Reedley International School

We are at a stage in Aidan's life where we need to decide our education strategy. We want the best education for our kids but I believe that most traditional schools have outdated curriculum. Aidan belongs to the Generation Z and I believe that only progressive schools can meet their needs. We don't want to be close minded on this so we will be doing more research on the different schools in Metro Manila in the next few months. Suggestions are welcome.

Aidan's generation is different. As early as 2 years old, Aidan begun tinkering with our computer at home. He likes to visit the kiddie sites such as Starfall and Disney clubhouse on his own. We have stopped watching television(including us!) because of the negative impact of TV. When I was in Boracay, we were doing video calls via computer. Aidan's generation has NOT witnessed People Power 1&2, September 11 terrorist attacks, Glorietta bombings or the Tsunami in South East Asia. I believe that their generation would be more nationalistic, conscious about the environment and technologically connected in ways that we cannot imagine. Mandarin and English would still be the key to doing successful business in the future.

My preference would be the International Schools (like IS or Brent) but they are very expensive because you are paying for the Expat educators. Ateneo and La Salle, on the other hand, are more traditional in nature and I hear stories of 1 teacher: 40+ students ratio similar with our times. One consideration is Xavier School which already upgraded their curriculum and are very progressive. We are also interested with Reedley International School because of its core values and International School curriculum that they follow. We attended the orientation last December 2007 @ Reedley, and let me share with you what Reedley has to offer...

We are considering an international school program where the academic curriculum and knowledge is at PAR with the international schools outside the Philippines. They are required to learn another language which is Mandarin. Aidan will be expected to work with different nationalities and respect their customs and traditions at the same time valuing the Filipino traditions. The teaching style is more exchanging of ideas vs. the teacher downloading information and the student memorizing it.

I liked Reedley's core values which is aligned with our core values. I want Aidan's school to be truly a second home for him where he knows most of the students and teachers by first name. I like the positive culture of discipline they are fostering with focus on understanding the reason for discipline and its consequence versus the focus on punishment. Reedley boast dozens of case studies on turnaround cases where a happy-go-lucky student became enthusiastic about school and a bullied student and pressured by peers in the big schools transforms into being assertive, confident and knowing all about conflict resolution. Finally, I like the focus on finding the child's unique skills, gifts and talents and aligning the child towards his divine destiny.

I also like the very low student: teacher ratio where the teachers can really focus on the learning of the students. The maximum class size for lower school is 1teacher : 15 students.

We interviewed a Reesian and we only get great rave reviews from the kid. Have you looked into Reedley? Or are your kids enrolled in this school? Maybe you can share your experience with us.

Life Skills are also taught which includes teaching the 7 habits of highly effective teens, instilling virtues, learning conflict resolution skills, understanding emotional quotient, and reaching out to less fortunate brothers and sisters.

Mrs. Ong, founder of Reedley, shared her beliefs during the December orientation:

" I believe that with an international education, our kids are given lots of opportunities and seemingly more unique ways of learning, inside and outside of the classroom, less structured but more participatory discussions on: Global issues, economics and polities, 21st century technology, society's ills, and other relevant and worldly concerns. "

" I believe that a good school highly enables its students to have an excellent grasp of the English language in order to survive, to communicate well, and to promote Bi-lingualism."

" I believe that a both Parents and the School are responsible to help children discover ways to make good use of Life's Greatest Gift... the Gift of Learning."

" I believe that a good school is one where: RESPONSIBILITY and HARD WORK are deeply instilled; GOOD MORALS and DISCIPLINE become our children's way of life."

The tuition fee is twice that of a traditional school but a lot lower than the other International School in the country because they don't employ expats. Since they are an IS school, they don't have a focus on Christian formation which is one of the criteria I was looking for in a school. I grew up with Salesian brothers and priest in Don Bosco Makati and I was hoping Aidan to get the same Catholic formation which I won't get in Reedley International School.

We still have time to do research about other progressive schools before Aidan turns 6. Any suggestions on awesome progressive schools in Metro Manila?

For more information on Reedley: Reedley International School

Comments

[hazel]

UP Rural High School in Los Banos is very good. Hard to get in but the best training and education for your children. Check it out.

