People: Methodist Preschools

Methodist Preschools

International research from UNESCO has provided overwhelming evidence to show that the formative preschool years in a child’s life form a critical foundation that affects their success and achievement for life. Hence, investing in quality preschool education is crucial and is very much aligned with The Methodist Church of Singapore’s (MCS) commitment to offer quality and holistic education to all from a young age.

Our unified and united Methodist Preschool Services

In 2020, MCS consolidated the operations and centralised the management of five Methodist preschools under a single entity—the Methodist Preschool Services Pte Ltd (MPSPL). The five Methodist preschools with MPSPL are:

• Bedok Methodist Preschool • Faith Methodist Preschool • Foochow Methodist Preschool • Sengkang Methodist Preschool • Toa Payoh Methodist Preschool

At Methodist Preschools, we offer a distinctive preschool curriculum that encompasses both academic and character development. Our children’s holistic development and the nurturing of their unique talents to their fullest potential are tenets of our educational approach.

The strategic consolidation facilitates the sharing and integration of best practices in learning and teaching, curriculum innovations, and overall school operations and development. Unifying our operations also enables us to focus our resources to enhance the quality of our educators through centralised training, shared learning resources and an environment that delivers the best preschool experience for our children. MPSPL seeks to develop our preschools into centres of excellence with a shared identity and unique strengths to provide holistic and quality education in line with our Methodist educational tradition.

“Every child

a person of Good Character who is an Explorer, an Innovator and an Entrepreneur”

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Our value proposition and approach: Our North Star

We go beyond Primary-One readiness; we are committed to nurture every child to be a person of good character who is ready for the future, with the mindset of an: Explorer (with attributes of curiosity, courage and adventure-seeking) Innovator (with attributes of inventiveness, reflectiveness and resilience) Entrepreneur (with attributes of perseverance, resilience, risk-taking, sense of responsibility and good communication skills)

Play-based learning is used as the main approach for our young learners in Nursery classes given their innate curiosity and ability to learn effectively through exploration, self-discovery, experimentation and imagination. With increasing abilities and skills, they transit to integrated learning where they learn new connections and discover new solutions through investigation and hands-on application.

At the Kindergartener levels, our active learners participate in inquiry-based learning and guided project work integrated across multiple learning domains. Children will be exposed to open-ended and thoughtprovoking questions and a structured process of inquiry, investigation, exploration and formulation of creative solutions to build their foundation for higher-order thinking skills. Children will also be given opportunities to share their ideas and thoughts, and present their works to their peers and teachers to develop their confidence and communication skills.

Our curriculum

In alignment with the Ministry of Education (MOE), our Methodist preschools ensure comprehensive coverage of the six learning domains (Aesthetic and Creative Expression, Discovery of the World, Language and Literacy, Motor Skills Development, Numeracy and Social and Emotional Development) for holistic development in accordance with the national Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) curriculum and nurture the positive learning dispositions of P.R.A.I.S.E. (Perseverance, Reflectiveness, Appreciation, Inventiveness, Sense of Wonder and Curiosity, Engagement) in our students.

John Wesley believed that “the heart of education is the education of the heart”. At Methodist preschools, beyond being a doorway to knowledge, we take great responsibility in every child’s character development as an integral part of our curriculum. Our unique character development programme focuses on our core values of Love, Respect, Courage, Thanksgiving and Passion for Learning. Character values taught are put into meaningful action through our students’ active involvement in valuesin-action projects and community-based initiatives.

A niche in our curriculum is our proprietary music programme developed by Methodist School of Music and taught by qualified music professionals. Our rich music appreciation curriculum engages children in learning singing, music and movement and music-making. They learn about elements of music, how to play musical instruments, appreciate culture through ethnic songs, and notation reading. At the same time, they develop listening skills, proper breathing techniques, teamwork and musicianship. Music education has proven benefits of accelerating development of language and numeracy skills, enhancing memory, inspiring creativity and building selfconfidence through self-expression in children.

Curriculum innovations in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have been introduced in some of our Methodist preschools. These include introductory coding and robotics to provide the relevant foundation to develop logical thinking, and problem-solving skills so that our children orientate towards future readiness in our Smart Nation and a highly digitalised world that they are a part of.

Our team and learning environment

As faith-based preschools, we endeavour to serve God by providing a distinctive Christian education that makes a difference in the life of every child entrusted to us by God and parents. Every Methodist preschool is run by a dedicated team that is qualified, experienced and passionate to help each child reach his or her potential in a caring and nurturing environment where every child feels loved, valued and secure to learn joyfully and confidently. To provide children with the best resource and a conducive learning environment, our school facilities and classrooms were recently renovated and equipped with new learning and teaching materials.

Our team of highly qualified curriculum specialists regularly reviews, updates and enhances our curriculum to stay relevant and ahead so that we can the meet evolving learning needs of our next generation in tandem with the latest developments in education.