The organisation will offer more than 30,000 preschool places over the next 2 years to build fundamental skills of the future through quality preschool and child development services.
Minister of Education Mr Chan Chun Sing is observing children building robots with recycled materials at the ‘Makerspace’ of My First Skool at 6 New Punggol Road.
As part of NTUC First Campus’ (NFC) enduring mission to provide excellent childcare services to young families in all neighbourhoods, the preschool operator will offer up to 4,000 new preschool places for children over the next two years, bringing the total number of preschool places to more than 30,000 across more than 170 preschool centres.
NFC has two preschool operators under its helm – My First Skool (MFS), which serves 22,000 children in 146 centres, and Little Skool-House (LSH), which serves 2,500 children in 20 centres.
NFC will augment the curriculum in its preschools to build foundational skills of the future in its children. Beyond strong fundamentals in core math and literacy, NFC will nurture three vital foundational skills for a lifetime of growth: relational skills; global citizenship; and digital intelligence skills.
Relational Skills
MFS’ curriculum aims to nurture socially-adept, resilient and caring children.
For infants, its Relationships-Based Curriculum adopts a primary caregiving model to help young children develop a sense of security and well-being. As the children grow older, MFS enables them to develop relational skills through character building, while providing a cooperative learning environment where teachers and children learn with and from one another.
MFS will also increase the number of Intergenerational Programme at its centres to spur interaction between children and seniors through activities, allowing them to form ties and learn from one another. The Programme also inculcates values such as empathy, compassion and respect in our children. All MFS centres have the Intergenerational programme, which has been successful since its launch in 2015.
Minister of Education Mr Chan Chun Sing is interacting with an infant at My First Skool at 6 New Punggol Road.
Global Citizenship
Our preschools inspire our children to understand their world and the role they can play by making a difference to the community. To inculcate a sustainability mindset in the children, MFS and LSH centres will encourage children to adopt sustainable practices beyond the classroom, and participate in national gardening initiatives such as Community in Bloom by National Parks Board. NFC’s Outdoor School Singapore (OSS) also takes children on adventure trips to Singapore’s various parks and nature reserves, enabling them to form a positive connection with nature and the world.
Digital Intelligence Skills
MFS and LSH will feature Digital Intelligence in their preschool programmes starting next year, equipping our children with skills to navigate the digital world and enabling them to be creative thinkers of the future.
NFC believes that every child is unique and has different learning needs and preferences. Its educators are trained to give every child a meaningful and engaging learning experience in school. In addition, NFC offers a range of programmes to support children with learning needs, and continues to develop new programmes to meet new needs. Currently, NFC supports 1,800 children with learning and development needs every year.
Its team of 90 multi-disciplinary professionals, such as classroom co-facilitators, in-house therapists, learning support educators and early interventionists, supports children with diverse learning needs, and children from low-income and vulnerable families.
NFC is also focusing on growing the impact of OSS, which delivers outdoor learning programmes to both children in NFC preschools and from the general public. Its outdoor programmes enable children to develop attributes like resilience, responsibility and a sense of adventure, which are key traits that will help them navigate the complexities of a rapidly-evolving world. OSS aims to engage over 7,000 children on these outdoor adventure sessions in 2023, up from 2,000 this year.
“Founded in 1977 by the NTUC to support working families in Singapore, NFC has thrived in the early childhood sector and made a positive mark in the lives of many children and families. Today, we are still guided by our vision of providing a quality preschool education, enabling every child to develop the skills and qualities needed to have a bright future,” said Ms Chan Su Yee, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC First Campus.
NFC will partner parents and the Early Childhood Development Agency to realise its vision and implement its initiatives.
NFC announced these new initiatives on its 45th anniversary celebration at My First Skool at 6 New Punggol Road, which was attended by the Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing.
NTUC First Campus unveiled a new logo at its 45th anniversary brand launch event at its newest Large Childcare Centre at My First Skool at 6 New Punggol Road. Minister of Education Mr Chan Chun Sing (fourth from left) was the Guest of Honour at the event. The representatives in the photo are: (from left) Phyllicia Chew, Principal, My First Skool at 6 New Punggol Road; Phoon Chew Ping, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, NTUC First Campus; Ng Chee Yuen, Chairman, NTUC First Campus; Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Education; Chan Su Yee, Chief Executive Officer, NTUC First Campus; Esther Soon, Director (Sector Funding), Early Childhood Development Agency; and Thian Ai Ling, General Manager, My First Skool.
Kum Foong Yee worked in the aviation industry for a decade as an Airline Representative. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were fewer flights, she took on administrative work. That was when she noticed her two-year-old son developing exponentially and could play on his own independently, after attending infant care at MFS.
Intrigued by his development, Foong Yee searched online for relevant jobs in the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector, and read about Workforce Singapore’s Career Conversion Programme.
