GreenLeaf School

I send my 2 children to Greenleaf School. Overall, my son has been attending for 2+ years. Because the preschool is in Ms. Jasmine’s home, and because of the warm, caring teachers, it has a home-​like atmosphere that is unduplicated in any other bilingual preschool in the area. What other school has a family dog that hangs out and plays with the children? Greenleaf is like a second home to my kids. The school is so flexible with the hours and days, which is also unusual.

Greenleaf is a great bilingual school. My son has been going there for a year, since he was two, and he loves it there. All the kids I have seen there always seem so happy (exactly like the cover photo on Unilocal!). The director of the school Jasmine has spent a lot of effort to build up the premises and to make it as homely as possible. The school is based in her house, but her family occupies a different section of the house; i.e. the areas that are used for the school are not occupied by the family — an uncommon trait among home-​based schools. The main features of the school:
1. it has a huge outdoor play area containing large, elaborate play structures, tricycles, a resident dog, bunnies and other animals, a large sand pit, even a small little hill that kinds can play on! There is also a large outdoor shaded patio where a good part of the day is spent, weather permitting. Morning circle time, nap times and specific parts of the day are spent indoor, providing a cosy and calming environment for the kids.
2. well thought-​out curriculum — every month has a theme e.g. last month was about spring (rainbows, butterflies, eggs, easter) this month is about space (planets, the moon and astronauts etc) with really cool themes ever so often (e.g. dinosaur day, learning about seeds day, origami day, making snow day) with a focus on science-​based experiments (e.g. how things dissolve, light diffracts, etc). Activities in class revolve around these themes and the school not only has a huge expanse of resources (books, toys, etc) but it also encourages the kids to reuse materials to craft all sorts of things based on these themes. During certain occasions (e.g. someone’s birthday) there are also cooking sessions where the kids get involved!
3. field trips — about once or twice a month the school brings the kids on field trips. Some are more «educational». e.g. a trip to the dentist, to see the backroom operations of trader joes, to the library, etc or else it involves more «for fun» stuff like visiting a playgym, a pumpkin patch, or just a neighbourhood walk or a trip to the park to splash around with water when it is raining. My son gets very excited about field trips!
4. small enrollment with many caring teachers — meaning the kids get lots of love and attention. There is a resident granny and a resident chef, who is also a male teacher. It’s so precious that the kids get exposed to such a wide range of teachers at such a young age, especially given that this is such a small school to begin with.
5. photos — for most days photos of the kids doing various activities are taken and shared with the parents through google+, which is a great way to give the parents insight into what goes on in school.
the school may not be very articulate or pedantic about its philosophy but the director works incredibly hard and endeavors to provide a safe, caring and fun environment for the kids to learn through both free and structured play. My son not only mastered his ABCs from the school but he comes home singing chinese songs and tells me how much fun he had smothering shaving foam all over his arms!

I send my two boys to Greenleaf school. I love that it is intimate (not too big) and that they have just the right balance. The main thing is that I’m impressed on how hard Jasmine and her team tries to engage the kids. I can tell that they really care about the kids. And I’m super comfortable sending my boys here.
They are very creative in engaging the kids. Eg the theme one week was about farm animals and they even recreated cow udders out of a plastic bag and water to get the kids to experience what it’s like to milk a cow.
The outdoor play area is a nice garden with a play structure, apple trees, rabbits and chickens!
They are super in keeping in touch with the parents through google plus. Every day, I get albums of pictures of what the kids are up to. And I must say I am impressed by the activities.
It’s certainly not your usual Chinese immersion school. It’s a Chinese school with the right balance of fun, creativity, heart and learning.

To all prospective parents:
I would highly recommend GreenLeaf Immersion School to any parent who wants to see their child both succeed and be happy. There is a pre-​school program that was greatly receptive for my son, as well as wonderful camps when school is out. I heard there is also an after-​school program for kids as old as 12 — I will definitely keep that in mind for when my son ages.
My son attended the Winter Camp in 2009. He fell in love with the whole school, as did I. He is coming back every time he does not have school and we will see if they have room for him when the school year is over.
The facilities are clean and very impressive. It did used to be a home but it was re-​done beautifully. There are areas for the children to have quiet time, as well as play and designated learning classrooms. The backyard is huge and has two separate play areas — one for big kids, and one for little kids. There are so many activities and lessons for the kids to learn from and enjoy. Their curriculum is very impressive. The teachers are compassionate and very knowledgeable.
The field trips are amazing and creative. My son especially loved the horseback riding and ice skating. The teachers always seem to find ways to relate the trips to the lessons they are teaching — like learning new words or learning the history of an activity.
My son’s Mandarin improved greatly in just those two weeks! The staff speaks Mandarin to the children about 95% of the time, or more. His ear for the language is great now!
I would recommend this school to any parent, without hesitation.

I sent my daughter to Greenleaf Childcare during most weeks from 2009 – 2011. I have also sent my son there regularly during school vacations. I have been delighted with the facility, the staff, and the standard of care. Everyone who works there goes the extra mile to provide a safe and educational experience for the children. The leadership provided by Jasmine Yap is unparalleled. She has an amazing commitment to the children and it shows in everything she does. On top of all that the food is delicious and nutritious. My only regret is that I didn’t find out about Greenleaf earlier so that my son could have gone there full-​time too. The place he went was also very good, but Greenleaf exceeded all my expectations on what a childcare facility could be. I would warmly recommend any parent sending their child to Greenleaf. It is an exceptional place.

My daughter has been going to GreenLeaf School since Feb. this year, the low teacher ratio and the Chinese immersion program were the main reasons we decided to send our daughter there. So far GreenLeaf has done potty training for us, because our son didn’t get trained until 4 years old, we were very laid back on training my daughter at 2.5 years old, next thing I know is that she is completely trained and asked me to take her diaper off at home.
GreenLeaf School is very organic, they have all kinds of fruit trees and a veggie garden in the backyard, often times the kids will just point to which apple they want, the teacher will peel it right there. GreenLeaf School also provides all meals and snacks, it saved me tons of time to pack lunch etc for my daughter. Some times, little things help a lot.