Founded in 1995, Eaton International Education Group Singapore now operates more than 100 international schools around the world, from preschool to high school, and is favored by many parents for its standardized international education. From 2013 to 2015, EtonHouse opened three kindergartens in Shanghai, located on Pudong South Road, Lujiazui Pucheng Road and Hongqiao Vanke Center, for children aged 18 months to 6 years.
The South Pudong Road Campus is a four-storey building with indoor gymnasiums, art workshops, performance studios, and each classroom with its own toilet and cloakroom. The school has two libraries, one of which is decorated with fun and designed to foster children's interest in reading and books. The other library provides more space for inquiry, and EtonHouse hopes to teach children the skills of inquiry through a combination of traditional and emerging technologies. The Lujiazui campus has a larger outdoor space and includes features such as a children's kitchen, vegetable garden, excavation and construction areas, and mobile climbing equipment. Covering an area of 2,000 square meters, Hongqiao Vanke Campus has a large indoor sports area, performing arts rooms, visual arts rooms, cooking rooms, a library, and a vertical garden for kindergarten art practice.
In addition to Montessori, Reggio Emilia is one of the most influential early childhood education philosophies. Reggio Emilia emphasizes interactive relationships and cooperative participation in the curriculum, so that children can get pleasure and happiness in education, and improve initiative and creativity. In 2013, Eaton partnered with Reggio Emilia Kids to create the Reggio Emilia Asian Children's Association (REACH). The EtonHouse Education Centre (EEC) has developed a unique "Explore-Think-Learn" education system based on Reggio Emilia. Through an inquiry-based teaching model, EtonHouse hopes to develop children's abilities in literature, mathematics, science, technology, etc., and to stimulate interest, exploration and potential.
For international schools, parents mainly focus on two aspects, one is English teaching, and the other is international education. EtonHouse said that in English teaching, teachers use digital devices, visual tools and other artistic products to improve children's English literacy skills. Most of EtonHouse's foreign teachers are native English-speaking speakers with pure accents. In addition, parents' expectations for international kindergartens are to replace traditional cramming education with international education, and to attach importance to practice and thinking. EtonHouse Shanghai is based on the teaching methods and teaching materials of the Singapore headquarters, which are different from the teaching in China, and can meet the needs of parents for international education to a certain extent.
For example, in one of EtonHouse's signature courses, "Light and Shadow Exploration", children try and experiment with the refraction of light on a lamp table in the classroom or on the outdoor playground, which not only allows children to understand how light can change color, create shadows and shapes, but also allow children to see the same thing from different angles. EtonHouse believes that visual arts such as painting, sculpture and drama are important mediums for children to develop their thinking skills and challenge themselves. Because through the medium of art, children's ideas are revealed, and teachers can better complete teaching on the basis of understanding their ideas.
EtonHouse offers small nursery classes, nursery classes, small classes, middle classes and large classes, with the teacher-student ratio of 1:4, 1:6, 1:10, 1:12 and 1:15 respectively, and the teacher-student ratio of middle class and large class is not ideal. Parents waited for the interview notice after signing up, but some parents reported that EtonHouse's admissions reception staff had a mediocre attitude and made many mistakes, which even angered parents. EtonHouse is one of the most expensive kindergartens in Shanghai, with a tuition fee of between 140,000 and 160,000 yuan a year.
It should be reminded that there are many kindergartens in Shanghai with the name of EtonHouse, including Little EtonHouse Kindergarten, EtonHouse Huizhi Bilingual Kindergarten, etc., only Shanghai EtonHouse International Kindergarten is a branch of Singapore EtonHouse International Kindergarten.
