SINGAPORE — A mega-childcare centre, providing 370 places in an environment with lots of green spaces and areas for outdoor activities, was officially declared opened in Marsiling on Saturday (May 20)
The PCF Sparkletots Large Childcare Centre at 9 Woodlands Street 12 is one of the large childcare centres that the Government is building to significantly expand childcare capacity in estates with a higher proportion of young families. These include in townships such as Punggol, Sengkang, Yishun, Jurong West and Woodlands.
Spread over 2,500 sqm, the childcare centre also has an extension bay at Block 101. It will offer “quality and affordable infant and child care and education services to 370 children”, said the PAP Community Foundation (PCF).
Based on the belief that children require “Vitamin G”, regular doses of green environments to play and learn, the centre’s environmentally-friendly design consists of natural ventilation and light throughout the centre, it added. Apart from the use of green walls and lighting equipment to harness solar power, the centre also has ample shade at the outdoor areas.
Its 350 sqm rooftop play area has cycling and running tracks, and equipment for water and sand play.
The opening ceremony was attended by guest of honour Madam Halimah Yacob, Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. Together with PCF executive committee chairperson Josephine Teo and PCF chief executive officer Victor Bay, Mdm Halimah planted a tree in the childcare entre’s courtyard to mark the occasion.
During a tour of the centre, Mdm Halimah viewed an exhibition, Collaboration with Parents and Community Partners, which showed how the centre integrated the outdoors into its curriculum, and that lessons need not be confined only in the classrooms.
