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A Day in A Life of A... Principal

By my queenstown on Monday, June 21, 2010 with 0 comments

Children are the assets of the nation for the future. Do you like being with cute, cuddly kids with innocent looks asking for hugs and kisses?

Today, we'll probe into a day in the life of Miss Ginny Leo, who is a childcare Centre Principal! Ginny is a fervent community volunteer in Queenstown for the past few years. She would take part in various voluntary activities which assist the elderly and the needy residents such as the recent block painting exercise at Stirling Road.  She stayed in Stirling Road during her youth but had moved to Clementi. You can't miss her!

At around 9am in the morning, Ginny arrives at the Little Skool House Childcare centre and would routinely make her rounds around the place. She would talk to parents leaving their children in the centre, while not forgetting to survey both the children and also the teachers.

A Collage of the Children's Works

Ginny at Work!

The childcare centre takes in children from 18 months old up to 6 years old. They would be placed in different classes with specialized teachers attending to, and teaching them. Children in the toddler class are the youngest, their age ranging from 18 months to 30 months old. Nursery one classes accepts children of around 3 years old. Nursery two classes accepts up to 4 years old, and the list goes on until 6 years old. The Childcare center opens from 7am to 7pm every weekday and from 7am to 3pm on Saturdays.

Children listening attentively to the teacher

At 11am, Ginny would then return to her office in order to check her endless emails. With the childcare centre having a 130 attendance slots and a 50 applicant waiting list, one can imagine the intensity of work and the responsibility that she has. Meanwhile, the children are having their arts and crafts lesson, in which they make their own jellies and cookies to give their daddys on Father’s day. In the curriculum, art and craft is only one of the learning aspects for the children. Other interactive modules include music classes, literacy classes and socializing classes where the children are encouraged to interact with one another.
The children's gifts to their fathers

At about 1pm, the children would take their afternoon naps! The kids are tired after their play and need plenty of rest especially the toddlers. Ginny would then talk to all the school teachers and asks them if there are any feedback for the day. Ginny explained that she values her staff very much and she requires all of them to have the right attitude when tending to children. She recalls her seven years of experience as a childcare teacher in her previous school. “Many of my fellow teachers cannot deal with the stress levels and the management did not seek to alleviate our anxiety, instead they gave us more.”

I'm a toy soldier!

When inquired on why she committed 11 years in this field, Ginny replied straight that it is all about passion. She even explained her previous job as a customer and admin staff in her uncle’s company where she was regularly bullied due to her youth. She was then earning a high salary but could not stand other employees skiving and dumping their workload on her. “I prefer working with children over adults any day. If a child angers you, you would forget it in 5 minutes. However, if an adult angers you, it would probably take more than 3 years.”

Toddlers at school!

At about 4pm, there was an incident where a child scratched another in the face. Ginny advised the teacher on a clean wash of the wound without applying any medication as the wound was near the eyes. Ginny then calmly talked to the errant student, making sure he understand his error and promise not to do it again. Ginny assures the teacher-in-charge that everything would be fine and that she would explain to the victim’s parents directly. Ginny understands the various characters of her teachers very well, and strive to improve their proficiencies through different mentoring methods. Ginny explained that through experience, she understands that stress is part of a Childcare teacher’s job scope. It is important to regularly chat with her teachers in order to understand their mental condition. “Mentoring teachers is one of the most satisfying aspects of my job! I take pride in my teachers and ensure that they always carry out their job scope professionally.”

At about 6pm, some teachers left the school and the various classes are merged into 1. Children of different ages interact with each other, in a flurry of fun and laughter. When asked about the worse part of her job, Ginny explained that it is doing the endless amount of paperwork, sometimes late into the night.

Ginny derives happiness in seeing both the children and teachers feeling happy coming to school. She explained that maintaining personal happiness levels is important in her line of work, and she hopes that the children would have a pleasant experience in her school.

At 7pm, Ginny and the teachers lock up the place and leave for the day. Curious about her happiest moment in her job, we decided to ask Ginny about it. She replied, “Everyday when I come to work!”
Leaving the childcare centre

Can you quote the same phrase for your work? We hope that Ginny can stay on in her career and continually ensuring the quality molding of our nation’s future assets.

Category: A Day in a Life of A...

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