My First Skool introduces Home Learning Programme to complement its preschool curriculum, benefiting 22,000 students and their parents

My First Skool introduces Home Learning Programme to complement its preschool curriculum, benefiting 22,000 students and their parents

22,000 preschool children – from infants to six-year-olds – and their parents benefited from the Home Learning Programme introduced by My First Skool (MFS) in January 2021. Designed to complement MFS’ existing preschool curriculum and offer a more resilient hybrid preschool model amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme was launched in phases across its 145 centres this year.

Available and accessible through a microsite platform on parents’ computers and tablets, the Home Learning Programme aims to be a ‘Teacher in the Home’, providing three methods of learning for children with content produced by MFS. These include 30-minute live sessions on Saturday mornings with MFS’ teachers, or partners from other industries such as nutritionists and musicians; twice a week pre-recorded guided sessions in the evenings (including Chinese and Malay reading sessions), and an e-Repository of thematic content available on demand. Parents can pre-schedule customised sessions for each child.

A 2019 Nielsen Survey commissioned by NFC reported that although many parents believe in sending their children to in-centre schools, more than 60 per cent of parents are keen to engage their children in learning at home. One in two parents are also more likely to pick a preschool offering home-based learning compared to one without. This is because home-based learning allows parents to have greater involvement in their child’s learning and to better understand what their child is learning in school.

“Addressing the needs of parents who want to be a proactive part of their child’s learning journey, MFS’ Home Learning Programme takes learning beyond the classroom setting into the comfort of the child’s home, with highly interactive and responsive content to guide and support parents in facilitating fun and meaningful home learning experiences with their child,” said Ms Thian Ai Ling, General Manager, MFS.

The feedback from parents who participated in the Home Learning Programme has been positive. Parents valued the opportunity to bond with their child and discover their child’s areas of interest through learning. They also appreciate the breadth of content catering to the diverse interests of the different age groups, and the quality of the programmes, such as engaging activities and lessons that are easy to follow.

Mr Benjamin Kwan, 32, whose son Christian Kwan attends a MFS preschool in Pasir Ris, shared that MFS’ Home Learning Programme is very “engaging with all the songs and variety of activities, (as) Christian tends to sing along while listening. The way the sessions are conducted is similar to how lessons are run in school, so there is familiarity in the way a story is being described and an activity being shared. Instead of us trying to think of ways to engage our child, there is support from My First Skool at no additional cost from parents. The content is relevant to Christian’s age group, which helps us guide him along after watching the sessions together.”

MFS has been gathering feedback from parents to continuously improve the Home Learning Programme. In addition, MFS has launched the Home Learning Programme on mobile, to cater to busy parents who would like to arrange for their child’s virtual lessons while on the move.

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