Opening Remards By Dr Bervyn Lee,at The Official Launch Of 'Fun Start Move Smart'

Opening Remards By Dr Bervyn Lee, Senior Director, Sports Pathways Development, Singapore Sports Council, At The Official Launch Of ‘Fun Start Move Smart’

OPENING REMARKS BY DR BERVYN LEE, SENIOR DIRECTOR, SPORTS PATHWAYS DEVELOPMENT, SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL, AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF ‘FUN START MOVE SMART!’ 28 JUNE 2011, 10.30AM, AT NTUC MY FIRST SKOOL

Guest-of-Honour, Mdm Halimah Yacob, Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good morning!

1 Learning through play. That is the philosophy the Singapore Sports Council, was guided by when we began developing a series of fundamental movement skills resources last year.

2 Just observe children in a playground, playing on the monkey bars and see-saws and playing a game of tag with their friends. It might all seem like fun and games, but unknown to them, they are exploring spatial relationships, honing motor capabilities, practising social skills and language, thinking creatively and gathering information about the world through their senses.

3 What we have done, is that we have brought that playground fun into the classroom. With activities like “Going on Safari” and “Where’s the Sticky Popcorn?” children will learn fundamental movement skills by doing what they love to do, and do best - and that’s play!

4 It’s just like how children need to learn their ABCs before learning how to read. Similarly, fundamental movement skills are the building blocks children need to take part in more complex sports activities and enhance their comprehension of other learning domains such as language, literacy, numeracy and social awareness.

5 Studies have shown that children who fail to develop fundamental movement skills are three times more sedentary than skillful children of the same age.

6 So, today we are proud to officially launch our first instalment of a series of fundamental movement skills resources. ‘FUN Start MOVE Smart!’ Fundamental Movement Skills for Growing Active Learners, is a teaching resource for childcare and preschool educators, the first of its kind to be developed locally.

7 To complement the resource guide, the SSC also conducts teacher training workshops. By the end of the workshop, teachers will have a clear understanding of fundamental movement skills and will be able to effectively use the teaching aids provided to seamlessly integrate the teaching of fundamental movement skills into their existing lesson plans.

8 We have also recently completed a pilot programme, the results of which I will be sharing with you later.

9 We have received a lot of positive feedback from principals, teachers and parents, who have had a chance to use this guide. We are also very encouraged that established kindergarten chains such as NTUC My First Skool are beginning to include the teaching of fundamental movement skills into their curriculum. We do hope that in time, more and more schools will adopt a similar practice.

10 With guides for parents and coaches in the pipeline, it is our aim to provide caregivers with the tools to shape our children into happy, healthy, well-rounded individuals.