Wondering which preschool curriculum will suit your child best? It is a crucial question for every parent. The preschool years are highly formative, laying the foundational stones for your child’s lifelong cognitive, social, and emotional growth.
Finding a preschool that truly aligns with your child’s unique learning needs begins with understanding its core framework. To help you navigate the early childhood landscape, let us unpack how to choose the right framework and break down the popular preschool learning approaches in Singapore.
How do I Choose the Right Preschool Curriculum for My Child?
A holistic curriculum is a comprehensive educational framework designed to nurture all aspects of a child’s development — cognitive, physical, social, and emotional — rather than focusing solely on rote academic learning.
In Singapore, the gold standard for holistic early education is the Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) Framework developed by MOE. The framework outlines quality preschool principles across five key learning areas:
Aesthetics and creative expression
Discovery of the world
Health, safety and motor skills development
Language and literacy
Numeracy
Crucially, the NEL Framework dictates that true character building requires Values, Social and Emotional Competencies, and Positive Learning Dispositions to be woven naturally across all five of these domains. A quality preschool does not treat social-emotional growth as a separate lesson; it embeds it into every daily interaction.
At Star Learners, our proprietary Starbeam™ framework was explicitly created to align our programmes with this exact MOE philosophy. Through this, our core, complementary, and enrichment programmes work in harmony to ensure children grow into well-rounded, emotionally resilient individuals.
Types of preschool curriculum available in Singapore
There are various types of preschool curriculum offered in Singapore. We share some popular ones below.
1. Literature-Based Curriculum (Star Learners’ Signature Approach)
The literature-based approach harnesses the power of authentic, award-winning children’s literature from around the globe to immerse children in rich learning experiences. Rather than treating subjects in isolation, lessons are presented as engaging adventures where children explore concepts through the magic of stories.
- Bilingualism in Action: True bilingual immersion is woven naturally into daily life across all age groups through both English and Mandarin Core Curricula. From the earliest levels, children build rich conversational fluency and vocabulary. As they progress, this foundation scales up to mastering 44 English sounds via our Code Cracker Synthetic Phonics Programme, alongside advanced Mandarin preparation, including Chinese culture, idioms, and dedicated Hanyu Pinyin lessons, introduced at the Kindergarten level.
- Character Building: Central to this approach is the Stanley StarfishTM social-emotional learning programme. Through intentional story themes and role-play, children internalise 10 core values, including respect, responsibility, resilience, and integrity, moulding them into heroes of heart and mind.
- Accolades: This unique method is highly recognised across the industry, proudly awarded the Best in Literature-based Curriculum by Parents World, Singapore’s #1 Parenting & Lifestyle magazine.
2. Montessori
The Montessori curriculum focuses on self-directed learning across five core areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Culture. In a Montessori classroom, children work independently with specialised, self-correcting learning materials. Each child progresses entirely at their own pace, and teachers document learning outcomes individually.
2. Montessori
The Montessori curriculum focuses on self-directed learning across five core areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Culture. In a Montessori classroom, children work independently with specialised, self-correcting learning materials. Each child progresses entirely at their own pace, and teachers document learning outcomes individually.
3. Reggio-Emilia
The Reggio Emilia approach views children as capable, resilient individuals full of curiosity. It utilises an emergent curriculum that evolves entirely based on the children’s spontaneous interests, ideas, and strengths. In this style, the physical environment is considered the “third teacher” and is heavily optimised for creative, project-based experimentation.
4. Multiple Intelligences
Inspired by Howard Gardner’s theory, this curriculum recognises that children possess distinct types of intelligence (such as linguistic, musical, spatial, logical-mathematical, and interpersonal). Preschools adopting this framework design varied activities to tap into and develop these unique, individual competencies.
4. Multiple Intelligences
Inspired by Howard Gardner’s theory, this curriculum recognises that children possess distinct types of intelligence (such as linguistic, musical, spatial, logical-mathematical, and interpersonal). Preschools adopting this framework design varied activities to tap into and develop these unique, individual competencies.
