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15 January 2010
NTUC First Campus raises quality of local infant
care services through health care partnerships.
Memorandum of Understanding with National University
Hospital marks the first local infant care collaboration.
Parents at NTUC First Campus’ child care centres
will soon have an added level of assurance when
it comes to their infants’ holistic development.
NTUC First Campus, Singapore’s largest child care
service provider, announced two major collaborations
today:
• A partnership with the National University Hospital
(NUH). NUH’s University Children’s Medical Institute
(UCMI) and Dietetics Department will jointly develop
a new infant care programme and enhance the training
programme for infant care teachers islandwide.
• Separately, NTUC First Campus will also work with
a network of retired nurses to enhance its infant
care services. |
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The collaborations are part of NTUC First
Campus’ strategic direction to raise the
bar for its infant care services since the
social enterprise accelerated its expansion
plans last year. Among its network of 68
pre-school centres, 27 currently offer infant
care services. NTUC First Campus expects
to double its infant care centres to 50
by the year’s end.
NTUC First Campus and NUH to raise
infant care standard for its pre-school
brands as well as the early childhood education
industry
The announcements were made at a ceremony
today where NTUC First Campus and NUH signed
a Memorandum of Understanding to mark their
partnership. This local partnership, the
first to be formalised in Singapore, brings
together the combined expertise of a leading
early childhood institution, and a major
health care institution.
“The developmental years of a child are
crucial and through this collaboration,
we hope to give these children a head-start
in life by enhancing the overall standard
and quality of early childhood health and
education”, said Mr Joe Sim, NUH’s Chief
Executive Officer.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU),
the partnership consists of two main areas:
i. New centre-based infant care programme
in NTUC First Campus’ infant care centres
NTUC First Campus will develop a new infant
care programme in consultation with NUH’s
UCMI and Dietetics departments for their
medical expertise. The team will develop
a new infant care programme designed to
foster positive parent-teacher-child relationships
and holistic development of infant– including
areas such as health, safety, nutrition,
physical, social, emotional, language and
mental development. Professionals from both
NTUC First Campus and NUH will jointly review
and design daily routines and activities
for infants according to their developmental
stages. They will also develop assessment
tools and guides to help the teachers to
address the holistic development of infants.
Infant care teachers will undergo training
to equip them with the knowledge and skills
to implement the new programme, and learn
how to better share and help parents understand
their infants’ developmental milestones.
The UCMI doctors will also conduct scheduled
health checks for the infants and extend
the UCMI’s educational talks and programmes
to the parents.
The new infant-care programme will be gradually
implemented in NTUC First Campus’ network
of child-care centres from mid this year.
It will start with the Little Skool House
International’s centres, followed by My
First Skool’s pre-schools with infant care
services.
ii. Enhanced training programme for
Singapore’s infant care teachers under NTUC’s
SEED Institute
NTUC’s SEED Institute will work with NUH
to enhance the syllabus for the Certificate
in Infant and Toddler Care and Development
(CIT) programme[1]. SEED Institute will
offer the new CIT programme from mid-2010.
SEED Institute’s lecturers will work with
NUH’s dieticians, doctors and nurses to
co-deliver relevant programme modules, including
infants’ growth and development milestones,
nutritional needs and child safety, to provide
infant care teachers with more relevant
and up-to-date information in medical care
and paediatrics. Infant care teachers will
be better able to monitor the overall progress
of the infants and toddlers and understand
childhood diseases more deeply.
Said Associate Professor Daniel Goh, Head
of Department of Paediatrics, University
Children’s Medical Institute, National University
Hospital, “Apart from bringing the best
treatments to sick children, UCMI also focuses
on early detection and intervention as well
as facilitating and enabling optimal child
health through education and disease prevention.
Our collaboration with NTUC First Campus
is very much in line with our vision which
is to shape children’s health for the future.
We hope to be able to impact a large sector
of our young in Singapore, the future of
our nation.”
Dr Melinda Eng, NTUC First Campus’ Senior
Advisor, Curriculum added, “Fostering positive
relationships and experiences will help
young children perform and relate better
to others. This partnership will enhance
our infant-care teachers’ awareness of the
latest health care knowledge, enabling greater
objectivity when gauging infants’ progression
towards developmental milestones. This awareness
will also help them plan programmes that
best support the infants’ growth and development.”
Tapping on Retired Nurses’ expertise
and experience
NTUC First Campus will also tap on a pool
of retired nurses with a wealth of expertise
and practical experience in caring for infants.
In consideration of its pre-school brands’
scale, two implementation approaches have
been adopted:
• My First Skool - System of Health &
Safety practices for its network
As Child Health Advocates, retired nurses
will work with My First Skool’s principals
and infant care teachers to evaluate, enhance
and put in place best practices in health,
safety and care. A pilot project in 3 infant
care centres: Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and
Yew Tee are in progress. The practices to
be implemented will gradually be introduced
to the rest of its pre-schools.
