All hands were on deck as staff from Presbyterian Preschool Services put in their all to get ready for the launch of not one, but two Little Olive Tree Preschools! Over the past 2 Saturdays, we held Open Houses for Little Olive Tree Preschool @ Bukit Arang, as well as Little Olive Tree Preschool @ Woodlands.
You may be wondering what an ‘Olive Tree’ has to do with providing good preschool education to our children. In the Bible, the flowering olive tree represents beauty, abundance and fruitfulness. (Ps 52:8, Ps 128:3). It is our hope that Little Olive Tree Preschools become the seeding ground and a safe space for them to grow and flourish in.
“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” Psalm 52:8
Little Olive Tree is a testament to PPS' commitment to help the Christian Preschool Ministry to flourish in Singapore.
Little Olive Tree Preschool @ Bukit Arang (LOT.BAR) is a partnership between PPS and Bethesda Bukit Arang Church. PPS’ mission is to meet challenges and needs of the community in Christian witness to touch lives, while the educational mission is to nurture a strong foundation of truth, beauty and goodness for our children. This is aligned with the mission of Bethesda Bukit Arang Church to move people towards King Jesus. Through early childhood education, they wish to reach young children and their families in the neighbourhood by starting conversations and building connections.
As for Little Olive Tree Preschool @ Woodlands (LOT.WLD), it is a partnership between PPS, Woodlands Evangelical Free Church (WEFC) and Truth Baptist Church (TBC). PPS’ mission is in line with WEFC’s mission to make disciples who will transform Woodlands and the World, as well as TBC’s mission to focus on nurturing the next generation with Christ-like character.
Thus, with a similar endeavour to love and serve the community in both the Serangoon/Lorong Chuan and Woodlands area, the current kindergartens with both churches will be converted to full-day childcare centres to cater to the increasing needs of families living around the churches (as of 1 January 2023).
At each Open House, parents and grandparents had the chance to meet the new leaders of Little Olive Tree as well as hear more about our Truth, Beauty and Goodness Curriculum. Read more about it below.
They even had a chance to tour the premises of the preschool to explore the different spaces that children would eventually learn, play, and grow in. Parents and children particularly enjoyed the fresh look of the mock-up classroom. One of the current classrooms was completely transformed to portray how a future Little Olive Tree classroom would look like, with new furniture, children artwork galleries and Learning Centres.
At our Chinese Language Learning Corner, parents loved browsing the Stories of the Bible storybooks, a series produced in-house by our very own PPS staff. Children also got really comfortable in our Library corner, where they read books and narrated their own stories with cute puppet friends!
Children were also free to try learning centre activities such as the pounding of spices to engage children's sense of smell, or creating an artpiece with circles (with the help of an intriguing spinning plate). Some were so captivated by the activities that they did not want to go home, to their parents’ pleasant surprise!
Water play and pedal play areas were also a huge hit with the children – they could not resist having a good splash and cycling or scooting around with their friends. Children also had big smiles on their faces when making music with the various instruments used in our music programme and when playing with a huge parachute!
We certainly enjoyed meeting and hosting everyone at the Open Houses, and are so glad for the opportunity to be partners with parents in providing a loving learning environment for the children to grow and glow in! Find out more about Little Olive Tree here: www.littleolivetree.sg