Touching More Lives
Every child deserves equal access to quality pre-school education and the opportunities to enjoy positive school experiences. From building friendships to learning about the world around them, we bring assurance to the families and the children will have the confidence and compassion to be school-ready and life-ready.
That is why we continually grow our network, opening childcare centres in every Singapore neighbourhood.
NTUC First Campus pre-schools
20,000 children attended pre-school at 159 of our centres in 2018. That’s a 30 per cent increase in children over a 4-year comparison.
School-based student care
afterschool centres, which began operating in two primary schools in 2016, offer reliable, quality student care after school hours. In January 2019, the network has grown to 8 afterschool centres and 1 afterschool K-care centre with a total of 1000 students. Student enrolment in afterschool has grown 10 times in three years.
My First Skool
Growing Our Footprint
The number of children enrolled in My First Skool (MFS) in 2018 was 17,400, an increase of 2,000 children from 2017. In 2018, MFS commenced operations of the 1,000-capacity Early Years Centre (EYC) at 2 Punggol Drive. The EYC caters to children aged birth-to-four and partners three nearby MOE Kindergartens for children to continue their learning from the age of five and six years old.
Opening of My First Skool Large Childcare Centre in Segar
MFS opened its 500-capacity Large Childcare Centre (LCCC) in Zhenghua Nature Park in 2018. Graced by guest-of-honour Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee, the opening event showcased MFS’ range of unique outdoor learning programmes. The centre, in partnership with the Nature Society of Singapore (NSS), will feature a unique programme - ‘Every Singaporean a Naturalist’. MFS children and teachers will be equipped with the knowledge of local plants and animals as part of the centre’s nature-based outdoor learning. This is the first such educational initiative by a pre-school operator in Singapore with NSS.
Opening of My First Skool at Kampung Admiralty
MFS opened its pre-school at Kampung Admiralty, Singapore's first public integrated development to be extensively designed with elderly-friendly features. It was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 12 May. The project is the first to co-locate eldercare and childcare facilities with the MFS centre, as well as a community park and playground, located beside NTUC Health’s Active Ageing Hub.
The Little Skool-House
More Options for Aspiring Parents
This past year, The Little Skool-House (LSH) recorded an enrolment of 1,900 children at its 20 centres nationwide. With the completion of three new pre-school locations at Delta House, the Ministry of Education and Temasek Polytechnic, LSH now has 10 workplace centres and 10 non-workplace centres, catering to the different needs of parents around Singapore.
afterschool by NTUC First Campus
Supporting Working Families with More Student Care Centres
afterschool has continued to open more student care centres, bringing the total number to eight afterschool centres and one afterschool K-care centre. afterschool has grown strongly since the opening of the first two centres in 2016, with some 1,000 students now enrolled in its school-based centres.
Scaling with Quality
afterschool developed an in-house holistic Experiential Education Signatory Programme that offers students with a range of engaging opportunities to learn and grow. This programme was developed in-house and is designed to complement and align with the objectives set out in the MOE Citizenry & Character Education Syllabus (Primary). Further customised to the respective primary schools’ philosophies and practices, this signatory programme comprises a variety of play experiences that have been purposefully designed to enrich the students' experience by exposing them to new areas of interest.
Extending Our Social Mission
Our social mission stands true to supporting schools and parents with a peace of mind through quality and affordable service. Even as the afterschool network expands, we ensure that afterschool is able to support and collaborate with MOE to provide all students, regardless of background, with a holistic and well-integrated programme. Over 10 per cent of children in our centres are from low income families.
Raising The Bar
NTUC First Campus (NFC) spares no efforts in providing the best learning environment for our children. As an industry leader striving for excellence and pushing the frontiers of innovation in early childhood education, we will invest to build up quality curriculum, infrastructure and learning resources for our children to have a love for learning and to positively impact their lives beyond their pre-school years.
Quality Pre-school Education for All
Most of our pre-schools, which are located island-wide, have received SPARK (Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework) certification, an endorsement given by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in Singapore for quality education and care by a service provider.
Growing the Intergenerational Programme
My First Skool (MFS) formed partnerships with senior care and activity centres in the community to forge ties between the young and old, bringing them together through specially-designed activities. In 2018, almost all MFS centres were involved in intergenerational programmes, with NTUC Health as our strategic partner together with 48 other eldercare services. One notable highlight includes the partnership with NTUC Social Enterprises’ Active Ageing Hub at Kampung Admiralty.
Making Malay and Tamil Language More Widely Available
In 2018, MFS strengthened its capabilities in delivering Malay and Tamil Language through the development of Malay and Tamil Pedagogy and the recruitment and training of teachers. MFS increased the number of centres with Malay and Tamil from 25 centres in 2017 to 43 centres in 2018.
Learning the Malay Language Through Heritage
MFS was a participant of National Heritage Board’s (NHB) Singapore’s Little Treasures (SLT) programme. It is targeted at both pre-school educators and children – it equips pre-school educators with the skills and knowledge to conduct effective museum-based lessons for pre-schoolers, while pre-school children get to discover their multi-cultural heritage through creative, engaging and purposeful classroom activities and museum visits.
As part of the SLT training, the teachers designed lesson plans and resource kits with heritage themes, which will then be incorporated in the MFS Mother Tongue curriculum. These resources will also be made available to other MFS pre-school teachers for them to utilise to conduct museum-based lessons for their pre-school’s children.
Strengthening Literacy-Based Curriculum
In 2018, The Little Skool-House (LSH) focused on strengthening its literacy-based curriculum. One aspect was the piloting of Drama pedagogy across LSH centres. LSH will partner the Singapore Repertory Theatre to pilot the Drama pedagogy in two centres starting from 2019. The Drama programme is expected to be fully implemented in 2020. LSH has also been transforming its centre spaces and learning environment to further support its literacy programmes. For example, signature libraries with literacy stations and intentional spaces were created at LSH centres to support literacy-centric behaviours for children, teachers and parents.
Raising Quality at TCC Centres
The Caterpillar’s Cove (TCC) @ Ngee Ann Polytechnic centre also completed its infrastructure revamp in 2018 as part of its expansion plans, making the learning environment more conducive for children’s learning and development. The expansion now includes the following spaces. An Infant Room – a spacious and biophilic designed environment with curved fixtures to simulate dark and light spaces, accommodating up to 20 infants. A Multi-purpose Room – a dedicated open room that can be transformed to suit various needs: teachers’ meeting space, parents gathering, large group class activities, etc. An Observation Lounge – besides being a child care facility, TCC functions as a child study centre designed to facilitate observation and research. The observation lounge provides researchers and observers with the space to do the needed observations.
Transition to NIEC and Birth of New SEED Institute
In 2018, SEED Institute (SEED) completed the smooth transition of staff and intellectual property to the National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC). SEED has also developed new strategic intent and innovative initiatives that include parenting education programmes conducted by the newly-established Parents College. Niche professional and consultancy services are offered to equip pre-schools in the Early Childhood and Care sector; and an integrated learning delivery function has also been set up to meet the internal training needs of NFC staff.
