Canossian School was first recommended to us by the audiological team from NUH when Zaneta was  about 4 years old. As we live in Jurong and to think of the distance we had to commute each day put me right off initially. However, we also realised that this is the school caters to hearing-impaired children and the teachers and staff are also well trained.

Sending Zaneta to Canossian School was the best decision we made and we are ever grateful to former principal, Ms Terry for accepting her. All these years, the school had provided Zaneta with all her audiological needs and support through regular hearing assessments and changing her ear moulds ever so often, special thanks to Mr. Hamid. It had also helped groomed and nurtured my little girl.

Zaneta’s transition to her new school, St. Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School was also made easier thanks to her former teachers, Ms Elaine and Ms Tay. Arranging Zoom meetings with her future Form Teachers to discuss how best to help these girls(with hearing impairment) integrate into their new school. We sincerely thank you

We like to take this time to thank and congratulate Ms Christina for this wonderful and loving team she has at Canossian School. A special shout out to Ms Elaine, Ms Tay, Mdm Sitti, Mdm Lim, Mrs Tamil, Ms Tang, Mr. Ivan, Mr. Hamid, Mrs Ng, Pei Yun, Mrs Doris Ang, Mr. Koh, Uncle Tan and Mr Bernard(for watching over our children and keeping them safe) and also all the teachers not mentioned here. We thank you.

After 7 years at Canossian School (including 1 year at Kindergarten), when it was time for her to move on to the next chapter of her life, we were overwhelmed with sadness because of this special bond and friendship we had established with the teachers and staff. Just like saying goodbye to a friend.

I know that many parents would have wanted to express their gratitude and thanks to this school too, so we will say it on their behalf.

We Thank You and Miss you All!

Best Regards,

Bobby Chan & Family

It was in June 2017 that we had learned our three-and-a-half-year-old daughter was suffering from a moderate to severe hearing loss. After the initial wave of sadness and questioning as to why our kid, we began to research how, as parents, we could provide the best future for our daughter. Our initial worry was first her special educational needs, then the financial implications associated with it.

At that time, we were clueless about the education system in Singapore and more importantly or specifically that of a child with special needs. Then, one day, on our audiologist’s suggestion, we googled 'Canossian School' and found out about this. We were quite happy about the school and its dual system in particular.

But, unfortunately around the year 2019, our daughter’s hearing loss had progressed/worsened, and she required cochlear implant surgery as a result. During that time, I attended a meeting organized by Cochlear where I met Mrs Doris from Canossian School. From her, we were able to get a clear picture of the school’s structure and the fees which we found reasonable too.

By this time, we were very eager to send our daughter to Canossian School. During an initial visit to school guided by Mrs Doris, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of care our daughter would be receiving at the school especially in the acoustically-treated classroom environment. We were also pleased to note the school was genuinely interested in the holistic upbringing of the child with special needs and our daughter was not just another student on their enrolment list.

So, we decided to send our daughter to Canossian School in January 2020 and we have no doubt now that it was one of the best decisions that we have made for our daughter. Because, since then, we have been observing among other things huge improvements in her etiquette as well. Her vocabulary is expanding day by day and she is now using newly learned words in her everyday life. She has gained a lot of confidence, easily mixes with other children and converses well with her teachers.

During the home-based learning system, we also observed that teachers are using various resources to teach concepts. Our daughter feels comfortable at school and her need is attended by teachers along with the team of audiologists present at school. We thank God for guiding us to select this amazing school for our daughter to start her education during the hardest time of our lives.

Our son’s name is Daniel Sundaram. He is 7 years, 9 months old and is a Primary 2 student in Canossian School.

In 2016, when we sent Daniel to the nursery of a nearby preschool, his teacher gave us feedback that his response to her calling was very poor and he did not speak well. During the June holidays, we went to India for a vacation and brought him to an ENT doctor, who advised us to let Daniel take a hearing test. We were shocked when the results showed that he has profound hearing loss. However, we did not know much about hearing loss, so we decided to use normal hearing aids for him, and returned to Singapore. In Singapore, we made an appointment to see the ENT Dr. Loh in NUH and followed up with the audiologist and speech therapists in NUH. Meanwhile, we received an appointment in NUH CDU with Dr. Kalyani. During the discussion with MSW, we came to know about Canossian School and applied for the K1 Early Intervention Programme for Infants & Children (EIPIC) in Canossian School. That was the turning point in Daniel’s life and his progress. Sending him to Canossian School every day from our home, which is very far, was very challenging, yet we did it for his good. Once he started attending Canossian School, we saw an improvement in his responses. However, he was struggling with his normal hearing aid and not hear well with it.

In mid-2017, on the advice of the NUH doctor and audiologist, we decided to go for cochlear implants and Daniel was implanted in December 2017. The cochlear implant helped Daniel to hear better and with the kind support from the Canossian School teachers and staff, we can see a great improvement in many areas of his life today. They helped build his confidence and improved his communication skills. They went the extra mile to help him personally with any weakness he has.

Moreover, Canossian school teachers and staff provide after school curriculum activities and other engaging and educational programmes to improve Daniel’s speech and overall progress.  We take this opportunity to thank everyone in Canossian School who has been supporting Daniel thus far.

After Rachel was diagnosed with hearing impairment and fitted with hearing aids when she was seven months old, I brought her to KK Hospital (KKH) nearly every week to see the Audio-Visual Therapist (AVT). Because she was picking up language skills very slowly, the AVT suggested surgery for a cochlear implant and the operation was done when she was two. After that, we had to go to KKH every week to see the AVT. After the implant, I could see that she was now picking up language quite fast with more words and short sentences starting to come out from her.

