My hunt for schools in Cavite was, although undemanding, not totally stress-free as I thought it would be. Because even though grade schools are a lot less critical than pre-schools are, in my opinion, and I told myself I’m not going to make a lot of fuss about it this time (as compared to the time I looked for a pre-school, doggedly demanding things from each school I visited), it turned out to be as nerve-racking as crossing a high footbridge over a major thoroughfare– for a bit of perspective: I’m afraid of heights. I got hanged-up over one detail about the school I’ve chosen and got myself in a quandary at the last minute.
Anyway, my search for grade schools in Cavite was straightforward in that I only considered the nearest schools in our area. Those are, in order of house proximity, (1) Theresian School of Cavite, (2) Cavite School of St. Mark, (3) Angelicum Immanuel Montessori Bacoor and (4) Casa De San Miguel Montessori.
There weren’t too many reviews on the Internet for these schools, so if you’re looking for one and you’re hunting for elementary schools in Cavite, I hope this post will help you.
Basic facts, including my personal impressions for each school are on the top, and below each are other details.
THERESIAN SCHOOL OF CAVITE
It’s a non-sectarian school with its entrance/exit gate tucked away safely in a cul-de-sac. It’s unfortunate they didn’t think of extending that safety towards their classrooms. The location of the classrooms are not ideal and not safe in my opinion. While high school building was enclosed in grills from second floor up, the rooms for elementary levels opened to a hallway/terrace without one. If not for this, I’d have probably picked this school. Of course I must add that the brown-dyed-hair girl on their website also bothered me. I rather see that as an indication of their culture.
Moving on, I think the school is strong in science for they have Robotics in their curriculum, although their computers didn’t look all that tiptop to me. They join academic contests but they also have varied extra-curricular sports activities (there’s a table tennis club, volleyball and chess [I think. Sorry, bad memory], basketball, etc. I also like the fact that they give 100% tuition fee discounts for Top 1 students.
They seem to have a high standard of teaching (disclaimer: I don’t know any scientific metric for measuring quality of teaching and I only use how early they introduce certain lessons as a basis). They teach Chemistry (concept and periodic table of elements) at grade 5.
They are using paper books but currently experimenting with digital books (i.e. tablets) for future use. Boards for rooms are half whiteboard and half blackboard (the green one), but I was told they only use whiteboard. For higher levels, they use the old green board plus other multimedia.
I must tell you that the musty smell that greeted me when they opened some rooms for me to check-out was discouraging. The air conditioning was, of course, turned off and I visited when the school was closed and rooms are not being aired, so I imagine the smell would not be that too strong when the rooms are being used. I did see that the chairs are a little old.
Teacher-student ratio – 1:20
Medium of teaching – English
Progressive education practices – Unsure (I got vague and uninformed answers)
Engages in school competitions – Yes (both academic and sports)
Discounts for honor students – Yes (100% for Top 1/ 50% for Top 2/ 25% for Top 3)
Sibling discounts: Yes
School service – Yes (starts at Php900)
TUITION including miscellaneous fee (New student School year 2016-2017)
Nursery & Kinder – 35,503.00
Kinder 2 – 37,003.00
Grades 1 to 3 – 41, 788.00
Grades 4 to 5 – 44,575.00
Grade 6 – 48,175.00
Grades 7 to 8 – 46,400.00
4th Year – 50,300.00
*Note – initial payment can be paid on installment. Notebooks are not included in the miscellaneous.
CAVITE SCHOOL OF ST. MARK
For a school with a high tuition, Cavite School of St. Mark is a disappointment in some ways. But if you’re searching for schools in Cavite Bacoor area with a campus feel, this is the school. They only have 1 section per level but the school has several buildings and large land grounds, giving it the big school feel with a small school student-number. Admittedly, they have higher student-teacher ratio and their classrooms mirror this. They have big classrooms (certainly bigger than 1, 3 and 4 on my list) with I think higher ceilings. They use the old green boards (yeah, I can’t believe this either), but they say they use dustless chalk. Text books are also in the paper form, except for grade 4 students and above who use digital books (student-provided tablets devoid of games). Chairs are newer (but not new) than those in Theresian.
They do not participate in academic competitions and the teacher I spoke to said it’s because they do not receive invitations and if they do, they always come late. I think that information speaks of something, although they seem to be strong in sports and you can see this on big tarps with the smiling faces of their winning basketball teams hanging all over the façade of their building facing the street.
The canteen is in a covered but not enclosed space beside their covered court. I didn’t notice any fan, so I’m pretty sure that on a sunny day without any wind blowing, eating in the canteen will pretty much feel like eating outside under the blazing sun.
