Eton Kids -- anyone have any opinions?

How much is the tuition over there going for now?

I don't have anything specific for you as I didn't have a child at the time and didn't pay much attention, but I recall it was positive.

This link will be interesting for parents thinking of sending their kids to ETON.

http://etonkidsbeware.com/

It is blocked in china now so use a proxy. Also a letter of warning there from 4 ex teachers. All kinds of lies and deceptions going on at this school from the sounds of it. My kid will not be attending.

Being a former parent of a child at ETONKIDS I can tell you that based on my experience there is both truth (maybe most of it) but also some exaggeration, and some gray areas, on that complaint. When people are hurt and frustrated that is prone to happen.

It is also true that many teachers leave ETONKIDS never to go back, although they do not complain as they feel it would be a lost cause to fight a school with resources to fight them back in any possible way.

I suggest that you visit and talk to others. Some families are OK with ETONKIDS, others are not. There is much going around there that proves that the school is NOT committed to Montessori. It is merely a business. That is what their plan is and that is what the person at the head of the school is concerned with and is paid for, I hear.

Just make sure that you take into consideration that there are good, well intentioned, committed Montessorians who join the ETONKIDS' staff, and although many leave when they understand what is going around, others stay and try to make the best of it. So your kid may or not end up with a committed Montessorian teacher when assigned to a classroom.

This school also misrepresents itself in many ways. They use the name ETON from an old school in the UK they are not and have never been associated with, just for the name. Same with Montessori. Could be anything else. They have also claimed to have the support of people who never even heard about them. They started to advertise being accredited by AMS when they are not. When the AMS president was in Beijing invited by ETONKIDS, I attended with my husband. Because my husband is Chinese and I am American, we were interested in bilingual education. That meeting was memorable. Nothing was said on bilingual education until someone finally lost patience and asked - but even then little was added. And Miss V. Wong translated what her American guests said in a self-serving way that raised many eyebrows among those attending who can understand both English and Chinese.

So, the comments may in part be considered outdated if things changed since but in part are very real and up to date. That letter of complaint originated a court case. ETONKIDS won; they paid off the court to rule in their favor.

The scoop? I think ETONKIDS will always deny any problems and any truth regarding any complaints from staff or parents, so, unhappy parents will always complain. Happy parents will always say it is OK. Unhappy staff will move away, or stay to try to make it better, or because they have no alternatives. These are hard times. Fact is, everyone's mileage varies.

Many concerned parents like myself leave when they find out about certain things, or have their children in ETONKIDS' classrooms that change teachers several times throughout the year, and others may stay, because their experience is OK or they are not aware of what is going on. Same with Montessori professionals.

I would suggest you don't dump everyone in the same bag. It would be unfair, and some of the people at ETONKIDS are committed to Montessori and do their best, even if (our personal opinion) the school is not and does not. So, as said, your kid may or not end up with a committed Montessori teacher when assigned to a classroom; the question you want to ask is, do you want to play Russian roulette with your child?

My suggestion to anyone looking for a school for their children is simple: forget about the school name to start with! If you really want your child to attend Montessori, inform yourself about Montessori as much as possible. Then, visit all available schools and make up your mind based on what you see and want for your child, after you talk to staff, other parents and anyone you may feel it makes sense talking to. This is valid not only in Beijing or China but in any city or country in the world you may relocate to.

We are moving to NZ this summer and I have been researching the options there for a few months now. My husband will move first, and visit some schools there. I go back home with my girls and head to NZ one month later. When we get there, we will both visit the schools again, and talk about what the choices are, before we make a decision.

At this point, given my past experience at ETONKIDS, I would not place another child at this school.

All the best to you and your 2 yo!

PS. And yes, I joined BJKIDS just to post on this subject, as I stumbled upon it, and wanted to voice my opinion.

I have a feeling that Beijing Kids will be censoring any negative comments with regard to one of their biggest advertisers. I've posted twice here a blog written by an Etonkids parent about the school having their kids lie about an accident which happened recently in March, and twice it was removed by Beijing Kids without explanation. I won't bother to find that link or to post it any more, but it's quite upsetting to find "admin", whom I presume is the administrator at Beijing Kids, posting an opinion here to "innocently" defend Etonkids and purposely misrepresent the seriousness of the messages written by parents above as a mere "for profit" discussion.

My apologies to Beijing Kids if "admin" is not an administrator at BK. But the censorship did happen and it is not cool.

JC

The question is not for profit or not for profit. You will find many FP and many NFP schools, Montessori and non-Montessori. If my posting came across as the criticism being that ETONKIDS is a business, then the point I was trying to make was totally misunderstood and i apologize for not being clear. Let me clarify that I have no problem with businesses. Would be great if health care and education were 100% free but that is not the case in most countries. So, maybe this is more clear:
1. I read that letter once (and by the way I had no idea it was online and it seems the site is down anyway as the link someone else posted does not work), and still enrolled my girls at ETON, because I spoke to several people and the letter came across as being maybe both justified but also maybe exaggerated.
2. I took my girls out of this school because I found out that ETONKIDS misrepresents itself, covers up problems, etc., as mentioned in my previous post, and i did not feel comfortable with that.
3. Businesses are not the problem. People need to make a living, we all do. ETONKIDS as a school, from my experience, is not committed to Montessori. If they are committed to anything is to their business. For some people this may be alright. For me it is not. What I really wanted to make sure with my comments here is that good people who are committed to Montessori and end up working at ETONKIDS are not thrown in the same bag as the person that heads the school. These are very different people.
4. I also happen to believe that these people will sooner or later, as so many did before, end up leaving ETONKIDS because they will find it hard to work in such conditions.
5. I also believe that some parents are happy with what ETONKIDS provides because it is enough for them and they don't know much about Montessori anyway.
6. I don't know if Beijing-Kids.com will or not delete these posts, but I hope not, because I am not attacking ETONKIDS but simply trying to provide a balanced opinion in reply to one parent's question, and making a difference between school and individuals that work or in some cases have worked there.
gm

