Khalifah Intelek, Sungai Dua Utama

Khalifah Intelek, Sungai Dua Utama is a kindergarten that is committed to providing a play-based, child-centred curriculum that enables children to hone the skills they need to do well in primary school. Within this safe environment, children are given the freedom to learn about the world around them through many fun activities. Caring teachers are trained to respect each child as a unique person who learns in different ways, at differing paces. While they put in their utmost effort to help students develop holistically, they still want children to enjoy their childhood and love their play experiences at school.

For us, at Khalifah Intelek, childhood is not a race to see how quickly children can learn to read, write and count. Let a child be a child, and learning will come naturally.

The programmes at Khalifah Intelek are built on the belief that play is central to children’s learning and development. “It’s not just play; it’s skills for life.” Play helps them cultivate social skills, become better at communicating, develop physical skills, build confidence, understand academic knowledge, and very importantly, feel happy to learn.

To best accomplish these outcomes, the kindergarten has carefully set up a risk-free environment where children can explore and try new ideas. Children are given lots of choices about what they want to do, instead of just filling in worksheets and passively taking in a lesson based on a fixed lesson plan. When they are allowed to have a say in their learning, going to school becomes enjoyable and they will acquire a lifelong love of learning.

Every day is an exciting adventure at school. Teachers offer a wide variety of materials and activities to keep children engaged in the lesson, such as creative art, building toys, outdoor play, nature discovery, sensory activities, role play, science experiments, free play and many more. Largely, children are encouraged to learn by playing and doing – in a totally hands-on manner. It is often a full body activity that fine-tunes their motor skills like grasping objects and feeding themselves. This enables them to become more independent and also helps them write.

As learning mostly takes place in the form of playful activities, children get plenty of practice to ask questions, think creatively, solve problems, work as a team and be respectful to each other. All these are important skills for children’s future. In addition, children are guided to have good self-management like being able to control their emotions, having proper table manners and putting away their belongings.

The whole education process is shared with parents through photos, videos, private messages and face-to-face parent-teacher meetings. Keeping parents updated and establishing positive connections between parents and teachers are essential parts of the Khalifah Intelek school system to ensure children are progressively improving and achieving their full potential.