I like Cavite School of St. Mark. Except
1, they do not join academic competitions (which isn’t bad, except my kid has been representing his school since he was in pre-school), and I’d like there to be plenty of opportunities for my kid to join academic contests.
2, they only teach Chemistry in high school, which, to me, indicates a rather low standard of teaching (see my rationale above).
3, they have 3 Tagalog subjects: Filipino, Values (Pagpapahalaga) and Civics (Sibika/Araling Panlipunan). I prefer both Values (the school is non-sectarian) and Civics to be in English since my kid is more fluent in English.
And 4, the classes start at 7am and end at 3PM. And 4PM on Fridays. Too traditional for me.
I can live with a couple of these, but…
They do, however, employ Singapore Math techniques in teaching mathematics, and they also give discounts for honor students. And, if you’re looking for elementary schools in Cavite that do not encourage competition amongst its students but rewards its students for their hard work through individual recognition, well, this school’s honor system reflects that. They have a system like that found in colleges and universities. In other words, for as long as your child’s average grade reaches a certain mark, then your child is eligible for Top 1, whether or not there are 5 top 1s or 10 top 1s already. Think Summa Cum Laude, Magna and Cum Laude and you’ll get what I’m saying.
Teacher-student ratio – 1:25
Medium of teaching – English
Progressive education practices – Unsure (vague answers)
Engages in school competitions – Yes (sports)
Discounts for honor students – Yes (for Top 1- 3)
Sibling discounts: Yes
School service – Yes (2.5K range)
TUITION for Grades 1 through 3 (as of School Yr 2016-2017)
Tuition fee (including miscellaneous) – 48,577.51
books – 4,760.00
*Note – You may opt to include books in your installment (together with the tuition, yes. Terrific, right?!). The outbound trip (field trip) is already included in the miscellaneous. You have to buy notebooks outside (or ordinary ones in their bookstore. They don’t have custom notebooks).
The miscellaneous also includes access/subscription to a private web library.
ANGELICUM IMMANUEL MONTESSORI (BACOOR)
I believe there is a branch in General Trias and I saw some good reviews of that branch. The reviews I’ve read also sworn to the school being an authentic Montessori. If you are unfamiliar with the Montessori method of teaching, read up some here.
So, anyway. I’m all for a Montessori school (can you hear a “but” coming?)
However, this particular Montessori (I mean this particular branch), is too small. And I mean really small. I don’t think the whole school is bigger than 200 square meters, and yet I was told that they do have high school students in the branch. Yeah, space is my only beef in the school (assuming they do practice Montessori effectively).
They have a small open area in the front and smaller still classrooms. The classrooms, though, look newer (newer chairs and all) and they do use whiteboard.
The area in the front (which really looked like a house garage) I gather, is where they do flag ceremonies and Boy/Girl Scout Investitures (and possibly other activities). For bigger school activities, they use venues like Island Cove. This is good– or bad, depending on how you look at it, really.
Some objective and subjective observations:
I asked if I can look around but I was only shown the grade 2 classroom (my kid is incoming grade 2). I didn’t see any Montessori materials in the room. It was as bare as an empty fridge after it was ransacked by a perpetually hungry six-year old. So, after I took my fill of the room, I stood expectantly outside in the school ground, but no offer to look around came. This was even after I gestured towards the room upstairs and expressed my curiosity over the other rooms in the ground floor. I probably should have just asked again directly, I know.
Anyway, I came back the following day for a second look –figuratively and literally (‘coz I really wanted to like the school). Another teacher answered other questions I remembered to ask, like how structured their lessons are (because it’s a Montessori). I was told that they do not do mixed-age groupings for academic lessons and that weekly lessons are still expected to be followed by the student.
Here comes a highly subjective observation and you’re welcome to ignore it: the teacher I spoke to used ungrammatical English sentences. (Sorry, I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to grammar. It’s my work. I’d be long dead if I wasn’t *shrug*). BUT, I’m totally OK with that, I just hope he doesn’t teach English.
Nevertheless, he showed me around very kindly (and patiently), so I can tell you that the hallways and the stairs on the second floor of the building are hazard-proofed. I saw slip guards, trip-proofed stairs and screen covering all fall-prone open spaces and windows.
The computer room looks OK, as do the computers (although I didn’t ask about specs). They have a speech lab and a rather tiny library (the size is similar to a small closet).
Teacher-student ratio – 1:20
Medium of teaching – English
Progressive education practices – Montessori
Engages in school competitions – Yes
Discounts for honor students – Yes
Sibling discounts: Yes
School service – Yes
TUITION for Lower Elementary Department (as of School Yr 2016-2017)
tuition fee (including miscellaneous) – 27, 915.10
books – 6, 250
*Note – the miscellaneous fee includes notebooks.
