Details
Wee Care’s Bright Starts Programme is the second step in a child’s progression towards more formal and structured learning. Besides incorporating the playful learning activities of the Parent-Child PlayGroup Programme, Bright Starts establishes more concrete learning in pre-academics during structured classroom times.
In addition, the children are given the opportunity to acquire skills for future independence, such as simple cleaning-up exercises. They also learn to manage their emotions and relate to their peers in positive, co-operative and constructive ways.
BENEFITS
Children in the Bright Starts programme have shown the ability to adapt quickly and be independent in a more structured learning environment.
Even at the tender age of 2 years, some of them have been able to encourage and assist their peers during the course of their interactions.
Furthermore, the speech skills of the children are further refined, and the world of abstract, creative and symbolic ideas is explored through activities in early reading, writing and numeracy.
ACTIVITIES and FORMAT
The Bright Starts programme is designed to give children a choice between going to school two, three, four or five times a week (daily). Each session lasts three (3) hours and comprises the following:
Welcome and Music Time
Classroom Instruction (1 hour)
Open (Experiential) Learning (1 hour)
Snack, Circle, Nature and/or Sensorimotor Time
Closing and Goodbye
In terms of content, the daily subjects are:
Mondays: Language Arts and Numicon Mathematics
Tuesdays: Letters, Phonics and Learning-to-Read, and Open Learning (a weekly theme)
Wednesdays: Mandarin and Life Skills
Thursdays: Mandarin and Open Learning (in Chinese, based on a weekly theme)
Fridays: Language Arts and Science
The Bright Starts programme is available only on weekdays, in the mornings or mid-mornings.
PARENT / CAREGIVER INVOLVEMENT
Children who are attending school for the first time without the accompaniment of their parents and caregivers may have separation anxiety. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to co-operate with Wee Care educators to assure their children and to help them to settle down in school.
A Profile of Progress, showing some of the lessons taught and more importantly, the different categories of the individual child’s development, will be made available to all parents at the end of each semester.
CLASS SIZE and EDUCATOR-CHILD RATIO
Each class can only accommodate a maximum of fifteen (15) children, who are led and taught by three (3) Wee Care educators.
Wee Care was birthed from a heart that wants the best for infants, toddlers, children with special needs and their parents. Founded in 1996 by teacher and mother of three, Mrs Denise Lai, Wee Care began as a provider of home-based midwifery services to babies and new mothers. Eventually, the services took on an educational nature to ensure that infants and toddlers developed well whilst their parents were at work.
Three years later, Parent-Child PlayGroups were introduced to give working parents the opportunity to develop deeper bonds with their babies and toddlers through motivated, directed and purposeful play. At the same time, Behavioural Management Programmes were added to the fold to provide early assistance to children with special learning needs.
Today, Wee Care stands out among the crowd of educational centres as the home-grown pioneer in research-based Infant Development, Early Childhood Education and Early Intervention Programmes.
It is one of the top centres in Singapore for the rehabilitation of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other developmental problems. Child psychologists at the KK Women and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and the National University Hospital (NUH) of Singapore, as well as those at private hospitals and clinics, make regular recommendations to their clients to seek therapy services here. ...
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