Brightland Kindergarten was born in 2010 after I came back from Australia. Having an opportunity to study in Early Childhood Education, teaching and learning with young children around the world has been my passion ever since. The experiences that I have gained in Australia were vastly different from what I have been exposed to in a Malaysian school setting. I strongly believe that Kindergarten can inculcate either a love or a fear or dislike for learning. If learning in Kindergarten is fun and children experience success, then these children will look forward to attend to school and the desire to learn is implanted. On the other hand, if children have to struggle, being forced to master tasks which required mental and physical readiness beyond their years, then negative attitudes towards learning are imbued. It is important for parents to realize the impact of preschool experiences have on children’s attitudes towards school and learning.
At the tender age of 1 to 5 years old, most children in Australia were being exposed to a fully play based learning context. It was really an eye opener to me. That was the time I see a need to combine the best element of play based learning in any early childhood learning programme. Research has shown that children learnt best through play. So it is important that we as a parent or educator should not overlook it. When children participate in their play episode, they learnt to experience and explore about their environment and most importantly they learn about life. Play is also a learning process that we do not need to force in a child. Play provides emotional relief and promotes cognitive development. Children at play are young scientists. They are setting up what if questions all the time in their play. In Brightland, we encourage them in this kind of imaginative thinking that is the foundation of scientific activity. For example, children play ‘what if’ with words: What if we had four legs? What if wheels were square? What if cars went forward backwards? They also play ‘what if’ without words, such as they take away a block from the bottom of their block tower to see what happens or they dress up and role play being someone else. Furthermore, learning to read and write involves a relationship between physical movement and learning. For example, b and d are both composed of a line and a circle; the only difference is which side of the circle the line is on. In Brightland, we learn this kind of distinction first through our own movements in space. In our programme, outdoor play time is a time for learning just as much as time spent indoors. Therefore, I strongly believe that play is probably one of the most important media through which young children learn and the benefits carry over into adult life.
Additionally, I noticed that technology is not going to go away and we are in the midst of a major sociocultural quantum shift and today most of our children were the natives when comes to technology. Teaching, learning and communicating have all changed as technology progresses. Here in Brightland, we integrate technology into our learning and teaching activities and our educational goals took into account the varied interests and capabilities of the individual. We believe that every child is unique with different strengths, interests and needs. We try to develop an individualized curriculum to cater to the needs of your child. Our curriculum is implemented according to the various levels of difficulty and is in line with the Ministry of Education guidelines for preschool. We strive to allocate quality time for children to play and additionally we also reinforce children in learning the 3Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic). Our learning and teaching materials are always readily available for children to explore and manipulate during play time and help to enhance their Reading, Writing and Arithmetic skills. Our balanced and holistic developmental programme will help to prepare a child mentally, emotionally, socially and physically before starting their formal education in standard one.
We as parents want to give the best to our own children. Here at Brightland Kindergarten, our aim is to provide a conducive and safe learning environment for all the children. Children are our first priority and when you send your child to us, we ensure your child is safe, confident, and happy. We look forward in meeting you.