[Elan]

Hi! Anton. Are you familiar with "authentic" Montessori school? I wonder what school your kids go to at the moment. I don't know if there is an authentic MOntessori school here in the Philippines but I think this is what our kids need. I hope you could research about this and blog about Montessori school. Since most of the schools now have the "Montessori" name in it, people don't know how great Maria Montessori's work is!
Please see
http://www.montessori-ami.org/
http://michaelolaf.net/
http://www.montessori.edu/news.html

I guess you would love this kind of school for your kids.

[Anton Diaz]

Hi I'm still confused which is the authentic Montessori school. I know that there is a school in the south who would have teachers really certified in the Montessori education. Most of the schools usually would have the head of the school as the only one certified...

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[chi]

ateneo? di siya normal school anak ko hirap na hirap sa lessons nila 3 math 2 english and 2 science. imbes na maganda experience sa bata. yung mga bata tuloy na prepressure naawa tuloy ako sa anak ko =(

[mfoliverio_68@yahoo.com]

Hi All,

Same with everyone, I wanted the best education for my child. I have a six year old daughter and she is currently enrolled in a Catholic school adapting a British Curriculum. I can say their method of teaching is the best. It is not all about academics, they have a lot of extra -curricular activities. Sports and playtime are always encouraged. We are moving back to the Philippines this year and I wanted to enroll her in an international school but British school Manila and ISM are very expensive.

My preferences are: Reeedly/ Fountain International school, Beacon and Domuschola? Any comments ?? feddback?

I am currently working abroad and i've graduated in one of the university in Manila and i noticed that Filipinos are technically excellent but the social skills as well as conversational is quite average. Take note I am talking about top graduates of some of the top universities.

[mfoliverio_68@yahoo.com]

Hi Anton,

Not sre if you are still confused. My child used to be in a Montessori school (not in the Philippines) in her pre-school years and i can say an authentic Montessori school will not let the cild be stressed out with homeworks, in fact there are no homeworks. Foster self respect and others. They have special materials used for learning and these are not available in any bookstores (exclusive only for Montessori). I can say my child after MOntessori is very independent, analytical and very intuitive.

[Anton Diaz]

Thanks for sharing this experience about Montessori. very helpful.

[mike]

colegio san agustin was my school from preschool to gradeschool. i can say that it really has a good academic curriculum. but i don't think it's what a child like your son needs to have now. than again, csa has a very great environment. fresh air, good facilities, wide and neat surrounding. there your son will meet a lot of foreigner classmates, and he might even develop their accent.

don bosco is a good school for youngsters his age. it will be good if as early as childhood, children are trained to love the sacraments. moral values and good discipline are very important to be learned by a child like your son. DB is also a school where you can see very close relationship between the students and the brothers and priests running the school. i saw these when i was in high school. it's a school that never isolates the rich from the poor, and the poor from the rich.

now that i'm in college, i've met several students who graduated from reedley's. they pay 800 thousand per year for their education in high school, but many students even from not so well-known schools perform better than them in college. and they are the types who drink and go to parties a lot, sometimes twice a week.

i have cousins who went to xavier. they're good in academics, nice people, good communicators, rich, and chinese. but they terribly disgust poor people, and they rarely find joy in the simple things in life... like discovering binondo, riding a jeepney, meeting different kinds of people, etc.

[luisa]

Hi, I was reading your blog over skype while my husband is in Colorado with my kids voice in the background chatting to their nannies in Filipino and English, interjecting Spanish every now and then. Yes, the world is turning into a global village and we share your passion about raising global kids that are multilingual and multicultural :)

We are currently in the Philippines for 2 months and my 3 and 5 are learning Filipino faster than I ever hope for. That also influenced our decision to stay here and enroll them in a Chinese school. I am looking for feedback from parents or students from Chinese International School or Singapore Manila. So far, google has shown fewer results. Our goal eventually is for the kids to be be able to speak English, Filipino, Spanish and Mandarin. BTW, in the States, they went to Spanish preschool and had an amazing experience. We really hope that we will be able to find a good Mandarin immersion school, or close to one. Thanks.

[Arlene]

Hi Anton, it's 2012 now. I chanced upon this blog entry - we're expatriate going back to Manila and looking for the right school to put our kids to. They're used to IS in the places we've lived in, but it's not worth it if we will be the one paying.
To which school are you sending your kids?

[Provincial Cities in Luzon,Visayas,Mindanao]

Fact: There are Reputable international schools in the Philippines that do have Campuses in Provincial Cities in the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao regions.