School Series #1: The schools we’ve gone to: types of schools in Malaysia
This is the start of a series of posts I’m going to write about education and schooling in Malaysia.
Those of you who follow me on Instagram might have picked up that I am currently in the process of considering a school change for Fighter (and Penny). I’ve been getting a barrage of DMs and was surprised by the interest taken in our choices and decisions but then I should have known! (Some more some people said they decided to send their kids to Chinese school because of me. *teary eyed*) I can totally understand the bewilderment we as Malaysian parents in this beautiful messy country face when it comes to choosing schools for our offspring.
I thought it would be interesting to write a series of posts focusing on what we’ve learned and experienced regarding schooling in Malaysia, for you guys to refer to!
In this ‘School Series’, I will be covering a variety of topics, from the types of schools we have available in Malaysia, to our various school experiences, to why we made the choices we did, and what to look for when school hunting.
Disclaimer: Since I am not an expert nor professional, this series will focus heavily on our family’s own experience, my children’s educational history, and what I have learned over the years as a mother, living in Malaysia. If you have further knowledge or perspective, please share with us in the comments! I will be revisiting these posts in the months to come and update them with additional information as I learn more. So please subscribe to my blog to get updates!
A very brief, very rough overview of schools in Malaysia
Our public education is divided into two main categories - primary and secondary education. Primary school is for children aged 7 to 12 (Standard 1 to Standard 6), while secondary school is for ages 13 to 17 (Form 1 to Form 5). Our version of the O levels, the SPM, is sat for at the end of Form 5.
Our public schools are further categorized by medium of instruction - the schools that teach in Malay are called National Schools, the schools that teach in minority languages like Chinese or Tamil are called National-type Schools. Whew, are you still following me wtf.
Preschool/nursery/kindergarten/reception (if it’s a British school) - they’re all names of the same thing - is not mandated here but it’s highly popular, especially in the urban areas, with most people sending their children to school from the age of three (or two if you’re kan cheong) until they’re six.
Now, on to private schools. Private education is a different matter and here’s where it can get a bit headache-y. Private school is any school that is run privately. Some may offer the national syllabus, others an “international” curriculum which could be anything from British to American to Australian to International Baccalaureate (IB).
So many choices!
(School fees range from RM20,000 a year to up to RM100,000 a year, even in primary school. The older the child, the more expensive usually. This is a big leap from government schools which are free.)
There are other kinds of schools too within the government system - sports schools, religious schools, vocational schools, etc - but for the purpose of this blog post I won’t be touching on them. There’s a pretty comprehensive list here on Wikipedia if you’re interested.
Now that we’re done with that, Imma delve into my kids’ schools to give you some context as to our choices.
Julia Gabriel is an education center that offers a variety of programs from early learning, holiday programs, and speech and drama.
Play Nest: I first heard about Julia Gabriel when they approached me as an influencer to collaborate. Their offering for very young children is Play Nest, a program for babies aged 12-18 months. They call it school but really, it was a twice weekly program, with each session about 1.5 to 2 hours long. It was parent accompanied, and featured lots of story telling, songs and music, skits with puppets or teachers acting, sensory and messy play, and arts and crafts.
Play Club: Play Club is the program for 18 months to 3 years. It’s basically the same thing as Play Nest, but for older toddlers. Age appropriate independence was encouraged – I remember the children being led to the bathroom to wash their own hands, then lining up to get their snacks and eating independently.
My verdict: Obviously these are not necessary programs, and definitely not if budget is an issue. However, as a young (ahem) mom with time on my hands, I loved it. I loved the novelty of “going to school” with my baby and watching him interact with new environments and people. Plus it was a good way for me and baby to bond, and for me to meet other moms and find support in motherhood.
I would note that Penny never did Play Nest; when it was her turn, I felt it wasn’t necessary – she already had her big brother to play with, and by then I had a strong circle of mommy friends with whom we had play dates with. I did sign her up for Independent Play Club when she turned two, which is the same as PC except they went in without parents. By then I was getting busier, and she was also a more independent toddler than Fighter. :’) #secondchildthings
Chiltern House
Nursery 1 and Nursery 2 (age 3 and 4)
Chiltern House is the preschool and kindergarten arm of Julia Gabriel. I chose to go here because I already liked the school, and more importantly the school is bilingual. Each class is run by two teachers – one who speaks exclusively in English, the other exclusively in Chinese. The idea was total language immersion so children would learn both languages.
