WE THANK Madam Chua Wei Ying for her feedback ("Accredited centres should truly be of high quality"; last Thursday).
The Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (Spark) was introduced in January 2011 to encourage pre-school centres to improve the quality of their programmes.
Spark aims to recognise and support pre-school leaders for their efforts to enhance the holistic development and well-being of young children.
These efforts include improvements to teaching, learning, and administrative and management processes.
Participation in Spark is voluntary.
Centres are strongly encouraged to adopt Spark to improve standards and as a mark of quality assurance.
All childcare centres are required to obtain a licence before commencing operations.
A 12-month licence is issued to centres that meet the stipulated standards of care.
Childcare centres must have a minimum licence tenure period of 12 months in order to apply for Spark assessment.
However, if a childcare centre's licence tenure is shortened to six months, its Spark certification will be revoked.
Exceptions may be considered if circumstances that led to the six-month licence tenure are transient.
These may include reasons such as staff movement.
Koh Kok Khai
Director
Regulation and Standards
Early Childhood Development Agency
The Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (Spark) was introduced in January 2011 to encourage pre-school centres to improve the quality of their programmes.
Spark aims to recognise and support pre-school leaders for their efforts to enhance the holistic development and well-being of young children.
These efforts include improvements to teaching, learning, and administrative and management processes.
Participation in Spark is voluntary.
Centres are strongly encouraged to adopt Spark to improve standards and as a mark of quality assurance.
All childcare centres are required to obtain a licence before commencing operations.
A 12-month licence is issued to centres that meet the stipulated standards of care.
Childcare centres must have a minimum licence tenure period of 12 months in order to apply for Spark assessment.
However, if a childcare centre's licence tenure is shortened to six months, its Spark certification will be revoked.
Exceptions may be considered if circumstances that led to the six-month licence tenure are transient.
These may include reasons such as staff movement.
Koh Kok Khai
Director
Regulation and Standards
Early Childhood Development Agency
