Precious cargo montessori

[xhaylesx]

Am considering sending my little lady to Precious Cargo Montessori in Woodcroft, I was wondering if anyone had any opions on the place they would like to share with me?

[Guzzler&Sas]

Hi there
Our daughter has started there on a few weeks ago - she is 3.5 and does one full day. I will update you properly later - just popped on from work!
Regs
Sas

[xhaylesx]

thank you Sas. I would be greatful to hear any honest opions, good and bad!

TIA xx

[Lulujim]

My daughter goes to a Montessori nursery here at the moment, I would be really interested to hear about this nursery - also costs if you wouldn't mind? (Could you PM me the fees please?) Thank you very much - Alexis x

[xhaylesx]

I dont know the fees yet. but if Sas does I would more than welcome a pm. TIA. xxx

[k8bug79]

I would be interested too. I am looking at The Hills montessori school. here is the woodcroft one? I am at the early stages of looking at Adelaide so just vague nsew would help.

[DHDH]

My children attend precious cargo aldinga.... and i am really happy with it. They have great staff and the facilities are good. I no its not the same place but there are part of the same chain. Their philosophy is about empowering the child, they aims to show the child that they are capable beings. The skills they learn they have also brought home which is lovely to see. The fees are 69 or 67 then you get CCb then half back of the fees you have paid every quarter. Like i said i am happy with it except the frequent illnesses but i am assured that this is the same in all child care centers. Hope this helps a bit.

Heidi

[paloma]

I read about Montessori system of nurturing children's potential and wanted to send my boy to one one of Montessori childcare centers. There was a new Precious Cargo opened at Myrtle bank, not far from where we lived and they had a few vacancies, so I thought I'd give it a go. I went there first to have a look at the facilities and they are all brand new and good. Good outside play area too. So, I thought, OK, let's enroll. I've been given enrollment paperwork and was asked to pay 55$ enrollment fee on the spot (you have to pay it even if you want to get your child's name on the waiting list). The centre's policy requires you to pay fees 2 or 4 weeks in advance, I can't remember. Must have been 4 weeks, because following the requirements that was what I did. Then we went for an intoduction visit fo 1 hour. My son played with kids and I was just observing. It was OK, but I would not call the environment loving and caring. Not at all. There was one girl crying for some reason and I saw that one of the carers rolled her eyes indicating to another carer what a drama queen that girl was or something. I didnt think it was the right attitude, but decided to remain open-minded and keep going. We then came in a couple of days again. There was a 3 y.o. boy whos dad had just dropped him off. He was holding on to his teddy bear and crying: Mummy, mummy!! They didn't do much about it. One carer asked him if he was hurt. Do-ah? It was heartbreaking. I asked one of the carers whether they nurse children in distress or divert their attention and she said: "Yes, but there are so many of them..." With all due respect, I thought it was very wrong. They have a ratio of certain amount of children per carer. Anyway, my son announced that he wanted to go home (and he was the 2 y.o. who was desperately looking for friends! I had torouble getting him out of playgrounds and creche in my gym) On our way out we had to go via the play area for babies and my son started to play there. Then babies were let out. One little girl went to sand pit and fell face straight in the sand. Another baby begun to throw sand into other kids eyes. Why do they let 12-14 month old babies in he sand? I thought, if you can't look after them propely, why let them do it - there are so many more activities they can do? Anyway, there was a baby boy (looked like 14 months old or so) who was crying. The carer was sitting near the sand pit and seemed to be in no rush to attend. I picked the boy up (I could't help myself, sorry) and he settled a bit, but was still fidgety, so I had a look in his nappy and sure enough it was soiled. The carer then asked:"Oh, is it pooie?" Then she went to change him. I only spent 2 hours there in total and was getting uncomfotable with the place already, so I decided to cancel all the arrangements. I told the receptionist that we would like to cancel my childs attendance before he even starts and asked for a refund. She talked to the director later (it's the same director as in all the other Precious Cargo centres, including Precious Cargo at St. Peters, Aldinga, Woodcroft etc) and gave me a ring only to tell that they'll still charge me for 2 weeks attendance even if he never started. The adventure did cost me about 200$. It felt wrong. Mediocre service, greedy owners. I didn't see any special Montessori education at this age group section. They just let kids do what they want and remain cold supervisors rather then engaging and loving carers. That was my observation anyway. If you think it's right for your child - go for it. Seemed un-natural to me and certainly not what I read about original Montessori system.

[Nick11]

Paloma..your experience unfortunately is not isolated. People need to remember montessori is a franchaise. Anyone can open one if they have enough money.There are some great ones out there...however on the same hand there are a lot of poor ones.

[Bailey]

Hi Paloma
That is so worrying - you did the right thing.....
Have you ever considered Family Daycare? I am a FDC provider and work in Stonyfell near Burrnside.I look after 4 children per day for a min of eight hours(Mon - Thur)

If you would like any info regarding FDC please PM me!

Its so so different from Childcare centres........