So here we are on our final day in Singapore

17 Nov 2017

Published by: Jenny Shaw

Today we have been lucky enough to come to Busy Bees Asia HQ’s new offices which are very impressive! As I write the participants are putting their finishing touches to their individual project presentations. Each of them has so much to share from what they have learnt and how they think they can influence practice back home in the UK from next week. I am so excited to see them all as they are all very different; each bringing their own unique style and reflections. Next week I will write a final post to summarise the team’s thoughts so you can have an insight into what we hope to bring to practice.

These three weeks have been such a fabulous experience. I don’t think any of us estimated that we would learn half as much or have so many wonderful memories to take home. I am incredibly proud of the group; we started as strangers 22 days ago but very quickly became a team. I hope we are all able to stay in touch when we are back in the UK so we can see how the programme influences the practice in each other’s settings and on a larger scale across the country. 

I feel we have all grown personally as well as professionally. We have had a variety of challenges along the way but everyone has worked together extremely well to support each other, and make sure we have all had an amazing time. However despite our best intentions, we have not managed to pick up any Mandarin (aside from “please mind the gap” – we have spent a lot of time travelling by train!)

We are so grateful to the team here in Singapore who have gone above and beyond to make our stay go as smoothly as possible and have made sure we saw as much of the country as we could. Each centre we have visited and every person we have met from different departments have been so welcoming and so keen to embrace this experience – enthusiastic to find out as much about early education in the UK as we have about Singapore. The teachers we have met have been skilled, passionate and dedicated and we have so enjoyed observing their different teaching styles.

The Singaporeans love to feed! Everywhere we have gone each person we have met has been so keen to share with us food from their particular culture, or their favourite dish, meaning that we have been spoilt with the variety of different food we have had to eat. I am sure my tastes  have changed and I am thinking I will be cooking a lot more spicy food when I get home – I don’t even fancy a roast dinner!

For me the highlight has been to see the engagement of the children across all the brands in both Singapore and Malaysia; I am so proud to work for a company that delivers exceptional childcare across the globe. I also can’t wait to see where next year’s TEP will take place and who will be involved – because I know they will have an amazing experience that will enhance their own practice and influence children’s outcomes. 

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