ECDA Registered Kindergarten
Established since 2003
WELCOME to THE MONTESSORI PLAYROOM (dMP) KINDERGARTEN @ Hougang Central. You have reached the home page of The Montessori Playroom
Kindergarten.
Feel free to explore our site to find out more about what
educational service The Montessori Playroom Kindergarten can
provide for your preschooler. Call us at 6388 4033if you have any queries. You can also reach us via email dMP@montessori-playroom.com
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Mission Statement
To lay the
foundation for your child's future educational development with the Montessori Approach.
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Philosophy
At
dMP Kindergarten, we believe that the home is the first place of learning, thus
we see ourselves as partners with parents in educating each child. We
believe that the first six years of a child's life are the most critical
learning years. By providing opportunities in a warm and loving
environment for each child to engage in various forms of high quality play, we
aim to develop each child physically, cognitively, linguistically, emotionally
and socially and to nurture his/her natural intelligence, creativity and
talents to the fullest.
The Importance of a Good Preschool Education
In "The
Absorbent Mind", Dr Maria Montessori wrote, "The most important
period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the
period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man's
intelligence itself, his greatest implement is being formed... At no other age
has the child greater need of intelligent help, and any obstacle that impedes
his creative work will lessen the chance he has of achieving
perfection."
Controlled research in modern
psychological studies has shown that the intellectual growth of the brain
reaches 30% by the age of 2, 50% by the age of 4 and 80%
by the age of 8 while the physical growth of the brain reaches 1/2 size
by 18 months and 9/10 size by the age of 6.
Why choose a Montessori preschool education?
The purpose (and our
purpose) of the Montessori education for your child is
1) to nurture his natural
intelligence, creativity and talents to the fullest,
2) to be self-confident and
independent,
3) to have inner discipline,
4) to love to learn and seek
challenging work,
5) to be a decision maker,
6) to be able to concentrate on
his work and complete it with contentment and satisfaction,
7) and to respect and care for
others and the environment.
Why The Montessori Playroom Kindergarten?
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Prepared Environment
To reap the fullest
benefits of a Montessori education, a child should be in a Montessori prepared
environment daily
during the ages of 2 1/2 and above (as this is the period when their little
minds crave for purposeful activities). At our school, we provide this
environment, with quality Montessori materials and experienced directresses
adopting the Montessori Method in our
mixed-age classroom to conduct
comprehensive daily programmes for children aged from 2 1/2 to 6 + (or until
they are admitted to Primary School). (See services
for admission criteria and how a mixed-age classroom benefits your child in
our FAQ page)
Our classroom is spacious,
brightly lit and has laminated flooring to provide a clean and pleasant work
room for the children. Our walls are painted white and our windows are
dressed with plain curtains so that the only colour of the room comes from the
Montessori materials; the children are not distracted by unnecessary wall
colour and thus absorb the correct information.
Materials used in The Montessori Playroom Kindergarten
Our kindergarten
proudly uses all original
Montessori materials and furniture imported from Gonzagarredi, Italy, the homeland
of Dr Maria Montessori. These materials and furniture pass the stringent quality requirements set by
the Association Montessori Internationale
(AMI), the international organization founded by Dr Maria Montessori.
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Curriculum
We provide the full
Montessori curriculum for children from 2 1/2 to 6+ years of age. Our
curriculum is approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE).
Our classroom is organised into
various Corners: Practical Life, Sensorial,
English Language, Mathematics, Cultural (Biology, Geography, History, Science),
Audio and Book Corner, in which we have the Early World of
Learning story books and programmes that covers 93 skills essential for
preschoolers before entering formal school. The children are allowed to
move freely to work on any of these activities during Montessori Work
time. Chinese language, Music & Movement, Creative Art & Cookery,
Story Time and Circle Time are conducted as group presentations.
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Staff Experience and
Qualifications
Our staff are driven
by passion for children and dedication in
providing a loving learning environment for your child.
Our
Principal, Mr Jake Goh and Head Directress, Ms Wendy (founders and owners of
dMP Kindergarten) obtained their Bachelor of Science degrees from the National
University of Singapore. Mr Jake Goh also has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
from Murdoch University.
Our directresses have formal
qualifications, i.e. they obtained Diplomas in the Montessori method of
education from various Montessori institutions. Ms Wendy, our Head
Directress, is qualified with the International Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy
with merits in Teaching Practice and Theory from Montessori Centre International(MCI)
and has over 18 years of experience educating children with the Montessori
method.
All
our other teaching staff have Diplomas in Preschool Education Teaching,
fulfilling ECDA's requirements in terms of the qualifications of teachers.
The Montessori
Playroom Kindergarten's qualification as a Placement Centre
In 2019, our school was approved
by MCI London as a
Professional Placement Centre to host registered international MCI students on
Professional Placement with Ms Wendy as the Observation Tutor, based on her
years of experience and qualifications. Our school also surpassed MCI's requirements
of having a minimum of 70% of all classroom materials (we have achieved more
than 95%) that should be present in a Montessori school. Our school is proud to have attained this
qualification, in line with our founders' goal of being one of the best
Montessori schools in Singapore.
The
Montessori Playroom Kindergarten's Directress-Child
Ratio
We maintain a strict
low teacher-child ratio - 3:23.
The ratio is just an arbitrary
guide to the number of children we take in per directress. In actual
fact, each child is given individual attention; the directress often conducts
presentations or lessons
on a one-to-one basis.