Rachel was encouraged to go to the playgroup when she was three to pick up her social skills. It was also at this age that she was introduced to go for music therapy with SGH as she had some problems picking up some higher frequency words. It was the music therapist who suggested Rachel go to Canossian School to attend the Early Intervention Programme for Infant and Child (EIPIC) program. Before this suggestion, I had already heard some parents talking about Canossian School and the support program it provides for hearing-impaired children.

Rachel started attending Canossian School when she was four. She was attending PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergarten in the morning and Canossian School in the afternoon for the EIPIC program. Due to the smaller class size at Canossian School, she can pick up even more language. She was trained to ask for things that she needed and perhaps most importantly being able to change her own batteries, become more aware when the device is down and to familiarize herself with the FM usage and its importance.

Moreover, the school has loving and patient teachers to guide the children. The children also felt more comfortable in the school because everyone has the same impairment and it boosts the confidence of the children when it comes to making friends. I felt this helped a lot as social interactions for children with hearing impairment may be very challenging and with the increased confidence, they will find it easier to adapt to life in a more “main-stream” setting such as Canossa Convent Primary School

Rachel is now 10 and is still happy and coping well with lots of friends at Canossian School.

We first learned about our son, Lucas, through a Channel News Asia (CNA) documentary about the plight of orphans with various disabilities in China.  He was one of the four individuals featured in the documentary.  As a family, we felt moved to adopt him, believing that his medical condition of bilateral Microtia (the congenital deformity where the pinna (external ear) is underdeveloped) and Atresia (the absence of ear canals) were challenges we could handle.  We knew from the documentary that he had been fitted with a Bone-anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) and thus could hear.

After a long adoption process, Lucas arrived in Singapore in February 2018.  At this time, we were totally unaware and did not expect that there would be any significant public resources for children with hearing impairment.  We were prepared to homeschool him for as long as it was feasible and necessary, accessing private resources as needed to get him the assistance he would need. Thus, we were pleasantly surprised to be told by a stranger who had heard about our adoption to consider getting in touch with the Canossian School as a primary educational institution specializing in educating hearing-impaired children.

Since our initial contact with Mrs Doris Ang and Ms Christina Michael, the principal, Canossian has been a God-sent.  Being a very sociable individual, Lucas is thriving at the school making numerous friends, enjoying interacting with his many teachers, and picking up on the English language at a rapid rate considering that, up till the age of 7+, he had essentially not spoken a word of the language.

The small class size of a handful of students, the shared struggle with hearing challenges, and the dedication of resources to empower the children in their learning have all contributed to helping children like Lucas gain confidence and strive towards ever greater integration into the mainstream educational system as each is able.  Lucas would not be where he is today, if it were not for being at Canossian.

Dear Ms Christina,

We are writing to inform you that our child Obnial Renz Joaquin Songco, is withdrawing from Canossian School and will not complete the current school year starting from August 1, 2022. He will instead be attending a private school in Australia for the remainder of this school year.

Please accept our overflowing gratitude to the Principal, teachers, Sisters, and school staff who gave our son support during his stay in Canossian School. We will forever treasure and will always keep a place in our hearts the knowledge, skills and valuable lessons that everyone has taught not only to our son but as well as to us parents. Canossian School has made a great impact to us in upbringing our son. We enjoyed our journey here and we have seen Joaquin grow as a person. Canossian School has been Joaquin's second home for 16 months and he will definitely miss studying here. This has really been the most difficult decision we have made, but at the same time we are excited and looking forward to beginning a new life as a family in Australia.

We are sincerely thankful for the opportunity to be a part of your wonderful family. Thank you for all the guidance, support, and patience you had shown to our son.

We wish you and everyone at Canossian School a continued success in the future.

Sincerely,

Obnial Renz Bryan Vendiola

Father of Joaquin

Our Dream School

Our last hope of recovering from failing the neonatal hearing test evaporated when the final report of diagnosis of our 3-month-old son was announced to us.  We were devastated while thinking, what went wrong, and why us? Whatever the reason for hearing loss may be, we had no other choice but to accept it as our fate and to move ahead.

We were looking for the information of proper schooling while running up & down, to and from hospital for various therapies, counselling, specialist consultations and aiding our son with hearing devices. One day, while talking with a social worker from AWWA (Asian Women’s’ Welfare Association) School, we first came to know about Canossian School.

We then contacted the Canossian School manager about an admission opportunity for our hearing- impaired son. They told us that this school takes hearing-impaired children aided with hearing aids and implants. However, the school may not admit children with other disabilities if the other disabilities are beyond acceptable level.

We were delighted and partially relieved when our child was accepted in Canossian School for N2 (Nursery 2) level admission. You might wonder why we mention “partially relieved”, but it is because being foreign residents here, the cost of school fees is much higher for us than for citizens and PRs, and no government grants are available. Our concern was alleviated when we received some remission from kindergarten fees.

We are impressed seeing the “Core Values” of the school and the school living by the values.

We feel that the school has set the curriculum and training programmes for the holistic development of hearing-impaired children and makes efforts to receive feedback and develop in areas where needed.

Another very important and desirable fact of the school is that almost all the services required for these children’s education and training are available under the same roof or in the adjacent compounds of sister entities. These services include but are not limited to pre-schooling facility, mainstream primary schooling, post school caring, therapy services and audiological services (hearing instruments daily condition assessment, troubleshooting & repair facility and availability of spare parts, etc.).

We are very glad to interact with the specially trained, empathetic, teachers who are very cooperative and approachable. The school sets and monitors each child’s learning programmes based on his/her capability and communicates with us in a timely manner. From time to time, the school also arranges parents group meetings (physical, and virtual during pandemic situation) which are very helpful and informative as parents and the school can share experiences, challenges, and knowledge with each other.

In the end, we are highly satisfied with the admission of our child and with the service, cooperation and parental guidance we regularly receive from the school.