SPH Kindergarten:
SPH Kindergarten:
Establishing a culture of learning for a brighter future
or
The fun of learning for long-term benefits
The traditional approach when educating young children is to
teach pupils to read, count, draw, learn shapes and colors
quickly.
But the old-fashioned method of evaluation has been abandoned
by today's educators because such academic skills do not reflect
today's thinking and fail to produce students with the advanced
thinking and problem-solving abilities that are needed in the
21st century.
The modern worldwide trend in early childhood education
recognizes that teaching is a process and therefore parents
should not expect fast results.
Since its establishment, Sekolah Pelita Harapan kindergarten
-- aimed for children between the age of one and five -- has
adopted a modern approach and is continuing its efforts to
develop children's intellectual, physical, social and emotional
abilities, alongside spiritual growth, as part of character
building.
"Our education scheme is aimed at developing a child as a
whole, which covers the child's cognitive, psychomotoric and
emotional development," said Wiginy Kusliawan, principal of SPH
kindergarten.
"We develop these three aspects based on the child's age."
In other words, she added, the development of these three
aspects should not be delayed for any reason because they play a
critical role in the next stage of child development.
A four-year-old child, who can identify the letters of the
alphabet and can add, but whose nonacademic faculties have been
less developed, will face psychomotoric and emotional development
problems later, she explained.
At SPH kindergartens, the teaching method being used is aimed
at stimulating children to think for themselves. "We therefore
never ask them to memorize facts but encourage them to explore
subjects together with their teachers."
As SPH also offers International Baccalaureate (IB) programs
for students who want the highest international standards for
eventual entrance into overseas universities, all SPH
kindergarten students automatically take part in the Primary
Years Program (PYP), a comprehensive teaching-learning approach
that is modeled on an international curriculum.
"Involving them in the PYP program, for students three to 12
years old, will give them easy access later to join our IB
programs, which have very high standards," said SPH spokeswoman
Hannah Achmadi.
Currently, each SPH kindergarten has five classes; toddlers
(for one year olds), the nursery (for two year olds), K1 (for
three year olds), K2 (for four year olds), and K3 (for 5 year
olds).
The kindergarten has a total of 198 students at three
locations: SPH Lippo Karawaci in Tangerang, SPH Menara Sudirman
in Central Jakarta and SPH Pluit in North Jakarta.
About 15 percent of the students are of different
nationalities, such as Australian, Singaporean, American,
British, Dutch, Indian, Italian, German, Korean, Taiwanese and
Chinese.
With English-speaking classes, qualified university-graduate
teachers, international programs and superb facilities, the SPH
kindergarten offers a perfect environment for children to
maximize their education through first class programs, blending
knowledge and character development within a spiritual dimension.
Donna Marriott, an Australian, shares her experience about her
child who has been with SPH kindergarten for four years.
"Learning is fun and it's evident at SPH. Small class numbers
are extremely beneficial and makes for a good learning
environment."
A Dutch parent, Bianca Kootte Dizy, says: "The warm, friendly
and well-equipped environment with the combination of expatriate
and Indonesian teachers and small classes has encouraged our
daughter to mature, and what is even more important for a three-
year old: to develop her social skills. But the best part of it
is that she is a very happy girl and has a lot of fun at school."
Ros S. Tjandrawinata, an Indonesian, comments: "School is not
only where children learn math, reading, drawing and other
academic subjects, but also where they learn and try out a whole
new set of social skills with their teachers and classmates. My
four-year-old son also learned the joy of loving, giving and
helping others from his first field trip to a home for the
elderly and an orphanage, learning to accept others regardless of
race or ethnic origins.
Most importantly, they have the ability to inspire and
motivate my son to become a confident, self-assured, happy and
loving young boy ready to talk about the new challenges he will
face in primary school."
Henny Sudarpo, another Indonesian, recalls: "Every day my
children come home from Pelita Harapan kindergarten with a con
tented smile, having had a fulfilling day. SPH provided my
children with a touch of international school experience without
leaving eastern values behind."
SPH has been appointed as a member of the European Council of
International Schools, or ECS, which provides accreditation to
high-quality schools around the globe.
In essence, the SPH kindergarten is carefully designed to
ensure that all its students are well-grounded and given the
necessary learning tools to develop.