5. Play-based
A play-based curriculum uses structured, purposeful play to make education engaging for children who learn best by doing. Educators intentionally design play environments that spark discoveries, guiding children to reflect on their experiences and associate learning with joy from the very beginning.
6. Inquiry-based
Driven by child-initiated curiosity, the inquiry-based curriculum places strong emphasis on active learning. Children are encouraged to ask deep questions, formulate hypotheses, and test their ideas through hands-on investigations, while teachers step back to act as facilitators.
6. Inquiry-based
Driven by child-initiated curiosity, the inquiry-based curriculum places strong emphasis on active learning. Children are encouraged to ask deep questions, formulate hypotheses, and test their ideas through hands-on investigations, while teachers step back to act as facilitators.
Learn more about Star Learners’ literature-based approach
Interested to find out more about how the literature-based curriculum at Star Learners can benefit your child in their formative years? Simply register your interest for any of our 43 centres island-wide, and our team will be delighted to guide you through our programmes and address your family’s needs!
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Kindergarten programme ensures a seamless transition to Primary 1 by robustly building academic, cognitive, and social-emotional readiness. Through our comprehensive Math Programme, children cover key primary school prerequisites, including Numbers & Operations, Pattern Awareness, and Data Representation. Combined with our Code Cracker Synthetic Phonics and structured Mandarin immersion, children enter formal schooling as confident, independent readers and logical thinkers.
While not strictly mandatory, quality afternoon enrichment programmes allow children to uncover unique strengths and passions. At Star Learners, we offer diverse, optional enrichment choices like STEM learning, multi-sports via Ready Steady Go Kids, and creative Speech & Drama in both English and Mandarin. To explore how to strike the right balance for your toddler, take a look at our dedicated guide: Navigating Toddler Enrichment: Are These Classes Necessary?
Yes, a specialised curriculum is highly beneficial for infants (2 to 17 months). Rather than passive babysitting, infant care at Star Learners focuses on a responsive caregiving framework. Our environments are intentionally designed to stimulate early sensory exploration, support gross and fine motor milestones, and foster secure psychological attachments with consistent, primary caregiving.
Early writing skills are nurtured progressively from the Playgroup level through mark-making and fine motor activities. This culminates in our signature Write a Rainbow™ Story Creation & Writing programme. As children advance through Nursery and Kindergarten, they learn to structure story elements, culminating in the exciting milestone of collaborating with peers to write and publish their very own original storybooks.
Traditional, rote-memorisation spelling tests are generally not emphasised in a developmental preschool environment. Instead, starting from Nursery 2, Star Learners focuses on synthetic phonics. By teaching children how to decode 44 individual letter sounds and blend them fluidly, they naturally learn the rules of spelling and word formation through application, building long-term reading and writing resilience.
Yes. To prepare children comprehensively for the Primary 1 Chinese language syllabus, formal exposure to Hanyu Pinyin and foundational Chinese idioms is integrated into our Kindergarten 1 and Kindergarten 2 core curriculum. This is delivered through our Le Zhong Xue, Shi Zhong Xue (乐中学，施中学) approach, ensuring language acquisition remains highly engaging and stress-free.
For toddlers, books with rhythmic text, vibrant visual literacy cues, and relatable emotional themes work best. At Star Learners, we intentionally curate award-winning global literature that sparks imagination and introduces diverse perspectives. For a curated list of titles to kickstart your home library, explore our expert recommendations here:
The secret to raising a lifelong reader lies in turning reading into a shared, interactive experience rather than a chore. Our educators utilise 'shared reading' techniques (reading with children rather than to them), sparking open-ended dialogues about the characters and plot. To learn practical, actionable tips on creating a literature-rich environment right at home, check out our insights: 5 Tips to Help Your Child Build a Love of Reading.
