Great new infant care – Learning Vision
As child care centres continue to spring up around our beautiful island city, so have the concerns of many working parents, especially with regards to choosing the right preschools for their precious little ones. The two most common concerns are the learning environment and the experience and passion of the teachers. After all, they are leaving their kids in the hands of ‘strangers’ during the day!
With these two concerns in mind, theAsianparent headed down to Learning Vision’s Zero to 3 Infant and Toddler Centre @ Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory, NUS to see if it met the mark for parents living in the West.
The Foundation of A Good Day Care
Principal Wahila Abdul Wahab greeted us at the door with a warm smile. A parent herself, the youthful-looking, Mandarin-speaking mother of one joined the Learning Vision family in 2009. With more than 10 years of early childhood experience under her belt, Wahila shared with us her passion for the early childhood industry.
“I was first introduced to teaching by a friend,” she fondly recalled. “I started out as a play-school assistant teacher, and have not looked back since.”
After a quick round of introductions, Wahila graciously took us around the brightly coloured centre to meet the little ones aged 0-3 years and the teaching staff.
Spacious and airy, the infant and toddler rooms are separate, allowing for smaller groups of children per class. Teachers can be more attentive to the needs of the infants and children, and provide more effective teaching and supervision.
Teacher-Child ratios (which are better than the guidelines set by MCYS) are as follows:
Infants – 1:3
Toddlers – 1:6
Nursery – 1:10
Established in 2006, Learning Vision @ Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory, NUS, is able to take in 20 infants and 31 toddlers at a go. Here, they believe in nurturing confident, creative and independent young minds with a passion for lifelong learning. Parents are updated on their child’s daily activities in the form of a ‘Daily Journal’, which includes the food intake for the day, nappy changes and activities participated in.
“I believe active involvement accelerates learning for the young ones”, Wahila enthused. “This is why at Learning Vision, we strongly emphasise integrated learning and hands-on activities. Peer learning and social skills are also very important as these provide the foundation when they step into kindergarten.”
Learning Vision @ Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory, NUS believes in increased nurturing and dedicated supervision. Their educators are specially trained to care to the children’s growing developmental needs, setting strong foundations for future learning.
The Infant Curriculum is holistic and focuses on learning characteristics to promote development during the optimum period in the first three years of life. Holistic development effectively enhances the development of emerging physical, sensory-motor, perceptual, cognitive, language and social-emotional skills. The framework that determines the background and key practices of the infant programme is guided by three distinctive features; care-giving, attachment and play.
Infant Wheel
A huge Infant Wheel can be seen on the wall of the infant room. Wahila explains that the Infant Wheel is designed to meet the following developmental goals for infants: cognitive and language ability through early learning, sensory and motor development and social-emotional development.
These goals are effectively achieved through the 8 key learning experiences of their unique infant Programme:
- Baby Read
- Baby Touch
- Baby Sensory Play
- Baby Art
- Baby Music
- Baby Chef
- Baby Gym
- Sunshine Baby
The teaching staff works together as a family. This enables bonding and better communication, positive traits to have in an environment where children come first. Staff members also comprise 2 qualified nurses-turned-educators, a definite plus point!
At the age of 3, the children experience ‘Graduation’ and most move on to other Learning Vision centres nearby to continue their education journey into kindergarten. This is a memorable event for teachers, parents and students, Wahila reveals fondly. She feels very proud of her ‘graduates’, and is confident they will do very well in kindergarten. The number of thank you’s and amount of appreciation she receives from parents are testament to the teachers’ dedication.
Wahila feels that being a parent has made her a better Principal, as parents can relate to her. When asked to sum up her centre in a few words, she has this to say, “We are passionate, we work as a family and we put the children first.”
Learning Vision’s Zero to 3 Infant and Toddler Centre @ Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory, NUS is open from 7AM to 7PM, Mondays to Fridays, and 7AM to 2PM on Saturdays.
For more information, please call +65 6872 7401, or log on to www.learningvision.com
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