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Sophia Lam

Twenty years ago in September, Suzanne Barroero founded the French private preschool Lou Pichoun near Stanley’s sun-drenched beaches. There was only one classroom then.
From there, the school slowly grew into the six classrooms today, two of which are now in Happy Valley.
When Nicole Tam took over 17 years ago, she was not the only bidder.
“Suzanne could’ve sold the place to the person with the most money, but she liked my idea and concept [in education],” she says. Tam has run Lou Pichoun ever since.

Nicole Tam, headmaster of Lou Pichoun.
A former dancer and model, Tam says she has always been surrounded by people who work in the arts.
“I’ve always liked children and the arts,” she says. “Even when I hadn’t started working with schools, I used to bunch up children and teach them dancing or art, simply because I enjoyed it.”
One day, she "just decided" it was time to get closer to children.
"So I took some courses at the British Council to teach English as a foreign language,” Tam says. “Little by little, my love for this built up." Which is why Tam jumped at the opportunity when Barroero sought someone to take over her school.
Schooling the Parents
Tam sticks to her mantra: “I’d rather lose a student than do something that I don’t believe in.”
Such words might sound a bit “rebellious” for the head of a private preschool in Hong Kong, a city where parents often control schools' operations. However, Tam is determined to put the interest of the child before anything else.

Tam is determined to get her priorities straight.
Indeed, Lou Pichoun has reminded one mother of its priorities. “The parent wanted us to [assign] her child to a French classroom because his friend was there; but the child didn’t speak enough French and would probably use English in class the whole time,” Tam says.
In the end, the school rejected the mother's request, and she stopped sending her child to the school.
“We really respect our parents, but you will have to trust us,” Tam says.
In elitist Hong Kong, where parents often compete hard for places in prestigious schools, preschool educators are often torn between meeting parents’ expectations and keeping their children happy. However, Tam has a word for pushy parents.
“If I may say—and I don’t mean to be arrogant—[that it is important to] educate the parents against putting tremendous, unnecessary pressure on their children,” she says.

What more do you want for a three-year-old child?

Lou Pichoun may not guarantee that all children would be on the same educational level, "but I can make sure that your child will have more incentive to learn, be happy, excited to come to school and have self-confidence", Tam says. "What more do you want for a three-year-old child? A super mathematician? Sure, we do have exercises and programmes, but everyone progresses at their own pace, and we are here to help those who need help.”
Tam says her role is to get the students enthusiastic about learning. “If you force knowledge into their little brains, they will only be doing so to please their parents,” she says.
Speaking the same language
Close to Stanley's parks and beach, Lou Pichoun seems detached from bustling Hong Kong's skyscrapers.
“It’s like a village here in Stanley, one that reminds the children of their hometown,” Tam says.

Kids can go out and play at the park near the Stanley classrooms.
Instead of clustering all classrooms in a complex like many “traditional” kindergartens, the Stanley campus' four classrooms sprawl across their hilly landscape in a labyrinth of alleys. They also have Hong Kong inspired names such as "Dim Sum" and "Bauhinia".
French is compulsory at Lou Pichoun, Tam says. In rare cases, however, “if a kid only wants to join the English class in the afternoon, I’m still happy to take them in”, she says.
All morning classes are in French; and in the afternoon Tam ensures there will be French, English and Putonghua in the Stanley classrooms. Putonghua will not be available to students in Happy Valley, the school adds.
About 95 per cent of Lou Pichoun's pupils are French. With such a high Francophone ratio and a maximum of seven tots max per class, non-French speaking students find it easy to pick up the language.
The school is not affiliated with the French Education Bureau, but follows the French national education system's curriculum, targets, and evaluation.
“The French education system serves as our guideline, which is the same worldwide," Tam says. "Most of our children go to the French International School afterwards, so they can adjust very well to the programme there. For those who move on to different systems, [Lou Pichoun] also works for them because our programme is very thorough.”
Instilling creativity in young minds
Many preschools highlight how they nurture children's creativity, but Lou Pichoun takes its programme beyond the usual toilet rolls with sticky eyes. Its students get to experiment with papier-mâché, and even costume-making during the school carnival.

Tots at Lou Pichoun make their own costumes during school carnivals.
“We emphasise the arts and crafts,” Tam says, as she carefully extracts one of her students’ art portfolios from a mountain of files.
Each of these portfolios records a student’s art pieces over the school-years, and range from rock-leaf collages to more complicated patterns generated with various shapes and colours. For parents and teachers, it is a record of the child’s creative progress; and for children, a keepsake for memories.

Creativity is the core of Lou Pichoun's programme.
“We do a lot of discovery activities, so they can smell and touch,” Tam adds. Neurologically, this is very important for further studies, she says.
"For instance, if they know how to mobilise their fingers properly, it’ll be easier for them when they learn to write,” Tam explains. The childrens' grasp of spatial concepts such as "inside" and "outside" at an earlier age would also give them a leg up in mathematics later on, she says.
Joining the fun
Tam says she is often asked if the school has entry requirements or tests. Her answer is resolute.
“No,” she says. “I’m against that. I’m totally an advocate of [the idea that] school should be for everybody.”
“I have a child in our class with Down syndrome, and we love having him," Tam says. "He’s amazing. If things get out of hand, of course we need to get help; but otherwise, our school will always be first-come, first-served."

I’m totally an advocate of [the idea that] school should be for everybody.

The child’s ability "doesn’t matter," Tam explains. "I am here to teach them; not to have children who already know everything.”
Any tips for parents who wish to enroll their child at Lou Pichoun?
“Register early,” Tam smiles.


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The Lou Pichoun preschool puts children's creativity and love of learning ahead of pushy parents and money.


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