Dan at kay poh baptist church kindergarten

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 28 August 2009 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

So Dan has been going to a new school since 29 June 2009. It's been a very positive experience so far and I am so thankful to God we found this small, church kindergarten, which is just a 10 minute drive from our house.

Here is Dan in his uniform. I drive him to school in the mornings, while a nice medium sized van, with "kay poh baptist church kindergarten" emblazoned on the side, drives him home. Schools starts promptly at 8.30am with assembly time--3 times a week, they sing Christian songs & pray in English while the rest of the time, singing & prayer is in Chinese. Then, it's off to classess--English, Math, Chinese, snack & music.

I was very proud of Daniel that from Day ONE, I did not need to stay back or follow him to class. I did stay a short bit till assembly time was about to start, and he happily followed the teacher & his classmates out. That day, and the rest of the week, I had a big lump in my throat every time I dropped him off and he pitter pattered his way into the assembly hall by himself. I really felt like he had "grown up".

The school requires him to wear a uniform, white shoes & socks and carry the "kay poh baptist church kindergarten" bag. At first, I thought the bag was a bit "over-doing" it, but then I quickly realised that it is not a bad idea for the kids to be "uniform"--as this prevents the "poorer" kids from feeling left out, if the "richer" kids carry fancy bags to school.

I am also really amazed at how much Daniel is learning from his teacher, Mrs Arul. Nowadays, he can tell me exactly what he learnt, in great detail, which is a FAR CRY from when he was in the childcare downstairs. I suppose it was a happy coincidence that this semester, the class started off by learning about TRANSPORTATION for 4 weeks! Dan's favourite topic--no wonder he could retain so much! For National Day week, to top off the TRANSPORTATION theme, Dan went on a class trip for a DUCK TOUR. Oh my goodness, you can just imagine his excitement.

Now, the class is learning about Occupations. Dan told me that a REAL PILOT and a REAL FIREMAN came to talk to the class. I later confirmed this with the teacher--thought he was making it up! And now, apparently, he's learning about doctors.

It's really great to be able to talk to Dan about what happens in school. In the previous childcare, all he ever said about school was, "A B C D". Apparently, that's all they were teaching him. Now, he talks about icebergs, the music cupboard on the top floor which has lots of instruments, a bicycle race they had, the rabbits they played with, and of course, what he ate for snacks (which is a very important element of the day!)

Oh! And my mum was MOST impressed that Dan was able to memorise and recite several chinese poems correctly after about 4 weeks of school. She kept making him "perform" in front of other relatives! Aiyoh...

But the best thing about Kay Poh Baptist so far is being able to talk to Dan's teacher about him and have confidence that she understands him and can manage him well. After the first few days, we had a chat and it was clear that she had correctly sized him up, strengths and all, and was doing well in coping with him.

Now I just can't wait for Ben to join his brother--they don't have a class for Ben's age group this year, but next year, he'll be going for the pre-nursery class. And one last thing--Kay Poh Baptist is the only kindy I know of that teaches CHESS to its K2 students. Can you beat that? CHESS!

When you find a good school for your kids, you want to make sure your kids continue to go there. This is definitely the case with Kay Poh Baptist