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EtonHouse
International Pre-School to open its first centre in Malaysia
18 March 2010 KUALA LUMPUR,
MALAYSIA: The EtonHouse International
Education Group (“EtonHouse”) is set to change the face of international pre-schools
in Malaysia with the imminent opening of its first centre in Kuala Lumpur later
this year. This will make them a pioneer in the adoption of an inquiry based
education framework inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach of Northern Italy.
The pre-school, owned and
operated by Midwest Acres Sdn Bhd will see up to 250 students per year benefiting
from the EtonHouse curriculum framework that has been critically acclaimed
across the region for its creativity and excellence in the education of young children.
“With over 3000 students from 54
different nationalities, the EtonHouse schools and pre-schools have a truly
dynamic and multicultural environment with proven expertise in offering
international educational environments of the highest standard. Our local
partners have demonstrated their knowledge and willingness to enhance the level
of pre-school education in the country and this obviously makes us very
enthusiastic about the first Malaysian pre-school in our family,” said Mrs. Ng
Gim Choo, Group Managing Director, EtonHouse International Education Group.
Established in response to research
based best practice in preschool education, children are offered a holistic international
education in EtonHouse pre-schools from Nursery to Kindergarten age. EtonHouse has over 15 years of experience in operating
pre-schools and international schools. It currently operates (over) 25 schools
spread across the Asia Pacific region with the first one in Kuala Lumpur
opening in the third quarter of this year.
At the EtonHouse International
Pre-School in Kuala Lumpur (“EtonHouse”), the curriculum offered will be the
‘inquire, think, learn’ EtonHouse curriculum. This curriculum is inspired by
the work of colleagues in the Reggio Emilia pre-schools and infant toddler centres
of Italy, acknowledged by ‘Newsweek’ as being amongst the best pre-schools in
the world. This arts based approach is built around principles of encouraging
every child’s innate sense of curiosity and developing communication capacities
whilst learning through both long and short term projects
Learning experiences are offered
in English by experienced and qualified early childhood educators and are
designed to support children between the ages of 3 and 7 to further develop communication
competencies The curriculum is aimed at ensuring that the process of learning
is meaningful to young children and builds a life long love for learning that
is then reflected in future school and professional life.
“The EtonHouse philosophy of a
holistic and balanced curriculum delivered in a way that engages children
complements many of the world’s best educational institutions. Children at EtonHouse
are recognized as competent learners who are supported in making an active
contribution to their own learning. . This is something relatively unique in Malaysia and we’re very excited to be able to
bring such a clearly effective system to Malaysia,” said Onny
Maathai, Managing Director, Midwest Acres Sdn Bhd.
The process of assessment proposed
at EtonHouse will be a collaborative experience with the children and their
parents so that children develop a sense of ownership in their learning. This encourages
children to develop confidence in their abilities and be happy and engaged
global learners and critical thinkers.
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About EtonHouse
The EtonHouse Group provides
Educational Services through International Schools, Pre-Schools and Early
Childhood Teacher Education Courses. Registered with the Ministry of Education
in Singapore and China, EtonHouse is a member of the Council of International
Schools. EtonHouse currently operates 25 schools in Singapore and the Asia
Pacific region. Together these schools provide quality international education
to over 3000 children from fifty four different nationalities.
The EtonHouse curriculum follows
the International Baccalaureate (IB) philosophy of inquiry based learning and
the Literacy and Numeracy strategies from the United Kingdom for the primary
children in Singapore. For the Early Years Programme (Nursery to Kindergarten),
a child-responsive, play-based, “inquire, think, learn” EtonHouse pedagogy is
followed. The early childhood curriculum is inspired by the Reggio Emilia
educational project of northern Italy. The international school at Broadrick
and EtonHouse Suzhou in China are both IB authorized schools.
EtonHouse Newton and Orchard in
Singapore are the first stand-alone pre-schools in Singapore to obtain IB
candidate status.
Both the IB and the EtonHouse
curriculum position children as active participants in their own learning.
Children’s curiosity and skills of observation are supported and valued and are
the basis of the curriculum which aims to build skills of exploration and
discovery; investigation and research; collaboration and team membership
abilities.
EtonHouse offers an outstanding
second language programme. Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi and English as an
Additional Language are offered in the different centres. The programme equips
children with strong language skills. The Pre-Sap Bilingual Mandarin programme
and the integrated Mandarin programme offer children a natural and inclusive
environment to develop strong language skills.
The in-house training and
research and development arm for EtonHouse-EtonHouse Education Centre is an
academy for early childhood teacher education and professional development. It
provides a suite of academic programmes in early childhood education ranging
from Certificate to Masters qualifications as well as supports the EtonHouse
practitioners in continuing their professional development. The Certificate,
Diploma and Graduate Diploma programmes are recognized by the MOE (Ministry of
Education) and MCYS (Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports) and
are offered with accreditation from CACHE (Council for Awards in Children’s Care
and Education) in the UK. The Bachelor and Masters programmes are offered in
association with Roehampton University, London’s longest established teacher
education provider.
For Media Enquiries
Stephen P Francis Charles Chen
Arcis Communications Arcis Communications
t: +6.03.7805.1733 t: +6.012.
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Michele Malini Mahendra
Arcis Communications
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