Growth
NTUC First Campus (NFC) is continually growing our network, opening childcare and student care centres around Singapore. Our goal is to make our services available to every neighbourhood in Singapore to ensure that children have access to high-quality, affordable pre-school education. From learning about the world around them to being school-ready, we want to have a positive impact on the lives of children and families.
Growing our Network
Group enrolment grew 10% year-on-year to reach 22,000 children in 2019. These children are served by over 170 centres located all around Singapore, providing high quality and accessible pre-school and student care to families in Singapore.
2019
22,000
children
2018
20,000
children
2017
18,300
children
2016
16,000
children
2015
15,000
children
2019
176
centres
2018
159
centres
2017
151
centres
2016
143
centres
2015
140
centres
My First Skool
My First Skool’s (MFS) outreach grew 8.5% year-on-year to an enrolment of more than 19,400 children in 2019. This was supported by both new centre openings and extensions, enabling capacity growth of over 2,000 in 2019.
Highlights from 2019 include the opening of MFS’ third Early Years Centre (EYC) at Punggol Bayview and an MFS centre at Wisma Geylang Serai which is an integrated social and cultural hub. In March 2020, operations commenced at a new 690-capacity Large Childcare Centre at Rivervale Crescent – a centre specially designed with a series of play areas based on a central theme of classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Learning more about cultures at the My First Skool at Wisma Geylang Serai
The Little Skool-House
The Little Skool-House (LSH) opened a new centre at the turn of the year, with operations commencing at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) in January 2020. Some 2,000 children attend 20 LSH centres, over half of which are located in workplace buildings, catering to the different needs of parents around Singapore.
Interior facilities at The Little Skool-House at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
afterschool
afterschool, NFC’s student care arm, operates eight student care centres and one KCare centre in 2019, catering to some 730 students. KCare provides student care for children attending MOE Kindergartens (MK), with quality developmental activities designed to complement children’s learning at MK. afterschool’s contracts with two Primary Schools were renewed for the third term. This is a testament to afterschool’s provision of a high-quality learning environment and curriculum to support working parents in the care arrangements for their school-going children.
Outdoor learning at NTUC First Campus’ afterschool
Outreach
As a social enterprise, NTUC First Campus (NFC) is dedicated in our efforts to support and make a positive impact on the lives of low-income families and children with learning delays. Our aim is for every child have an equal start in life. This ties in with our corporate mission of making quality child development and care services accessible to every child. Through our holistic Child Support Model (CSM), we provide financial, learning and social support to these families.
Find out more about the NFC’s CSM here.
Child Support Model
in 2019
children from My First Skool
disbursed under the Bright Horizons Fund
children from low-income families
Learning and
Development Support
Classroom Co-Facilitator
Learning Support Educator
SOCIAL SUPPORT
Child Enabling Executive
Therapist
Community Partner
Reaching Out to More Families
NFC has been extending the outreach of its Child Support Model (CSM) in various ways, benefitting more than 3,000 children in 2019.
NFC’s Development Support Programme (DSP) provides early intervention to children who have mild learning and developmental needs, helping these children acquire age-appropriate learning skills. In 2019, NFC increased the coverage of its DSP for Kindergarten 1 (K1) and Kindergarten 2 (K2) children from 127 My First Skool (MFS) centres to 135, supporting some 900 children. NFC also piloted the DSP service for 3 to 4-year-old children, in partnership with KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). These increased support are based on NFC’s belief that intervention at an earlier age produces more effective outcomes for children’s development.
The KidSTART programme provides support for lower-income families with young children, coordinating and strengthening holistic support for them where needed. In 2019, this programme was also expanded to six more centres and now serves a total of 500 children at 16 centres.
Raising the Income Ceiling Eligibility
As part of strategic efforts in touching the lives of more low-income families, NFC raised the income ceiling for its Child Support Services from Household Income (HHI) from $3,500 per month to HHI $4,500 per month. This will enable more than 10,000 children from low-income families to benefit from NFC’s Financial, Social, and Learning and Development Support over the next five years.
OCBC – NTUC First Campus Bridging Programme
NFC was able to extend our support for children from low-income families through partnerships with socially responsible organisations.
In 2019, NFC and OCBC Bank unveiled plans for the “OCBC – NTUC First Campus Bridging Programme”, which will benefit 500 low-income union member families in the pre-school education and healthcare expenses for their children each year, making it a total of 2,500 children over five years, from 2020 to 2024.
As part of the programme, OCBC Bank and staff will contribute S$1 million to NFC’s Bright Horizons Fund (BHF) over five years. Each eligible child will receive a one-time payout of S$400 into his or her Child Development Account (CDA), which will be matched, dollar-for-dollar by the Singapore Government if the family meets the criteria for the Baby Bonus Scheme.
As added support for the children and their families, OCBC Bank will also be organising financial literacy workshops for parents, to help them better manage their family finances. These workshops will be conducted by staff volunteers from its Wealth Management team on a quarterly basis throughout the duration of the five-year programme.
Find out more here.
The OCBC – NTUC First Campus Bridging Programme will benefit 2,500 children over five years
CapitaLand-Bright Horizons Fund Ready-for-School Programme
NFC and CapitaLand collaborated to launch the “CapitaLand-Bright Horizons Fund Ready-for-School programme” in 2019. As part of the programme, CapitaLand contributed $750,000 from its philanthropic arm, CapitaLand Hope Foundation (CHF), to help 2,000 children from low-income families to be ready for primary school.
Under the three-year programme, CapitaLand’s contributions will allow seven more MFS centres to provide the Classroom Support Programme, bringing it to a total of 20 centres. More classroom co-facilitators will be deployed to provide for an additional 200 pre-school children who require learning support. The first-of-its-kind in the early childhood sector, this structured programme has classroom co-facilitators to partner teachers to support children with learning difficulties. Teaching is done in small groups, focusing on language, literacy and numeracy. A yearly impact assessment will also be conducted to measure the effectiveness of the programme.
The programme also provides graduating MFS K2 children with school bags and essentials to prepare them for primary school. To celebrate the completion of their pre-school education, the children will also go on specially curated learning journeys to CapitaLand malls.
Find out more here.
My First Skool children touring Jewel Changi Airport as part of their learning journey