Swallows & Amazons

W e are very fortunate at Swallows and Amazons Early Learning Centre (SAA ELC) to have a wonderful team of teachers and teaching assistants who create the early learning environments that enable your children to flourish. My team is incredibly special to me as they really care about emotional well being of the children as well as their developmental goals. All my teachers have a minimum of a diploma in preschool teaching. Most have or are studying for degrees in various areas of early childhood. Their experiences range from teaching in the UK, New Zealand, US and Singapore.

Their first priority is to create a safe, happy, engaging and stimulating learning environment for the children and believe me they do a super job. The early learning environment is a partnership between home and school and my teachers are proactive in communicating with parents so that we know exactly what the parents’ expectations are.

Meet The Team

Jackie Barkham

Principal

Educating children is not just about getting ready for Primary 1 or first grade - the IQ (intelligence quotient). It is about curiosity, exploration, experiences, self-esteem and interactions - the EQ (emotional quotient). Children have an innate sense of wonder and awe and are natural explorers. My aim at Swallows and Amazons is to allow this instinctive desire for enquiry to flourish.

All of us at Swallows and Amazons believe children should have fun and evidence shows that preschool aged children learn most through play. Play is essential for children to develop high-level social strategies as well as physical and mental skills. At Swallows and Amazons my teachers know why, when and how they can help ‘play’ become an enriching, meaningful learning experience so that children can fulfill their potential. They create the early learning environment where the children can explore and discover in a safe and caring environment.

Learning habits acquired in a child’s early years persist into later life. Successful adults tend to be lifelong learners but this habit of enquiry and love of learning depends on an education that rewards exploration and questioning. If a person wants to do something for themselves, they will do it well and derive satisfaction from the experience. If they are simply doing what they are told it becomes a ‘task’.

In creating a developmental childhood education programme, we are laying the foundations for all future learning. As the curriculum develops, basic concepts are revisited and built upon until children grasp them fully. In this enquiry based approach, the traditional maths, literacy, writing and foreign language skills are not learnt independently of each other. On the contrary, they are so interrelated that it may be hard to distinguish one from the other. Pre-school learning is about experiences and interacting with peers, adults and the environment – a version of real life! We must provide these opportunities.

In the Erikson Theory (1963) two stages of development for preschool children are described:

1) PRE-KINDERGARTEN is a period of interest, active exploration and readiness for learning

2) KINDERGARTEN is characterised by children’s readiness for the challenge of new and exciting ideas and for constructing things. At this stage, opportunities for physical, intellectual and social accomplishment with many varied interactions should be provided.

The outcome for the child is success and a feeling of “I can do it!”