She enrolled in the Diploma (Conversion) in Early Childhood Care & Education – Teaching in August 2021 and is now undergoing the programme at the National Institute of Early Childhood Development, while working a few days a week at My First Skool (Rivervale Crescent) centre as a Trainee Teacher to gain hands-on experience.
Fully supported by the principal and teachers at the pre-school centre she works at, Foong Yee is coping well with her work-study schedule. Her colleagues regularly share their teaching experience with Foong Yee to help her improve her teaching skills as well.
Foong Yee has since learnt from her practical training at the pre-school centre that being a pre-school teacher is not just about taking care of children, but nurturing them.
(27 January 2022) Channel 8 News: https://www.8world.com/singapore/career-conversion-update-1712661
What is digital literacy, and why does it matter for your child?
As smartphones, tablets and other digital devices become more commonplace in our households, they’ve also become a bigger part of our everyday lives – and a huge part of your children’s lives. Understanding technology is important – as is learning how to use it to enable your children to learn, grow and develop.
Nurturing your children’s digital literacy skills is essential in today’s connected world. Digital literacy allows children to learn in fun and meaningful ways – and prepares them for new learning situations that could arise from the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation.
Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use technology. This means being able to locate and utilise information online in a useful way. It also includes the ability to create content for online platforms. But that’s not all. Being digitally literate also means knowing the limitations of technology – and the potential dangers it brings.
Now that we’ve covered what digital literacy is, let’s see how we can develop your children’s digital literacy. We hope that by the end of this article, you’ll have some ideas on how you can help your children nurture their digital literacy capabilities – so they will know how to search for information online, create content using digital tools, and share their content to safe online platforms.
As a parent, you can support your children by creating opportunities for them to use digital devices in meaningful ways. Let’s get started!
Does your children constantly ask you questions? Let’s channel that healthy dose of curiosity into a lesson in digital literacy.
The next time your inquisitive children ask you a question, instead of giving them the answer, encourage them to find the answer online. While there are many ways of finding answers online, a great place to start is Kiddle, which is Google’s child-friendly search engine! First, let’s make things simple for your child by making Kiddle your browser’s default starting page.
If your child is new to technology and typing, ask them to first write down their question on a piece of paper. Then, type it into the search bar. You can even create a “search engine guide” for your child, so they can learn to use Kiddle with minimal facilitation.
After searching for answers online, guide your children through a process of collating relevant information. They can use PowerPoint or Word to collate the information they find, then share their findings with their family and friends. If needed, your child can print out the information and keep it in a file. Encourage them to go beyond the first search result they see, so they can gain a broader perspective. As we mentioned a little earlier – there are many, many ways to find answers online!
This activity builds your children’s resourcefulness, while developing their cognitive and decision-making skills.
As your child is searching for information online, this is an ideal time to teach them about the dangers of the web. Similar to alerting parents when they encounter dangerous situations in real life, children should also adopt this same mindset when going online – if your child comes across content that could be dangerous or unhealthy, they should inform you about it (and not look at it or engage with it by clicking or tapping anything).
Creating content is an important part of digital literacy. This includes creating digital assets such as videos and pictures. Thankfully, with user-friendly apps, children can easily try their hand at video and photo editing – and see impressive results!
At My First Skool, this is one activity that encourages creativity in our children. Specifically, our children are given the task of telling stories by creating attractive videos – using fun and eye-catching techniques such as stop motion. Children work in a group to craft their story, prepare a storyboard and write a script. Next, they prepare materials and props. Then, they record and edit their project on video.
Projects such as these develop multiple areas of children’s skills – such as their writing and storytelling abilites, their creative skills and of course, their digital literacy.
In addition to common digital devices (like laptops, mobile phones and tablets), there are also specific educational digital devices that are highly effective at teaching your children problem solving and logical thinking skills.
At My First Skool, children have access to these educational digital devices, which are used to teach children soft coding skills. One of these devices is the incredibly popular Bee-Bot – a robot bee that buzzes across the floor, navigates obstacle and reaches its destination, thanks to directional inputs that are planned by the children. The process of planning these directional inputs trains children to think in a logical, step-by-step manner – which is an important foundation in coding.
Activities like Bee-Bot teach children concepts such as a spatial awareness, directional sense and simple coding – while they’re having lots of fun with robots and friends!
Children at My First Skool develop holistically, thanks to our comprehensive curriculum that nurtures a variety of abilities that are essential in young children – from digital literacy to language, numeracy, discovery of the world, motor skills, aesthetics and creative expression, as well as social and emotional development.
Best of all, our high-quality curriculum and care, doesn’t equate to high fees – our fees remain affordable, as our parent company’s (NTUC First Campus) mission is give every child a head start in life, regardless of their financial standing.
Interested in enrolling your child at My First Skool? Register your child for our upcoming 2020 and 2021 intakes, or take a virtual tour of a My First Skool preschool near you.
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