NTUC First Campus upholds its commitment to enhance the quality of its pre-school education to help working families stretch their dollar amid the rising cost of living

Ang Peck Qi, English Lead Teacher at My First Skool at 51 Fernvale Link, is guiding a child during an outdoor painting activity.

Mr Ng (not real name), a school bus driver, was hit in the pockets when petrol prices rose significantly in the last few months. He had to reduce the pick-ups he made to save on petrol costs. It however took a toll on his work “performance”, adding emotional stress to the financial one. Another family, headed by Mr Lee (not real name), shared that they made a conscious choice to only purchase canned food, instead of fresh ones, to save costs.

These two families, whose children attend My First Skool, and are enrolled under the KidSTART Programme, were then able to receive social support from NTUC First Campus’ (NFC) Child Enabling Executives (CEEs).

On top of offering social support, to help parents stretch their dollar, NFC has continued to invest in pre-school education to ensure our children get the most out of school. We have done so in several ways – expanding our Home Learning Programme into a regular My First Skool experience and expanding our in-house capabilities in our Child Support Services (CSS) and Child Development (CHD) departments.

Through innovative digital tools and our in-house resources, NFC is able to enhance its quality of pre-school education and also cope with the rising cost of business operations.

Home Learning Programme expanded as part of My First Skool’s regular programme

My First Skool parents and children are participating in a Home Learning Programme session in the comfort of home.

During the pandemic, many innovative digital tools rolled out were stop-gap measures. Discovering that digital tools are not only accessible and effective, NFC enhanced its Home Learning Programme and made it part of My First Skool’s regular experience.

In 2020, My First Skool (MFS) started its initial Home Learning Programme when pre-schools were closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed to complement MFS’ existing pre-school curriculum, the learnwithmfs Home Learning programme has since been expanded to become part of our regular pre-school experience, benefitting 22,000 pre-school children – from infants to six-year-olds – and their parents across our 145 centres since January 2021.

Available and accessible through a microsite platform on parents’ computers, tablets and mobile devices, the programme aims to offer children and their parents the support of having a ‘Teacher at Home’ with them. Parents are also able to bond with their children through these weekend activities.

The unique learnwithmfs Home Learning programme offers three learning modalities for children with content produced by the team of My First Skool‘s teachers. These include live sessions with industry expert speakers from SportSG and National Museum of Singapore on Saturday mornings; bi-weekly guided reading sessions and a virtual “Explore & Learn” repository of thematic content available on-demand.

Implementation of centre coaching by in-house pedagogists

Having more in-house pedagogists not only allows us to control the quality of our education but also makes quality education accessible to all.

With 145 My First Skool (MFS) centres catering to children and teachers of various demographics, customisation of each centre’s curriculum would greatly enhance the children’s quality of education. Thus, in 2021, we doubled our team of in-house pedagogists so that each MFS centre would have a dedicated pedagogist.

Each pedagogist provides targeted training and coaching to teachers in the centres they oversee. They dedicate time to understanding the centre dynamics and needs of the educators and children through working in close partnership with the Cluster Quality Manager and the centre core leadership team. This facilitates a more authentic, intentional, and meaningful support system, which results in better learning outcomes for the children.

Ada Teo (on right), Lead Pedagogist at NTUC First Campus’ Child Development Department, provides feedback to a teacher at My First Skool.

“When we understand the teachers and their needs, we can better support them. Some teachers require more assistance in setting up the learning environment, while some require more help with teaching strategies. With customised support, their teaching practices will improve and thus make a positive impact on children’s learning,” said Ada Teo, NFC’s Lead Pedagogist.

Deepening our support for each child through an in-house Child Support Services (CSS) department

The most direct way NFC is able to help parents cope with the rising cost of living is through the various Child Support Services – for example, Financial Support and Social Support. Building up our in-house capabilities for our Child Support Services Department will then allow us to offer stronger and better support to these parents amid the rising cost of living.

NFC has a Child Support Model (CSM), which provides a holistic, multi-pronged approach to supporting children from low-income and vulnerable families. NFC’s CSS department supports two groups of children – children from low-income and vulnerable families, as well as those with learning and developmental needs.

Mohamed Rafi Bin Abdul Jameel, Child Enabling Executive from NTUC First Campus’ (NFC) Child Support Services Department, provides a food pack from NFC’s Food and Nutrition Programme to Mr Roy Ng.

Having an in-house CSS team ensures that support is provided holistically for every child, and resources can be shared across all our pre-school centres. The scale of NFC’s services allows us the ability to do so.

To support our children and parents during the pandemic, our CSS team launched four initiatives – a one-off CDA top-up, a sponsored NTUC Membership Programme, Food and Nutrition Programme as well as the Digital Kampung Programme – in 2021. In 2022, our CSS Department will be continuing the distribution of care packs, food packs, CDA top-ups, and sponsored NTUC Membership for our low-income families.

NFC will also be extending our social support to six more centres, up from the current 24 MFS centres. This will allow more children and families to receive support from our CEEs.

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