by on 27/08/2020 1283
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Tadika Pelita Cerah, a licensed two-storey kindergarten from the Ministry of Education Malaysia has been operating for over 15 years with countless numbers of children coming and going through its doors. This preschool is as if seamed into the local community here at Jalan Durian, where families, generation by generation, come back to send their little ones. I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Shant, who recently took over the management of the school about a year ago.
Mr. Shant is a qualified Paedriatric Occupational Therapist, specialising in special needs children with a practice in Sentul. He decided to venture into something different, but similar in terms of working with children, thus he decided to take over this kindergarten from a good friend. Mr. Shant loved working with kids, so opening up a kindergarten just seemed natural to him.
The school aims to develop children who are independent and have good moral standards in an environment where children feel safe and happy. He believes that a solid foundation must be set for each child to help them excel in life. Mr. Shant works together with a dedicated team of teachers and caretakers who are extremely experienced and passionate about childcare.
Tadika Pelita Cerah follows the Standard National Preschool Curriculum (KSPK) as outlined by MOE to prepare children for primary school. It’s important to expose children to formal schooling environment and also learn essential skills such as fine motor skills, motor planning skills, reading, spelling, and counting to name a few as early as possible to make it easier for them to adapt and carry themselves once they officially enter primary, and that’s what this preschool focuses on. Classroom layouts here also closely imitate those at primary school. Each class has a maximum of 20 students to ensure each child gets the teacher’s full attention.
This preschool isn’t just all academics. Mr. Shant introduced water play, gardening, science experiments, and arts and crafts to the kids. Aside from those, cooking classes are also a part of the pre-schoolers syllabus to inculcate living skills. They often make simple dishes such as pancakes and/or watch their teacher cook their meals in the kitchen (with supervision, of course).
Schooling hours start from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, Monday to Friday. They offer half-day, extended, and day care (after school) programmes for children as early as 6 months (for infant care) up to 7-year olds. Tadika Pelita Cerah also accepts mild cases of special needs children, who will be personally diagnosed by Mr. Shant.
The preschool offers a myriad of extracurricular activities to keep each child occupied during their time at the school. Field trips are conducted biannually, often to places of interest such as the National Zoo and the Gardenia factory.
Sports days are also held at the school to promote a love for sports and nurture healthy competition among the kids. Tadika Pelita Cerah also holds annual concerts to give children the opportunity to showcase their talent and a graduation ceremony is held during the concert to show appreciation to students who have completed their studies at the preschool.
Year-end holiday camps, monthly birthday celebrations, and festival celebrations such as Deepavali, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya are just some of the other wonderful activities they have here!
An outdoor playground is also available where children can have fun and play with their friends. Mr. Shant plans to start an outdoor garden to simulate those little green fingers soon.
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling knowing that your kids are in the safe hands of qualified, experienced teachers? Here, teachers are qualified, and the caretakers have tons of experience handling infants. Mr. Shant employs those he believes have the right attitude in educating a child. Teachers at the school are available forth parents to contact 24/7 in case there are any important information to relay or questions.
Lessons are planned weekly by the teachers which go through Mr. Shant to make sure the students will benefit from it fully. He emphasises the importance of a child understanding what they learnt & not just digesting everything from the teacher. Other than that, to test a child’s understanding on what they learnt, exams will be held twice a year. Report card day is also an annual event at the school. This gives room for the parents and teacher to discuss about their child’s progress, developments, problems, and how to overcome them.
Safety is of the utmost importance at Tadika Pelita Cerah. The school is equipped with grills, baby gates are installed to keep infants in the baby room and prevent them from going up the stairs, and sharp corners and edges are protected with a covering to make sure kids don’t hurt themselves. Pick up and drop offs are closely monitored, where teachers will escort the student to their designated pick up person. If a different person picks up the child, teachers will take the responsibility to contact the parents to get conformation before releasing the child.
Meals are prepared in house 1 to 3 times per day by the teachers and caretakers using healthy ingredients to keep the students happy and nourished. Transportation is also available with a minimal fee.
Before coming in the school, each child will have their body temperature taken and precautions are taken by only allowing children with a temperature lower than 37.5 Celsius to enter the school. Hand sanitisers and full body sanitisations are also required before entering the school compounds.
If you’re a parent that’s looking for a preschool that produces lifelong learners and instills good moral standards into their children, look no further because Tadika Pelita Cerah, Cheras is definitely your best pick!
