By Serene Leong
From 1 January 2024, three of our kindergartens will be pivoting to childcare! Located conveniently in Kovan, Potong Pasir and Katong, we are excited to broaden the Little Seeds Preschool umbrella with a total of 16 centers across Singapore to nurture and grow more children to their fullest potential.
Recognising the increasing demand and parents’ increasing needs for full day childcare, these three centres seek to provide longer hours of care for each child under the same Christian values-based curriculum.
We speak to the Principals to find out what parents and children can expect at the newly-renovated schools.
Little Seeds Preschool (St. Paul’s Church)
*Located in Kovan
The transition moving to Childcare was not easy, however, Little Seeds Preschool (St. Paul’s Church) took pride in involving the children through the entire renovation process and transformation of the school.
Principal of LSP (St. Paul’s Church) – previously St. Paul’s Church Kindergarten – Monica Xavier says: “The change is going to be emotional for the children. How can we involve them in the renovation? How do we make the transition easier for them? How can we help the children cherish old memories and give ideas to our new place?”
“Project Old to New” was born from this idea. The children learnt about recycling, and how they can upcycle waste material to create something new and useful.
The teachers and children created a time capsule where children were given the opportunity to put in items that will remind them of their old school and capture precious memories. They put in the old school uniform, some pictures of the old school, and even a CD of the children’s graduation from 2009!
The K1 and K2 children brainstormed ideas on the topic “My dream school” where they came up with sculptures of a new playground, a swimming pool, and an outdoor kitchen.
The best part? The children will get to see some of these ideas come to life in the new school!
Unique to LSP (St. Paul’s Church), the new school will feature a Playseum, a play area specifically created to meet the physical movement and development needs of the little ones. Areas includes a “St. Paul’s Ark” Playground, Sensory Boardwalk and Road Park.
Because of the large space in the school, movement and outdoor learning are a key focus of the curriculum.
Monica says: “We have a big field in the school and we wanted to intentionally create spaces dedicated for movement so that teachers and children can embrace the outdoors. Children learn best when they engage holistically. Their mind is more active, and they are better learners.”
The school also started Kids Zumba last year, which has been included into the core curriculum for all levels. Parents and teachers were even invited to join the activity with the children!
Monica says: “I enjoy being with the children every day and make it a point to join them for devotions, Sportsball, Zumba and other activities. The teachers and children feel encouraged. What keeps me going is the end goal. Though there is still so much work to be done, I have a picture of what the new school will look like and it excites me!”
Little Seeds Preschool (Church of the Ascension)
*Located in Potong Pasir
Principal of LSP (Church of the Ascension) – formerly Ascension Kindergarten – Wong Wei Sum is most excited about the physical space and makeover of the new school.
Wei Sum says: “We are converting from an open concept to classroom based. Children and teachers will have their own classrooms and dedicated space. There will be more attention and focus for each child.”
LSP (Church of the Ascension)’s curriculum is focused on the creative arts. The K1s undergo a language arts programme exploring storytelling through speech and drama while the K2s explore creative writing and creative drama in Chinese.
The school also has a music specialist who conducts the ORFF approach – a developmental approach used in music education which combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to a child’s world of play – for the Nursery and Kindergarten classes.
In addition, LSP (Church of the Ascension) has a huge space for the children to explore and learn.
They have an outdoor arts studio, a music studio, dance studio, library, piazza (a shared space that changes according to the different interests of the children) and a dining area where children have had cooking classes together with their parents!
How does LSP (Church of the Ascension) encourage values-based education and nurture values in their children?
Wei Sum shares that this year, the children have focused on the theme: ‘Faithfully and Wonderfully Made’. “We talk about the self, expanding to the world around us. We talk about being kind to each other, which is amplified this year because we were not in our own school (while renovations were ongoing). So we have to exhibit kindness to our neighbours.”
“Through it all, we see God’s hands watching over us. There are big and small hurdles but I am heartened by the understanding from parents, once we communicated and were transparent to them on why we had to pivot. I am heartened that my team trusted me in the whole process.”
Little Seeds Preschool (St. Hilda’s Church)
*Located in Katong
Principal of Little Seeds Preschool (St. Hilda’s Church) – formerly. St. Hilda’s Kindergarten – Winnie Sim also tells us that she is excited about the new space.
“I’m excited to see what the space can offer for the children and families. We have the luxury of space. Not many schools have big common areas, big classrooms and outdoor space that belongs to them.”
“Our learning is not confined within the classroom. We have common indoor learning spaces which promotes interaction and shared learning between children across all levels. They have a sense of belonging in this space. As conversations take place, the children explore self-directed and social learning.”
Winnie is looking to ignite the joy of learning in the children through the outdoor learning programme.
She says: “I would like children to be excited about what are they going to discover in nature. Nature brings about a lot of unexpected discoveries, no matter the time of the day or the year.” She shares that recently the children saw a honey bee in the school and the teachers took the opportunity to teach them about different types of insects and flowers.
While the school has a structured learning programme, Winnie also believes in incidental learning, which involves using naturally occurring opportunities and interactions with the environment to teach skills and values. This allows children to remember more and helps to reinforces what they learn in class, or even talk about what they do not know.
Winnie says, “Children are at the heart of what we do. Every day is a new opportunity to develop relationships. Every relationship with a child, parent and staff is unique and precious. I enjoy daily conversations with children and teachers as we talk about anything under the sun!”
To find out more about our preschools, visit https://littleseeds.edu.sg/.