• The Little Skool-House International
– On-site support
A pilot has begun in two centres, since
December 2009, to include retired trained
nurse onsite, as part of the infant care
team. As Infant Care and Health Officer,
the nurse works with the infant care teachers
in providing care to the infants, give health
and safety advice and share knowledge relating
to the provision of care to the infant care
givers including parents. Initial response
from parents has been positive.
Mr Chan Tee Seng, NTUC First Campus’ Chief
Executive Officer said: “Caring for infants
is not only labour-intensive but a very
heavy and onerous responsibility. NTUC First
Campus is committed to provide the best
care and developmental opportunities for
children. As demand for our infant care
services grow, it is critical that our teachers
are better equipped with the skills, knowledge,
and expertise to give parents greater confidence,
and ensure the best care for their infants.”
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14 September 2009
More training opportunities and resources
for early childhood education professionals
NTUC’s SEED Institute
supports the pre-school industry to become
Bigger, Better and Faster
Singapore’s leading Early Childhood Education
training institute, NTUC’s SEED Institute,
will offer more resources and quality upgrading
opportunities to Singapore’s expanding pre-school
teacher pool. NTUC’s SEED Institute, formerly
known as the Regional Training and Resource
Centre in Early Childhood Care and Education
for Asia (RTRC Asia), made these announcements
today as it opened its expanded premises.
Labour Chief and Minister, Prime Minister’s
Office, Mr Lim Swee Say graced the occasion
as its Guest-of-Honour.
With the launch, SEED Institute will set up
five Centres of Excellence to support the
early childhood education industry, currently
preparing for a quantum change following the
Government’s plans announced last year. The
five centres are:
- Centre for Research and Best Practices,
- Centre for Continuous Professional Development,
- Centre for Higher Education,
- Centre for Professional Qualifications, and
- the Office for Regional Partnership.
Meeting the industry’s needs by getting Bigger
“With the Government’s plans to set up 200 new centres by 2011, and have more highly qualified pre-school teachers, NTUC’s SEED Institute has grown Bigger to support this goal. We have doubled our capacity to 1,000 new student enrolments annually,” said Mr Lim Swee Say, Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress.
Such rapid expansion in capacity will not be possible without a correspondingly bigger group of lecturers. NTUC’s SEED Institute hopes to build a sustainable pipeline of quality and highly professional lecturers to meet the growth in demand for quality teachers, and will invest $1.5million over the next three years in Masters Scholarships, tenable at both local and top overseas Universities.
Helping Pre-school teachers become Better
Faced with the evolving needs and increasing demands of parents, many teachers now aspire to continually upgrade their skills and keep their knowledge relevant. The Centre for Continuous Professional Development will help to meet this need. By offering short professional upgrading courses for teachers, the Centre hopes to enable pre-school teachers to remain up-to-date with the latest pedagogical knowledge and practices, and continually hone their knowledge and skills as teachers. These courses will be developed using the Workforce Skills Qualifications framework, and funded by the Singapore Workforce Development Authority. The first programmes will be launched at the beginning of next year, and will focus on Mentoring, and Delivering Family Development Programmes.
Enabling Faster adoption of best practices and innovative ideas
Going beyond the training of early childhood education professionals, SEED Institute also intends to conduct research in the local early childhood education field. These will be done through its newly established Centre for Research and Best Practices. Through this centre, SEED Institute aims to advocate a culture of research amongst the early childhood practitioners
“As the pioneer and leader in training early childhood professionals, RTRC Asia has been the industry’s choice training institute for 20 years. Having been the pioneer of many Firsts – First Masters, First Diploma, First regional train-the-trainers programme for early childhood education, First Local early childhood education degree – we hope to continue to pioneer and innovate programmes to provide the support and resources needed by operators and teachers alike, to understand and teach young children more effectively,” said Ms Ho Yin Fong, SEED Institute’s Academic Director. |
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Bringing Kindergarten Learning to New Heights
About 2,200 Kindergarten children from 20 PCF (People's Action Party Community Foundation) centres will benefit from a new and upgraded quality of teaching and learning, designed to enhance their all-round development and readiness for school.
Five PAP constituencies in the Jurong and Bukit Timah areas have combined forces to improve the quality that each PCF centre is capable of delivering by partnering with NTUC First Campus, Singapore’s early childhood education industry leader.
Under this partnership, NTUC First Campus provides customised training for teachers, ensures quality and consistency in the delivery of a new curriculum, and helps to create a better physical learning environment.
A launch was held to cement this partnership on 12 May 2009, and the 20 centres are now known as Little Wings.
Over the last 12 months, efforts focused mainly on implementing a consistent curriculum throughout all Little Wings centres. Special attention was paid to training and helping teachers to implement the curriculum and a new way of engaging young children in teaching and learning.
