Founded in 1988, Haifu Kindergarten has opened 11 branches in Shanghai, enrolling Chinese and foreign children aged 18 months to 6 years old. Bilingual teaching, special courses, high reputation, and direct admission to Concord Primary School have made the school very popular
Bilingual teaching has been highly sought after in recent years, but due to the high recruitment cost of foreign teachers, many kindergartens have a lot of bilingual teaching, such as a lack of foreign language courses, a lack of corresponding qualifications for foreign teachers, and a single English teaching content. Our foreign teachers are all with a bachelor's degree or above, and they will train children in dialogue and improve their vocabulary with the help of storybooks and English songs. Haifu's bilingual education is not the best among other bilingual schools, but it can initially ensure that children master basic English conversation and reading skills.
Haifu offers a variety of on-campus activities. There are usually two days a week of club activities, such as creative art, dance teaching, taekwondo, Chinese painting, logic lessons, one-on-one piano lessons, and the most popular pottery activities for children. In addition, the children's philosophy course is a special course of Haifu, which is different from the adult philosophy course, children's philosophy is not complicated, and mainly encourages children to think, express and discuss through the objects presented by the teacher or the questions raised. Haifu said that the course can exercise children's critical, innovative, caring and collaborative thinking.
Haifu believes that the multiculturalism brought by foreign students can enable children to have intercultural communication skills, better understand other cultures and appreciate their own cultures. In fact, Haifu divides students into domestic and international classes, and there is not much communication between Chinese and foreign children, and for domestic children, except for the annual "Multicultural Week", there are not many opportunities to experience international cultural differences.
Many private schools are more lenient about children's education, and so is Haifu. Haifu does not require all children to take a nap, and children who do not take a nap can choose to play with toys or watch animations quietly, accompanied by a teacher. Teachers do not strictly enforce children to eat a full lunch, but only remind them. Haifu believes that children should be given an environment for independent growth, for example, children who are not full at lunch and are hungry will consciously eat after one or two times. Some parents believe that this method can reduce the pressure on parents and teachers, and secondly, it can help children naturally develop good habits. However, some parents believe that such teaching is too loose and is not conducive to cultivating children's behavioral norms.
Within a certain distance, the school bus service provided by Haifu, each school bus is equipped with qualified school bus drivers and school bus supervisors, and parents can apply according to the situation. For children who have just started kindergarten and have separation anxiety, Haifu allows parents to accompany them for the first three days of school to help their children adjust to their new life. In Shanghai, where competition is fierce, children enrolled in Haifu Kindergarten have the opportunity to go directly to Xiehe Primary School, which is very attractive to parents.
Babies over the age of 18 months can sign up for the baby class, and over the age of 2 can apply for the nursery class, with 18 students in each class, and the teacher-student ratio is 1:6. Each class has 25 students in the small, middle and large classes, usually with a Chinese and English teacher and a full-time childcare worker, with a teacher-student ratio of 1:7-8.
Haifu is different from many bilingual kindergartens in two ways: one is that it does not conduct admission tests for children, but only arranges places according to the order of registration; Second, children are not required to have a foundation in English, so there is less pressure on children to enter school. However, some branches are hot, and it is still not easy to enroll. The specific admission requirements of each branch of Haifu are different, some are mainly for local students, and some are for the whole city. The fees for branch parks are also different, basically between 6,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan per month.