CASA DE SAN MIGUEL MONTESSORI SCHOOL
I’ve read a review about this school being dark inside, so I never planned on checking it (Moral lesson: visit the school regardless of a review you’ve read and heard). I gave it a chance after a recommendation from a neighbor (and because none of the schools I have visited quite cut it). I’m not saying they’re bad, they just don’t have the qualities I’m looking for.
OK. So, the gate of the school can be found in a secluded nook of a very big open space con basketball court and parking lot with access from the main road. There’s a long paved alleyway for pedestrians that pleasantly reminds me of “big school” entrances and which leads directly to the gate. This spacious area quickly erased the inadequately lit impression I got from that review. And even though I noticed that the canteen to which the entrance immediately open to didn’t have enough natural light permeating through, it wasn’t sufficient enough to dent my first own impression of the school having “big, naturally lit open spaces”.
Past that canteen is a gap in between buildings that lend light through the hallway. I also remember seeing a tree with a bench around it through a passageway going to a covered and dark (yes) empty space they probably use for activities. The rooms have part-glass walls on the side of the hallway, so they didn’t appear dark to me, as well.
I saw Montessori materials on low shelves by the wall and the chairs were arranged around a square table. There were, I think, about five tables with four chairs each. Definitely not lecture-type arrangement. They also practice individualized (i.e. one-on-one) teaching.
They use Montessori materials for English, Science and Math. They teach Chemistry in grade 4, Geometry in grade 2 and generally introduce 2nd-year-high-school subjects to grade 4. Their pre-school students move-up to grade 1 with reading and cursive-writing skills.
It all sounded great but it also got me worrying, especially after I learned that solving division problems, the concept of which wasn’t even adequately introduced to grade 1 in my kid’s previous school, was already taught to their grade 1 students.
The downside in all these, at least in my opinion, is that they do not have honor system. I was told I can always ask for my child’s standing in the class but that this isn’t posted, and because they do not rank students, they do not verbally announce any class standing either. What this means, at least for me, is that I can forget about collecting medals each school year and framing each one to proudly display how my kid got the highest honor every single year that he was at school. *deep sigh*
What they do have is a ranking for who got the highest score for every subject every periodical test.
Teacher-student ratio – 1:20
Medium of teaching – English
Progressive education practices – Montessori
Engages in school competitions – Yes
Discounts for honor students – No
Sibling discounts: I forgot to ask (sorry!)
School service – Yes
TUITION including miscellaneous (as of School Yr 2016-2017)
Casa – 44, 000
Grade 1-3 – 45, 000
Grade 4-6 – 46,000
Grade 7-8 – 48,000
Grade 9-11 – 49,000
Books (depends on level) – 4,000 (grade 2)
*Note – miscellaneous does not include notebooks. Custom notebooks can be bought from the school.
If you’re curious about what school we eventually went to, it’s Casa de San Miguel Montessori School. Or did you guess that already?
After some significant soul-searching (being dramatic can be fun sometimes), I enrolled my kid at the school. I know that academic honors, at the end of the day, aren’t what makes a person successful, but I’ve seen the effect of receiving medals in my kid. It’s confidence-boosting, serotonin-inducing, effort-gratifying and rewarding all round not just for him but for everyone, as well. I’m not gonna lie, it’s always a proud-parent-moment each time we go up the stage, and it’s probably just me who’s more concerned about medals and honors than my kid himself.
But, there were no other schools nearby (I do not want to subject my kid to a long travel everyday). St. Mark could easily have been my second choice if not for the fact that they do not have an advanced curriculum. So, we decided to compromise. No more medals and honors. But at least we are sure that The Kid is studying lessons for higher levels. Plus, there is good in not having an honor system, I know that. I’m just being obstinate and refusing to see it (*whisper* I got that from my father).
So, yeah, we picked Casa de San Miguel, and I hope this post will help you in searching for schools in Cavite. I am happy with Casa de San Miguel, thus far (notice this was published one month after school opened). During the orientation, they hammered on the school having an advanced curriculum. They told us stories about students who left and studied abroad, and didn’t feel left behind. They told us about students who topped college entrance tests (UP and LaSalle). They recounted stories about their average students who turned out weren’t average outside, but Dean’s Listers in their respective colleges. And they told us about bench-marking and getting books abroad, not just here in the country. Of course, all that is just talk. Still, I am looking forward to my kid passing the UPCAT, assuming he’d agree to go there. Wish me luck?
