Woodland or Tutor Time

Dear Moms, would be grateful to hear from both Woodland and TT Moms - we are trying to decide where to put our twins in a couple of months (when they are 18 mnths old). We are currently signed up for Woodland but someone mentioned that TT is more structured and a bit more "educational" and Woodland is more of just play? I have not had a chance to look into both properly, so please let me know your thoughts!

thank you joshmomm - I might do that, also I might PM you - which TT are you - am thinking about Red Hill..

Have not used the nursery school at either, but my son went to playgroups at both. Agree with above; Tutor Time is much more structured, which for us was a disaster. Depends on the child, I guess, but I thought that 15 minutes free play in an hour and a half was totally insufficient for such a young child (started before he was 12 months old). If you want a more rigourous programme from a young age, then TT is probably your best bet.


I much preferred the Montessori approach at Woodland. That said, when one teacher left the school, she was replaced by someone who barely paid lip service to the Montessori method and seemed much less 'natural' with the children.

oh dear, this is quite tough - one one hand I am thinking "they are only 18 mnths let them play!" on the other hand "at that money they might as well go to our playground! and I need some structure for them" - I have no idea, as someone suggested to me - I think I will try a trial class with both... thank you for all your input!!

My daughter has attending a Woodlands school for about a year now and loves it. I think she does a nice mix of play, craft, music as well as some structure learning. Afraid I lean towards the "they're only kids, let them play" school of thought. She's only 3. I figure she's got enough years of serious schooling ahead of her, I'll let her play a bit now!

Must say that I was attracted to TT by the bilingual programme too, and they did that part well. However, the 'playgroup' involved very little play. The Village time was limited to about 15 minutes, which flew by. I wish we had your child's teacher joshmomm, who clearly 'gets' young children.


Our experience was that it was extremely rigourous. The teacher started by expressing disbelief that my son was not walking when he started at about 12 months. When he did start a month later she said that it was 'about time'. She was soon sorry that he was mobile though, as he was often tempted by the shelves of toys in the room when the children should have been singing etc. She shouted at him on more than one occassion. I counted myself lucky though as she grabbed a friend's child by the shoulder when he helped himself to some toys and left him screaming. I stuck with it for a while, because I was assured that the children get to enjoy the routine and there were some lovely children there. In the end I decided that it was best to let him be an 18 month old and play naturally. He met some really great friends there with whom we arrange regular playdates.


The Mandarin teacher at the time was excellent and used much more gentle coaching than chastising. She did confess after I said that we were leaving that she thought that the children would gain more from exposure to the language in amore relaxed environment, such as speaking to them in Putongua during 'Village Time' play etc.


My only experience of Woodland was of playgroup with an English Monessori teacher who was outstanding. She was a real natural, but has since left HK.

The Woodland group of schools consists of Montessori and "traditional" schools. For example, there are two schools in Repulse Bay - the one at the Repulse Bay Hotel is Montessori and the one at 98 Repulse Bay Road is traditional.


The traditional schools are more "structured" and are run according to the UK Curriculum for kindergartens. I have had two children at Woodland traditional schools and have been very happy with them. Personally I much prefer the traditional method over Montessori - I like that the few hours that are spent there are structured - circle time, play time, snack time, art & craft time, etc., etc. Obviously this is a very personal choice...