is sensory play and the teachers distributed different types of spices such as cinnamon, star anise..etc for the babies to explore with their sense of smell. Reagan was very well-behaved during snack-time as he sat at the children table, waiting patiently for the teacher to fill up his bowl with some organic biscuits which tasted quite tough and tasteless. Next is the outdoor play-time at the indoor playground outside the classroom. Reagan gets to play on the slides, mini ball-pit and the different car rides. Lastly is music and movement as the teachers played the piano and sang a few songs accompanied with actions.

Firstly, I'm quite impressed by the facilities, with an indoor playground and their own library where the kids can borrow storybooks. I also enjoyed the music & movement segment which was very lively as the teachers sang out loud with the piano-playing. But to compare to Bibinogs, both of them have really devoted and dramatic teachers, but phonics and the mandarin segments are not included in Julia Gabriel's playnest course. Furthermore, there are TWO free-play sessions during the lesson which I wonder if it's necessary to have repeated free-play time.

Anyway I've registered a new term for Reagan at Julia Gabriel since he left one more month with Bibinogs before his term ends, and I thought of a change of a new environment for him. However last week Reagan was having fun in his Bibinogs class and he recognizes his teachers and had much fun during the story-telling and songs sang in Bibinogs class. He is still loving his zoo-phonics and can focus very well during that segment. Therefore I made a decision to sign up Reagan for another term at Bibinogs, and deferred the Julia Gabriel course to the month of July instead, as I do not want both schools to overlap.