We had a pleasant surprise when we arrived at R.E.A.L Kids in Bandar Puteri; it was so peaceful – the quietest kindergarten we have been to so far. When we complimented her, the principal Mrs David, explained, “It is about setting boundaries in a positive way. We use positive words, we don’t reprimand the children by saying ‘Don’t run! Don’t shout!’ Instead, we tell them our classroom rules are ‘Walking feet’ and ‘Quiet voices’. When they make noise during lessons, we remind them to have ‘Looking eyes’ and ‘Listening ears’.” She made cute little actions to demonstrate the rules. “The children soon learnt that when they are here, these rules must be followed. When they enter primary school, this discipline will help them to fit in well,” she added.
We also soon learnt that Mrs David was a paediatric nurse for many years before fulfilling her dream of becoming an early childhood educator. This explains the neat and orderly arrangement, especially when the 3- and 4-year olds are doing their work. We saw the little ones sitting on the four sides of a demarcated square on the floor, working quietly with their materials on their own little mat, or working as a team, without intruding into the space of others. If a child happens to take another child’s materials, teachers are on hand to settle issues amicably.
Mrs David is backed by a team of well-trained teachers, half of whom have a diploma in early childhood education, while two teachers are doing their degree-level course. From what we have seen so far, this probably places R.E.A.L Kids Bandar Puteri among the kindergartens with the highest percentage of diploma-level staff in the area.
We also had a look at R.E.A.L Kids’ wide range of colourful textbooks and unique educational materials. We learnt that these were developed in-house by their own team of curriculum development specialists in their HQ. The fact is, R.E.A.L Kids had to develop their own materials as they were the first preschool in Malaysia to adopt the Multiple Intelligences (MI) approach back in 2002.
Like in all R.E.A.L Kids preschools, academics is complemented by extra-curricular activities. The children here enjoy weekly swimming lessons in the pool at the side of the building as well as Taekwondo classes. There is also a MI Corner and a small library for the children to explore and learn. Living skills are also taught from young. The children have learnt to butter their own bread and those who stay back for the extended programme fold their own blanket after their nap. This is definitely a preschool for parents who want their children to grow up to be well-balanced individuals.
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