Looking for a preschool with lenient and supportive environment

[vinachang_ju13]

Hi mummies and daddies,

We're looking for a preschool for my two kids.

Just wonder are there any preschools in Singapore that don't emphasize on rules, discipline, extrinsic rewarding (e.g. giving stickers or flowers), learning outcomes or simple dichotomous values (e.g. good vs bad, right vs wrong), and allow students to join or not join the classes/activities according to their interests?

What exactly do I mean? I thought of some examples below:

• Instead of telling the students "no talking in class", just start the activity directly and see if it attracts their attention naturally, or tell them "I will teach/tell xxx to those who are interested, so if you aren’t interested, you may play outside/elsewhere and join back anytime"
• Instead of telling them cutting queue is "wrong", just observe and let the students handle it among themselves. If no one protests, let it be; if someone protests, wait and see if they can settle it themselves; if they invite the teacher to intervene, acknowledge their view points; for older kids, facilitate and encourage them to settle it among themselves
• Some students like to always be the first or win. Instead of telling them "you can't always be the first” and try to verbally convince them or intentionally put them in the middle or at the back, let the students handle it themselves. Again, if no one protest, let it be.
• When one student “hit” (intentionally or accidentally) another, instead of telling them "hitting others is wrong", tell them teachers' responsibility is to protect students, so teachers won’t allow them to hit each other, but if they're really angry, they can punch the punch bag / cushion / pillow to vent out their feelings without hurting themselves
• Don’t try to encourage the students to complete their work or behave themselves by promising to give or threatening to not give stickers/flowers whatsoever. Also, don’t praise them if they complete their work or behave according to teachers' expectations. Minimize teachers’ judgement in the learning process, give the freedom to learn and experience back to the students. If they’re interested, doing the thing itself is the best reward; if they aren’t interested, don't bother
• If some kids fight over toys, instead of trying to judge who’s right / wrong, who started it first, hear them out and acknowledge you understand what (they think) they’ve gone through, and ask if they need the teacher’s help on anything. If they don't need anything, acknowledgement is good enough, no further "education", allow the kids to gradually figure things out themselves. If physical aggression is involved, fall back to the principle that “teachers' responsibility is to protect students", and aggression can be let out in a safer way
• If students breakdown and cry because of setbacks or obstacles, let them take their time to digest the experience, don’t try to encourage them to get out of the emotion quicker

I know some of these may sound weird / idealistic /unrealistic, and time/energy consuming, I also may not have given the “best” possible alternative approach for all the situations. Neither am I a preschool teacher, so sorry if I fail to consider teachers’ work load or parents’ different requests when thinking of these approaches.

But you got my point, I just want a lenient environment that allow preschoolers to explore and develop their own characters with more freedom. They are called “preschoolers” for a reason. I don’t need my kids to get everything right and minimize “wrongs” since 2 years old (you know about our culture here).

My older one had been doing well in her preschool in conventional sense till recent when she refused to go to school anymore. We saw what marks the conventional teaching approach has left on her, and we feel sorry for her. Most of the other kids are coping well, and based on my experience with the school, there’s nothing particularly worrying with it in conventional sense, either. She might be a bit too sensitive, yet I just want to try my luck here and see if I can find any school that will honour her feelings, interests and pace at this age so she can still enjoy learning without being bothered too much by rules and restrictions she doesn't have a chance to explore and understand, yet.

Appreciate if you have read till here, and appreciate if you could share with me any preschool you know that’s close to what I’m looking for.
I stay near Woodleigh.

Thanks and best regards.

 

[verin_1987]

You should look up Learning Jungle, located in Aranda Country Club. My child moved from another preschool with speech delay and they helped. The Principal shared how they helped transition many children from other schools. Like what you mentioned, they have a good supportive environment.