Partnerships

In 2003, having two young children, we were looking to bring a good bilingual education system that incorporated both English and Mandarin to Jakarta. We were introduced to Julia Gabriel and her preschool, Julia Gabriel Preschool, in Singapore. After enrolling both our children in Julia Gabriel Preschool for more than three months, we knew that this was the school we wanted.

Our first centre opened in September 2004 with full support from Julia herself and senior members of her leadership team. Strong marketing support enabled us to launch our first term with 100 students enrolled in Speech & Drama, PlayClub and Julia Gabriel programmes. Every quarter, staff from Julia Gabriel International visited Jakarta to hold parenting seminars, train teachers and conduct quality control audits.

Parents often tell us that Julia Gabriel alumni always stand out in Primary 1 as being more confident compared to their peers. Furthermore, Primary 1 teachers can usually spot our alumni in their classes.

Today, 18 years later, our first two cohorts of students have graduated from university while others have been accepted into top colleges, mostly in the United States of America. Many of the alumni remember Julia Gabriel Preschool fondly as a nurturing place where they first built their self-confidence and started their journey of exploring and discovering the best version of themselves.

As the Kuala Lumpur centre celebrates its 15th year of establishment in 2021, I am reminded of our extraordinary journey starting up our first centre in the Bangsar township. Back then, together with a small group of passionate team members, we were strategically supported at every step of the way by Julia and the key leadership team in Singapore, all of whom had been instrumental in their role as mentors to help us learn and understand the EduDrama® philosophy of Julia Gabriel Education, and in keeping us aligned with the brand’s pillars of value.

Families in the Klang Valley were immediately attracted to our unique, dramatically different culture, a refreshing movement in the local education system in the early childhood sector as the programmes that we were running were truly exceptional: brought together by the magic of speech and drama and led by specialist educators privileged to be trained by the Julia Gabriel School of Education.

Over the years, we have seen our children step out of their shells, spread their wings, and step into leadership roles – outspoken and filled with zest for life and love for learning. And it is this deep setting fulfilment, with the knowledge that what we do here is changing lives for the better, that has continued to ignite and drive the passion in all of us to continue down this path. Our achievements would not have been possible if it weren’t for the invaluable support from Julia Gabriel International that has helped us achieve milestone after milestone in our rise to become one of the industry leaders.