Entering primary school is one of the highlights in a child’s early education years. There are many changes that a child will have to go through as things move from pre-school setting to a formal school setting.

Whilst many parents and primary school preparation programmes focus on learning how to read, write and traditional mathematic concepts, there are some areas that are sometimes overlooked but should be nurtured in each child to not only survive but also to enjoy and thrive the next few important years of their education journey.

Through the Bambini Approach, the primary school preparation begins at 18 months when they step into Bambini childcare LLP and become part of Bambini Family. The philosophy at the Bambini setting is learning and growing as a family. Our Primary school preparation focuses on the three main areas; self awareness, life skills education and building connection with the community.

Self-Awareness

Relationship building and understanding of one’s Self is the foundation of positive self-esteem. By providing a rich social setting with a meaningful engagement and relationship building skills, children are better able to understand their individual personality, be self-assured and confident in themselves and their interactions with the wider community. A strong sense of self awareness helps children to confidently make the right decisions and personal choice in early primary years and be less subjected to peer pressure.

Having a strong sense of self awareness, also helps children to interact with a wider and more diverse community. An understanding that we are all unique and different, but at the same time one part of a larger community, and that we are all equally important in the community, helps to foster a sense of respect and helps to cultivate a nurturing and caring personality within the child.

Through the Bambini Approach, children are encouraged to work together in small groups to achieve a common goal such as planning a group project together or even setting up the play area for friends. Through these group learning experiences, children are not only learning how to work together in a team but also understand different social situations and negotiation skills. One of our most common relationship building learning opportunities is grouping children up to plan how they can set up one of the play areas outdoor such as the mud kitchen.

Through risk learning,  children also get to understand that mistakes and failures are opportunities to build on problem solving skills. This is an important and vital aspect to coping with the pressure on primary school lifestyle. We involve risk taking in almost all of our learning experiences when opportunity arises. For example, we believe in providing children with real items to explore with instead of toys to allow them to understand the risk and consequences involved in handling these items such as playing with porcelain tea sets instead of plastic ones.

Life skills education

Equipping every child with life skills education is vital to prepare them not only for primary school education but life long learning itself. This is because life skills allow children to be independent learners who are able to problem solve and reflect on each situation that they are faced with. The cruel demands of primary school system forces children to stretch themselves not only physically and mentally. Hence life skills education allow them to understand and manage their emotions and stress as well. Most importantly, life skills education equips children with the ability to plan and reflect.

Many preschools teach children to plant seedlings, but to watch seedlings sprout and grow requires patience, planning and understanding of scientific reasonings. Through the Bambini Approach, one of the ways life skills education is being taught is through transferring simple gardening processes to learn about maintenance, growth and responsibilities for one’s garden. Through gardening and keeping pets, children learn the basic responsibilities of caring for not only the environment, but also others in the wider community. Other life skills in our Bambini Approach which we feel are important are time management, taking responsibilities for own self and to complete simple chores such as cleaning up after one’s own mess, organising classrooms and even setting up and helping the little ones with their routines.

Building connection with community

Bambini childcare LLP community strongly belief in participating and interacting with wider community through charity events. What Bambini Approach hope to achieve through charitable engagement is that the children will feel a greater sense of connection with the wider community and understanding the important roles they have with the wider community. Through these engagements, children will experience an understanding of our cultural social structure and develop a sense of a respect and responsibility for the community. By inviting children to journey on this path in early years, translate to children being respectful of their formal learning environment in the Primary school setting, not only for their teachers and peers, but also for the wider community.

Our Bambini Approach not only is emphasized and implemented for older children but it is a philosophy and culture inculcated from the toddler years. Most importantly, it is not a programme that children go through only at certain times of the year but is part of each child’s everyday experience in Bambini Childcare LLP. The Bambini Approach is implemented through different learning experiences and the highlights can be seen in the following:

If you would like to find out more about Bambini Childcare LLP, you can visit us at http://www.bambinichildcare.com.sg

Or view more of our activities in our facebook page facebook.com/bambinichildcarellp and our instagram @bambini_childcare_sg

You can also make an appointment to visit our school through our website or email us at [email protected] or call us at 64687790 from 9am to 3pm

 

This article is written by one of the directors and co-founders of Bambini Childcare LLP, who has had more than 20 years of experience in early childhood education.