My verdict: I don’t think Chiltern subscribed to any of the well known early education philosophies like Montessori or Reggio Emilia but rather ran their own style. I remember there being quite a good balance of physical activity and play, first forays into reading & writing, arts and crafts, and music and performances. I think they also focus quite a bit on speech and drama – getting kids comfortable going up in front of an audience, and lots of Show & Tell.
Bonus: they led me to potty train Fighter so I’m very appreciative of that hahahaha cos honestly I had no idea how to start. (Penny was already potty trained by the time she started at Chiltern, this champ wtf.)
I will note that Penny only did Nursery 1 at Chiltern. When she turned 4, I put her into Chinese kindergarten with Fighter who was by then 6, so that I only needed to do one school run.
I will also note that recently I’ve heard that Chiltern is having some internal issues and the standard of education has dropped which is sad cos we really enjoyed school there. D:
Chinese medium Kindergarten
Kindergarten 1, Kindergarten 2
When Fighter turned five, I enrolled him into a full Chinese medium kindergarten for his last two years before primary school. Being a ‘banana’, or an ethnically Chinese person who doesn’t speak Chinese, I really wanted my kids to learn Mandarin. It was why I chose Chiltern House and why I decided to go for full blown Chinese kindergarten – I hoped this gradual progress into Mandarin would ease their way when they start Chinese primary school.
The school was popular with many English speaking families, so most of the kids still spoke English to each other lol. The teachers spoke Chinese but would often translate themselves into English to make sure the kids understood. Classes were bigger, around 30 kids to a classroom. Teachers were stricter, I assume because it’s Chinese school plus the kids were older. Work was more academic – they had one page of Chinese writing homework a day.
My verdict: Obviously no such thing as Montessori or child led learning or whatever here, it was practice for real Chinese school hahaha. More academic and their first introduction to homework, but both kids had the same class teacher whom they loved because while she could be strict, she was also young, fun and genuinely loved kids. Significant time was still allocated to play and music and arts and crafts. The school is also great at big celebrations – they celebrated every cultural festival, especially the Chinese ones like CNY and Mid Autumn Festival, had a big Sports Day, and even a massive Children’s Day which I remember was essentially a DIY amusement park built by the affiliated high school kids. Good times wtf.
Chinese school
Currently they’re both in a SJKC, a Chinese medium primary school. Penny is in Standard 1, Fighter is in Standard 3. If you’re not familiar with Chinese school, it’s synonymous with tons of homework, drilling and memorization, and corporal punishment lol. Chinese school for them doesn’t seem as bad as the horror stories of my childhood. I don’t know if it’s their particular school but homework is very manageable, a few pages a day at the most, and weekly spelling tests for English, Chinese, and BM. No exams because that’s been abolished, but they do have something called ‘assessments’ which seem quite chill to me.
We have encountered one or two teachers who seem um unreasonable - hitting kids with rulers and meting out punishments for simple mistakes - but from our personal experience, they’re only a few and usually from the older generation. (The younger classes get assigned younger teachers who are supposed to be less uhh grumpy and I assume more energy to deal with their antics hahaha.)
I will share more about our Chinese school experience in a later article. In the meantime, to parents who are starting your kids’ education journey, I hope this goes a little way to help you make a decision.
xo,
Aud.
Hi Audrey, thanks for the interesting sharing. I'm a first time mom here and planning to send my toddler to preschool next year.. It's really interesting to know that you sent them to Chinese kindergarten just so they can slowly adapt to Chinese primary school later on which I feel it's a great idea. I have never think of this before. Something for me to put this into consideration next time.
Thanks for sharing this, Audrey! Been waiting for this cos I am currently considering primary school for my boy. I was also considering SRJKC because of you (I wanted my children to learn Chinese but now reconsidering also because I want my boy to enjoy learning and felt chinese school may not be the kind of environment he will thrive in. Looking forward to the next post of this series.