Weekdays see Damien Kwan dropping 4-year-old, blurry-eyed Benton at the childcare centre and then rushing off to work. The end of his work day does not signal a stress-free evening for Damien. He has to pick up dinner, pray that he does not get entangled with rush hour traffic and zoom off to pick up little Benton before the childcare centre closes at 6pm. As you read this, you do not pity Damien because you probably are Damien!
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Kiddy Academy classroom
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Parents in Singapore today face the ultimate problem of leaving work at an appropriate time and picking up their child in time. Many centres offer parents a 5 to 20 minutes allowance time after official closing hours.
Of course little Junior will not be standing by himself if you’re late, but chances are there is going to be an unhappy teacher holding his hand with dagger looks aimed at you when you pick him up.
You really don’t want to fetch an angry child back home from work…
TheAsianparent scouted around and finally found a centre that allows parents to take their own jolly time to pick up little Junior. With a closing hour of 8.30, it is no surprise that Kiddy Academy located at Simei is popular in that residential area.
Kiddy Academy
It all begin when owner Jennifer Lee, then a Maths teacher in a secondary school, realised that some children in the class just had no interest in Maths due to shaky start in the academic world. Then a mother of an 8-month-old, Lee realised the importance of a good foundation and decided to start her own place to bring about a stronger academic foundation in children. Today, with her own child in the Nursery 2 class, Lee leaves all matters concerning the school in the capable hands of Zaidah Samam.
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Ms. Zaidah Samam
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Zaidah, a mother of three, is trained in leadership and oversees the whole centre to ensure that the teachers and the children are a happy lot. In this line for 4 years, she not only monitors the teachers but is a mentor to them, working closely with them and brainstorming for ideas to make each child’s day at Kiddy Academy a pleasure.
The Syllabus Kiddy Academy teaches:
The children follow an integrated programme of Maths, English and Science which are closely mapped out in lesson plans by the teachers. Kiddy Academy also invests in special boards that teach the children practical life skills such as buttoning up or zipping up. These boards, ordered from the West, come with tiny cloths with zippers or buttons attached to them.
The artistic side of the children is cultivated at Kiddy Academy. Fun projects, creative art models and good old pictures of painting line the walls the centre.
Civics and Moral lessons are also taught to the children. Zaidah remembers one time when a little Indian child found it painful to be the only dark one in the centre and the other children not being used to seeing a child of darker skin colour shunned him away innocently.
The teachers took the problem in stride and brought in books and videos that taught the children about the different races and skin colours in the world. The children became aware and the little Indian boy settled in happily with his classmates and forged his own identity with the new knowledge.
Infant Care
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Creativity is always welcome
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Kiddy Academy not only offers the basics of every childcare centre but it also provides parents with the luxury of infant care. The Nursery 1s are usually given more outdoor time and even simple activities such as blowing bubbles is turned into an exciting adventure for the little ones.
Homework is only doled out on Fridays so that the children can use the weekend to do it. Birthday celebrations, National Day and the celebrations of the 4 ethnic groups are celebrated in Kiddy Academy to raise awareness among the children.
Your little ones are in good hands!
Even though Kiddy Academy closes its doors at 8.30pm, an idea which Lee came up with in 2006, half the children usually are home by 7.30pm. However even if it is 8.25pm and only one child remains behind, the staff (a strong number of 10) sees to it that Junior is looked after well till the minute Mama or Papa picks him up.
So with centres like Kiddy Academy, a nice bubble bath and a glass of wine is perhaps what you can look forward to after work before picking Junior up!
Kiddy Academy is located at 114, Simei Street 1, #01 – 614, Singapore 520114. Their contact number is 65 62602097.