How Happiness Leads to Excellence at Holland International School
When looking for a preschool or primary school in Singapore, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the immense offer of options, learning approaches, and curricula. Singapore’s city state offers more than 60+ international schools and that does not even include the wide range of local preschools available.
As a parent, you want what is best for your child, for them to be looked after withcare, and develop into well-rounded individuals. But what should that look like in the shape of a school or learning approach?
In this blog we’d like to tell you more about our holistic approach to learning andhow it leads to happy children that truly enjoy learning. Science has proven that happy learners learn better and that it has a lot of benefits for their overall well-being and self-image. Furthermore, we’ll talk about formal and informal learning activities that allow us to foster children that are happy, confident, and competent.
Keep reading to find out more!
A child-friendly environment
Within an environment such as Singapore, where work stresses and the well-known rat race are no stranger, it seems our children are also expected to excel and dowell in school from an early age onwards. At plenty of preschools in Singapore,learning Mandarin, getting homework assigned, and being expected to practise at home are common practice.
But, if that is not what you want for your child, if you are looking for a more down to earth and child-friendly environment, then Holland International School may be theright place for you.
Happy children learn better
At Holland International School, happiness is at the core of everything we do. Wetake our Dutch roots seriously (The Netherlands is known to have the happiest kids inthe world) and make sure to foster children that are happy, confident, and competent learners. Why? Because happy learners learn better.
Here are a few benefits of happiness in early childhood education:
- Increased motivation: When children are happy, they are also moremotivated and engaged. Their natural curiosity is triggered and satisfied inreturn because their experiences are fun, exciting, and self-directed.
- Improved creativity and critical thinking: Positive emotions have been linkedto enhanced creativity and improved critical thinking skills. Happy learners are more likely to approach challenges with a positive mindset, fostering creative problem-solving and a willingness to explore different perspectives.
- Reduced stress and anxiety: perhaps a no-brainer, but happy learners do experience a lot less stress. Reduced stress levels create an optimal environment for learning by allowing learners to focus on the material ratherthan being preoccupied with negative emotions about their abilities.
- Better social interactions: Learners who feel happy are more likely to collaborate, communicate, and participate actively in group activities. Positive social interactions contribute to a supportive learning environmentand reduce the chances of bullying or feeling left out.
The science is there, but what does that look like in practice?
Outdoor play twice a day
Our children get to play outside at least twice a day, unless a heavy thunderstorm is passing by our school. Play is a wonderful way for children to explore and developthemselves at a natural, unstructured pace. As your child progresses from preschool to primary school, more and more structured learning activities are added to theirdaily activities and formal learning starts to make up a larger part of their dailyroutine. However, no matter their age, our children continue to play outside at least twice a day throughout their time at pre- and primary school.
You can learn more about our approaches to playful learning in Miss Ashley’s blog on The Power of Play at Holland International School.
Learning to collaborate with others
As explained earlier, happy learners are more likely to collaborate with others and develop better social connections. This instils a sense of belonging and decreasesthe chances of bullying and feeling left out. At our school, we start with cooperative learning strategies right from preschool. Our children learn to look after each otherand also know how to share and take responsibility for different tasks such as cleaning up their workspaces, dividing assignments equally and helping each otherwhere necessary. This approach fosters children that are more flexible, more willing to try new things, and know how to work together with others to achieve a common goal.
Read more about Cooperative Learning in Miss Nanou’s blog.
Letting your child take ownership
Part of our Dutch-rooted approach to learning is that we give our children a lot of ownership and room to explore their own ways. This requires a teaching approach that is more child-centred and oriented at facilitating personalised learning. It’sabout letting them make mistakes on their own and learning to overcome challenges without being directed by a teacher too much. Of course, we make sure to tick off all formal learning milestones but because no learner learns in exactly the same way, we make sure to create enough opportunities for children to give their own spin to their learning experience.
Some examples:
- Letting children decide in which order they fulfil their exercise
- Letting children choose between two different exercises
- Letting children decide where in the classroom they do their tasks
- Letting children rate their experiences and share feedback
This child-centred approach makes learning more fun and dynamic for bothteachers and children. It creates children that feel confident in themselves and are able to think outside the box because they have been taught to explore new approaches and perspectives on their own. That’s when true learning takes place.
A visit will tell you all!
Thanks to these different approaches to learning we are able to foster children that are happy, confident and competent. Our children feel seen, are able to take on a challenge and do not shy away from taking ownership of their learning because they are not afraid to try out new ways.
Of course, we can claim all this but it is more important that you experience this foryourself. A visit will tell you all! Our Admissions team is happy to show you around, getyou acquainted with our wider team, and answer any questions you may have.
Alternatively, you are welcome to attend one of our upcoming open mornings, so that you can learn more about our learning approaches and visit our school to meet other parents and our wider community.
Register for our Open Morning here