OUR EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY
PLAY AND DISCOVERY BASED LEARNING
“Children’s play is a means by which children explore the world around them, investigate everything in it and build an understanding of how the world works.”
Research has provided strong evidence to link the role of play to effective learning. Some educators believe it is impossible to separate play from learning and development in young children.
At PPS Kids, we allow children in our preschool grades to learn through purposeful play. This means they are free to explore, identify, negotiate, take risks and create meaning.
Play and discovery activities cultivate young minds for learning by nurturing curiosity, openness, optimism, resilience, problem-solving skills, concentration and creativity. Through these activities, children also utilize all their senses and multiple skills to assist in building brain pathways - which is the essence of learning.
DEVELOPING HAPPY LEARNERS
Our preschool activities engage a child’s natural curiosity to help them become active learners. They focus on the development of the whole child and are geared towards developing children who can think independently and who will become happy, passionate and lifelong learners.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
We want our children to develop a love for independent reading from a young age.
To achieve this goal, we utilize the acclaimed Jolly Phonics system of learning to teach our children strong reading skills from a young age.
Developed in the United Kingdom, this system is a highly successful tool for effective and correct teaching in how to read and write.
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Children no longer learn how to read and write based on memorizing words. Instead, they are able to read and write new words easily because they understand the rules relating to the sounds that letters make.
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By laying a strong foundation of reading and writing knowledge, this program then helps students develop important grammar, spelling and punctuation skills. It also feeds into the development of strong communication skills.
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The Jolly Phonics program supports our desire to instill a habit of independent reading in children from a young age. We believe reading enlarges the imagination, supports good writing, speaking and grammar skills, encourages an inquiring and learning mind and also helps a child expand their knowledge. Reading has been shown to encourage the progress of learning in all subjects, even in subjects such as Mathematics and Science. It has also been shown to increase brain development and fuel academic success.
VALUE BASED LEARNING
Healthy attitudes and values are intertwined with our curriculum. We desire our children to be raised with strong personal values and a character that shines.
As a Christian school, we are founded on good Christian values. Our aim is for each child to display the attitudes found in God’s word: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; and the qualities of thankfulness, commitment, confidence, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, empathy, enthusiasm, independence, integrity, respect and tolerance.
DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING
Every child is different and will naturally have different learning needs and requirements in their process of education. Our teachers are trained to offer differentiated teaching to meet these individual needs.
Whether your child learns better through visual, auditory or kinesthetic methods, our teachers are trained to identify their personal learning traits and offer the best engagements for your child. This also means that those needing support and those needing to be challenged are never neglected.
Preschools all over Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia are now incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into their educational programs. This is because educators have recognized SEL’s effectiveness in helping children become good students, citizens and workers. SEL has been shown to improve student achievement and satisfaction, strengthen relationships and support their good mental health.
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SEL operates on the belief that the best learning happens when a child feels supported to grow in a way that is challenging, engaging and meaningful. It helps children to develop the following attributes:
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Self-awareness
Children are encouraged to recognise their emotions and thoughts, and to understand how these influence their behaviour. This includes helping them to accurately identify their own strengths and limitations, giving them a well-grounded sense of confidence.
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Self-management
This focuses on essential life skills such as stress management, controlling impulses, motivating oneself and working towards personal and academic goals. Children learn how to manage their emotions, thoughts and behaviours in different settings.
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Social awareness
Children will develop empathy and understanding towards people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. They will also be able to recognize and appreciate individual and group differences.
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Relationship skills
Establishing and maintaining healthy and rewarding relationships is vital for every human being. Children will learn essential skills to facilitate such relationships such as effective communication, active listening, cooperating, resisting peer and social pressure, constructive conflict resolution and seeking and offering help when needed. They will also learn how to be a good leader and team player.
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Responsible decision-making
Children are led to understand how to make responsible choices and how to solve problems creatively. Their behavior and social interactions are guided by good ethics, safety, social respect and an evaluation of the consequences of various actions on the wellbeing of self and others.
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
