Leading The Way

Sharing our ECCE expertise

In recognition of SEED Institute’s sectoral expertise in training early childhood educators, the Seychelles Ministry of Education engaged SEED’s expertise to drive development of Seychelles’ day-care and pre-school centres.

Professionals from SEED went to Seychelles to observe and assess the local early childhood environment. They visited 27 family day-care centres, provided detailed summary reports on the current practices and proposed suggestions for improvement. SEED also proposed indicators for quality assessments of family day-care centres.

SEED also conducted a 10-day “Professional Certificate for Early Childhood Care and Education” workshop for 99 Seychelles Teacher Assistants, after which they received their qualifications at the Certificate Ceremony.

The Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education (SITE) and SEED are also exploring co-developing additional programmes for teacher assistants in 2020. The project will involve co-development of a training programme – training the Seychelles trainers to have the capability to offer Seychelles’ very own professional certification, as well as capacity building of the SITE team.

Bringing Learning Outdoors

Outdoor School Singapore (OSS), a SEED Institute initiative, was conceived in 2019 to bring children closer to nature. Its programmes combine concepts-based outdoor learning and skills-based outdoor adventure elements inspired by best practices from other educational institutions such as “Forest School” and “Green School International”, adapted to benefit children growing up in urban Singapore. The OSS programmes serve to build responsibility, resilience, a risk-taking spirit and a love for the outdoors in young children. In the specially-designed outdoor lessons, children get to interact with nature, appreciate the natural environment and engage in adventurous experiences.

The Caterpillar’s Cove (TCC) also has a partnership with Claire Warden, an acclaimed thought leader in nature pedagogy, to enhance children’s holistic education and development by integrating nature into all aspects of learning, whether they are inside, outside or beyond the classroom setting.

At the Early Childhood Conference 2019 by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) which had the theme “Take Learning Outdoors”, NFC exemplified its thought leadership stance through conducting relevant workshops for participants.

HR Asia Awards – Best Companies to Work for in Asia

NFC was a winner of “Best Companies to Work for in Asia” at the HR Asia Awards 2019. NFC surpassed national benchmarks in areas such as “highly recommended organisation to work in”, “organisation that creates purposeful job opportunities”, “organisation that encourages continuous learning by acquiring new skills and knowledge”. NFC was the only pre-school operator to have achieved this accolade. The award is a recognition of NFC’s high levels of employee engagement and excellent workplace cultures, as well as a testament to our continuous commitment to adopting a growth mindset and constant innovation.

HR Excellence Award – Bronze for Excellence in Recruitment

NFC was accorded the bronze for “Excellence in Recruitment” at the HR Excellence Awards 2019, the only pre-school operator to win one of Asia’s most renowned and respected HR awards. The award recognises employers that consider talent acquisition strategies in achieving manpower needs and also focuses on long-term human resources planning.

SkillsFuture Fellowships Award 2019

Suhana Binte Salleh, Cluster Quality Manager of My First Skool (MFS) and ECDA Fellow, was conferred the “SkillsFuture Fellowships Award 2019”. The award recognises individuals’ deep professional expertise, skills mastery, commitment to lifelong learning and the skills development of others. The SkillsFuture Fellowships are the highest skills awards for individuals in Singapore. To be eligible, individuals have to have at least 10 years’ of experience in the same industry.

ECDA Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Development 2019

A recognition of NFC’s commitment to excellence in early childhood care, education, innovation and professionalism, NFC was accorded four awards at the 2019 ECDA Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Development. The winners were from all three NFC pre-school brands and were selected from over 300 nominees.

Early Childhood Leader Award (Outstanding Award)
Ms Poh Jia Yi, My First Skool at Kampung Admiralty

Early Childhood Teacher Award (Outstanding Award)
Ms Amanda Yap, The Little Skool-House at-Tampines-Junction

Early Childhood Innovation Award (Merit)
The Caterpillar’s Cove Child Development and Study Centre, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Project: Making Children’s Voices Visible: Empowering Children as Active Agents of Pedagogical Documentation)

Early Childhood Educarer Award (Promising Award)
Ms Heng Hui Noi, Jenny, My First Skool at Waterway Point

Outstanding Pre-school Mother Tongue Language Teacher Awards 2019

Three Chinese teachers from MFS received Outstanding and Merit awards at the Outstanding Pre-school Mother Tongue Language Teacher Awards 2019.

Co-organised by the various committees to promote the Mother Tongue Languages and supported by ECDA and National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC), the awards recognise pre-school teachers for nurturing a passion for languages in their pre-school children and making the learning engaging.

The awards presentation was part of the annual Mother Tongue Language Symposium.

Outstanding Award
Ni Xue Jing, My First Skool at 51 Fernvale Link

Outstanding Award
Zhou Shao Juan, My First Skool at Blk 742 Woodlands Circle

Merit Award
Zhao Yan Dong, My First Skool at Blk 63 Jurong West Central 3

Pre-school Chinese Language Storytelling Aids Competition Awards 2019

Chinese teachers from MFS and The Little Skool-House clinched five out of ten awards at the Pre-school Chinese Language Storytelling Aids Competition Awards 2019. The awards recognise Chinese teachers that tell Chinese-languages stories in a creative manner using teaching tools.

Runner-up Award
Teachers: Wang Zhaoting 王兆婷, Lim Wen Zhi 林妏芝
Project: 《我不知道我是谁》
Centre: My First School at Blk 209 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3

Commendation Awards
Teachers: Su Zhewei 苏哲维
Project: 《这是谁的蛋？》
Centre: NTUC First Campus’ My First Skool at Blk 269 Compassvale Link

Teachers: Chuang Wan Ting 莊琬婷, Hsieh Ya Kuei 谢雅贵, Rao Hui Min 饶慧敏
Project: 《下雨了》
Centre: NTUC First Campus’ My First Skool at Blk 343 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3

Teachers: Yang Nidan 杨怩丹, Chang Yu Jung 张瑜容
Project: 《好饿的小蛇》
Centre: The Little Skool-House International On-The-Green

Teachers: Chen Heng Hong 郑馨红, Shao Ming Feng 邵明凤, Cong Ri Ji 丛日杰
Project: 看！声音在跳舞 – 《森林里的演唱会》
Centre: The Little Skool-House At-Kent-Vale