Fairchild Kindergarten

A creative environment for children to begin their school journey

Awarded ‘Top 10 Most Valuable Preschool’, Fairchild Kindergarten holds high respect for children as capable individuals and their learning interests. It has a ‘bringing the outdoors in’ campus environment, encouraging a relationship with nature from a young age. The school offers a Canadian (Ontario) Kindergarten Programme with a good dose of Reggio Emilia guiding principle. Classes are bilingual and taught in a play-based environment to cultivate curiosity, creativity and confidence in each child through an inquiry-based approach to learning. Entering the school, you’ll notice it is a happy multicultural community where children and families from around the globe gather and grow up together.

A child’s ‘perfect place’

The ‘perfect place’, defined by the students of Fairchild themselves, is one where children come to school every day with a big smile. Fairchild aims to provide a caring and nurturing school where the children are at the centre of everything it does. “We are very proud that our students are creative, confident and curious, but above all, happy,” says Betty Yau, Principal of Fairchild Kindergarten.

Fairchild’s classrooms are well resourced with natural

materials and opportunities for children to engage in many sensory activities, which appeal to all their senses. Regardless of whether they are in the classroom, the treehouse or shared discovery areas such as the school’s vertical garden or creative arts space, children will have fun and access to a range of engaging activities, including close encounters with resident pets, such as earthworms, turtles, fish, frog or hamster.

These hands-on learning experiences help children to build essential life skills for the 21st century, such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, compassion among others. Children are well prepared to be lifelong learners and are encouraged to resolve their own conflicts in a safe classroom setting. They also gain respect for the world, having discussions on sustainability through which they learn about respect and how to care of the planet.

“Literacy and numeracy are woven through everything we do; there are just many more ways to learn without copying everything down,” says Kathy Nutting, Founding Head of Early Childhood Education. Fairchild’s teachers follow the interests of the children, in what is known as an emergent curriculum, so their themes in the classroom are varied. Getting a rich variety of hands-on experiences, such as feeding a pet, visiting the restaurant kitchen and planting in the community garden, makes learning much more meaningful to a child.

From school to community

With schools closed to combat the spread of Covid-19, learning is never hindered for Fairchild students. Well-developed ECE online curriculum by the devoted teaching team makes

quality learning possible in any place with active and engaging live-streaming, realtime chats and videos, plus home learning activity packs posted to children at home.

Fairchild, as one of the pioneers of the Reggio school in Hong Kong, collaborates as part of the Hong Kong and Macau Reggio Emilia Study Group to share its practice and continue to refine the Reggio Emilia inspired curriculum.

Working hand in hand with families to ensure a happy, healthy and all-rounded development of each child, Fairchild uses Storypark to share with parents what children have learned at school on a weekly basis, as well as regular learning stories. In addition, it actively encourages parents to be engaged in their children’s learning journey, for example, accompanying children on community school trips, having them share their country’s cultures through a celebrating event in class (e.g. Hanukkah and Diwali), supporting each family as a community member (grandparents visiting the school to read a story to the class) and witnessing the growth of their children together.

Fairchild also makes it a point to honour children’s birthdays at school by inviting parents to join their child’s class to read a story and share a healthy snack with the children together – this helps create wonderful memories for the future.

The way forward

Fairchild is a place suitable for every child, providing age-appropriate, hands-on learning experiences which pique children’s interests through a holistic approach, covering all aspects of children’s development such as STEAM, cooking, languages, reading, multisports, music and movement.

Students start from playgroup at Fairchild Junior Academy (at the early childhood education centre in Tin Hau with a playgroup for children aged eight months and above), move on to pre-nursery level classes, as well as K1, K2 and K3 in an International Stream or Bilingual (English and Mandarin) Stream.

The school paves a path to both international schools and local schools, as well as schools overseas. The majority of Fairchild graduates head on to renowned international schools in Hong Kong, with examples being ESF schools, Hong Kong International School, French International School, Canadian International School Hong Kong and more. Some graduates enter prestigious local schools, such as Kau Yan College and Munsang College. Wherever they go, their strong educational foundation established at Fairchild has them prepared for any future challenges. sg

Fairchild Kindergarten G/F & 1/F, Kong Chian Tower, Block 1, 351 Des Voeux Road West, Sai Ying Pun.

fairchild.edu.hk