Other improvements implemented include:
- Requiring each teacher to undergo 250 hours of training to equip them in the requirements of the new curriculum.
- Setting up of a teacher mentorship system to help teachers translate their learning to classroom settings.
- Introducing a small group learning approach to allow more effective delivery of lesson objectives and monitoring of children’s progress.
- Producing and developing new learning materials.
PCF – Bright Horizons Retrenchment Relief Fund
As part of the collaboration, the 5 branches and NTUC First Campus have gone a step further to put together the PCF – Bright Horizons Retrenchment Relief Fund to ensure that children whose parents have seen job losses face no constraint in obtaining a high quality kindergarten education. The fund, jointly funded by the 5 branches as well as NTUC First Campus’ Bright Horizons Fund, aims to supplement the Government’s financial assistance schemes for early childhood education, and will help up to 400 families this year.
Parents of the Little Wings centres can apply for the Fund by approaching the school principals to make their applications and submitting a letter of retrenchment from the company or other evidence of job loss. “No parent who has lost a job need worry about what this means for their child in our kindergartens. They can be assured that their children’s needs will be met while they concentrate on getting trained and finding new jobs”, said Minister Tharman. |
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Click here to download powerpoint - Bringing kindergarten learning to new heights. |
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3rd March 2009
NTUC FIRST CAMPUS AND OCBC BANK ANNOUNCE NEW FINANCIAL AID FOR RETRENCHED PARENTS |
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Singapore, 3 March 2009 – OCBC Bank and NTUC First Campus’ Bright Horizons Fund (BHF)[1] pooled together $250,000 for a new scheme that helps retrenched parents keep their pre-schoolers in school. The OCBC-Bright Horizons Fund (OCBC-BHF) Retrenchment Relief Scheme sees a sponsorship of $200,000 from OCBC Bank, disbursed over two years. The Bright Horizons Fund will match this with $150,000 each year.
Dr Cheong Choong Kong, Chairman of OCBC Bank said: "OCBC Bank is very happy to launch the OCBC-Bright Horizons Fund with NTUC First Campus and do our part to help the needy by contributing $200,000 over 2 years to the OCBC-Bright Horizons Fund Retrenchment Relief Scheme. This scheme, very appropriately launched in these difficult times, will ensure that no child of NTUC First Campus will have to stay home because of financial problems facing the parents. Children of parents who have been retrenched will receive special payout packages which allow them to pay for the school fees and continue his pre-school education."
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A major supporter of children and education, OCBC Bank has previously donated $450,000 to the Bright Horizons Fund, over three years (2006 – 2008). This has helped 300 reading-at-risk children last year to level up on their literacy skills, so that they can be on par with their peers when they reach Primary School.
The OCBC-BHF Retrenchment Relief Scheme
The OCBC-BHF Retrenchment Relief Scheme aims to help 200 families this year. This is the second time NTUC First Campus (previously known as NTUC Childcare) has reached out to parents during a recession. The previous Retrenchment Relief Scheme was offered in 2003, and gave retrenched parents a $100 rebate on monthly fees for up to three months. This was at an estimated cost of more than $100,000.
Parents who have been retrenched and whose net household income is now below $2,200 or $600 per capita, are eligible for the OCBC-BHF Retrenchment Relief Scheme. Families with a monthly net household income exceeding this criterion will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Scheme will help parents pay three months of their children’s My First Skool school fees. The scheme can be extended beyond three months for families in need, assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Parents of My First Skool can apply for the Scheme by approaching the school principals to make their applications, and submitting a letter of retrenchment from the company.
Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the Fund’s Board of Trustees said, “Pre-school education is vital to help every child develop skills and values at his foundational years. We want to ensure that their learning process continues seamlessly, regardless of the economic situation. We started this new Scheme because we expect a bigger need for financial assistance for this recession. NTUC First Campus Bright Horizons Fund is very appreciative of the help from like-minded partners such as OCBC, who values education, to help children stay in school.”
The OCBC-BHF Retrenchment Relief Scheme was launched today at My First Skool at Toa Payoh by Minister Lim Boon Heng and Dr Cheong Choong Kong. |
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14th January 2009
With effect from 14 January 2009, NTUC Childcare Co-operative Ltd is now known as NTUC First Campus Co-operative Ltd. |
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| Our new name reflects the broad range of services in the early childhood education field offered by the Group. |
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| The NTUC First Campus network comprises the following business units: |
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My First Skool (formerly NTUC Childcare centres) |
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The Little Skool-House International (no change in name) |
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RTRC Asia (no change in name) |
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The Caterpillar’s Cove Child Development and Study Centre (no change in name) |
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| Our vision is to create a joyful and inspiring early learning experience for all, one that fulfils the promise of each child. |
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| Share the moment when we unveiled our new name by browsing through the photos taken at the launch on 14 January 2009. |
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