I am an English Specialist at Etonkids and have been teaching in Kindergartens of all types for several years now in Beijing. My current classroom has had the same teachers and students (except of course those graduating and those coming up from nursery classes) going on 3 years now. Having been at different schools with different approaches, Etonkids has definitely surpassed the others I've seen and been involved with. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to work side by side with everyday. We truly care about our students and the results I've seen with them is nothing short of amazing.

When I stop to think that you have known a 4.5 year-old for half of their life and have been a part of their growth and progress it is such a rewarding notion! I've had parents come to me and say their child had no exposure to English or school for that matter and now they carry on fluent conversations with confidence while doing multiplication and division. Just this week a non-native English speaking student got accepted into one of Beijing's top-notch English-only primary schools passing entrance exams and all. This is why I do what I do.

As far as it being Montessori, yes it is Montessori. I have seen more than a few here and back home in the states and Eton fits the bill. Not only that, but all lead teachers are certified and all staff gets regular, consistent training. Classrooms of every sort are subjective to the Teacher's methodology. Check out classrooms and decide on a teacher before you judge an entire school.

admin wrote:>I have a feeling that Beijing Kids will be censoring any negative comments with regard to one of their biggest advertisers.

Have you read the previous post? There are negative comments there, so this pretty much disproves your theory.

Methinks you have your "conspiracy theory" detector set too high.

Well, admin, my own slightly negative post was deleted, so methinks you are a liar.

Again, all the more reason to distrust Eton, IMO.

I was the "original poster" and I'm certainly happy that there is someone to moderate the board, although seemingly rather haphazardly. I just hope that objectivity will be maintained by Beijing Kids, whom I consider one of the better publications in Beijing, and for BK not to succumb to threats or pressures from advertisers.

Back to this thread on Etonkids, it makes no sense that the link to the recent news regarding Etonkids covering up a child's injury and asking their students to lie about it was removed - it's reported all over the internet for heaven's sake and commented by hundreds of people, albeit in Chinese.

JC

I have been sending my son to Etonkids Palm Spring Campus since March 2008 as I was impressed with the school’s setup and the passion the teachers have for the kids. However, there have been many changes recently. School keeps coming up with new policies, high teachers turnover rate (even school principal keeps changing) ... I feel Etonkids is more interesting in making money than putting kids interest/parents first. Also not getting much communication from school with regards to changes happening (are they hiding something here?) Certainly do not need a principal sitting in front of the entrance taking kids body temperature. Shouldn't she be spending her precious time in the morning making herself available for parents instead? A school principal is not a puppet that is fully controlled by the head office. Any parent’s concern is directed to a customer care line which is impossible to get through. Don’t the school have the authority or courage to face any problems head-on? Certainly need to improve on their customer care.
If you plan to send your kids here … I would suggest you do more research before making a decision. There are many other Montessori Kindergarten in Beijing!
p/s: if you have decided on Etonkids (dispite all the bad publicity which are mostly true); do keep your receipts. No refund for the "Refundable Capital Levy" unless you can show them receipts of more than 2 years ago (in my case)

Parents Workshop at Beijing Lido Campus

March 19, 2010 –
Recently, Etonkids kindergarten teacher, Rachel, lead a session for a group of parents and students on how to utilize common items to enhance creative learning at home. Using the several items Rachel had prepared, and following her instructions, parents took the lead in helping children make some special creations. All were extremely impressed with what could be done with common items, and there was a consensus among the parents that this type of fun and practical activity should be held once per month. It’s a great way for parents and children to work together on a project that involves easy setup. Everywhere one looks there’s room for creativity and learning. Etonkids will honor our parents’ request and will be holding more such activities where we will share ideas on creative projects families can do together.

My kids are currently in Eton and I hate them to guts! The teacher are mean, and doesn't care at all, there're constantly cursing against small kids because they can't tell their parents!

Hello!

I am a friend of one of the parents in Eton Kids. She told me to post this comments for you parents out there. She said that she sent her child in ETON KIDS for 1 year but his son did not really learn english. They are just teaching then like chinese does. Because all of the teachers in ETON are just whites but not a real teacher. Some foreigners are just trying to use the color of their skin to just earn. ETON doesn't really care also if the teacher is good or not as long as your white? So? get the picture? Academically in ETON KIDS is not really good. So to speak. If you are going to bring your child in a kindergarten school which you will be satisfied. I can suggest you one. If you are interested. Email me at m.ganadores@gmail.com. Then i'll tell you there. Try the school for a couple of month if your not satisfied then you can leave. Schools tuition is not also expensive but i can guarantee the service is quite good. They don't care if the teacher is white or other color. The quality of education is their motto.

Thanks