Playtimes HK Magazine The School Book 2019-2020 | Page 149

The Child Development Centre Watchdog Early Education Centre 4th Floor, Prime Mansion, 183-187 Johnston Road, Wan Chai District: Wan Chai Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected] www.cdchk.org Hong Kong Centre G/F, East Wing, 12 Borrett Road, Mid-levels District: Central and Western Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected] Chief Executive: Dr. Yvonne Becher Kowloon Centre, 4 Jordan Road, Kowloon (inside the Kowloon Union Church) District: Yau Tsim Mong Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected] Description: The Child Development Centre (CDC) is a not-for-profit organisation, informally set up in 1976 and officially constituted in 1978. For the past 40 years, the CDC has provided support to a wide spectrum of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in English and Chinese. The CDC strives to follow evidence-based practice in early year’s education. Staff members adopt an interdisciplinary approach to facilitate children’s development, taking into account the children’s individual needs and the importance of parents in a child’s learning. Number of Teachers: 4 Teachers, 2 Classroom Assistants, 1 Social Work Assistant, 1 Special Child Care Worker, 6 Speech-and-Language Therapists, 6 Occupational Therapists, 3 Behaviour Therapists, 1 Physiotherapist and 3 Educational/Clinical Psychologists. Number of Classrooms: 2 Classrooms and 2 fully-equipped Sensory Integration and Motor Therapy Rooms. Teacher/student ratio: 1:3 Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-6pm Saturday 8:30am-5:30pm Curriculum: Our curriculum is based on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) set by the Department of Education in the UK. It includes areas of development concerning numbers, shape, space and measures, communication and language, literacy, physical development, understanding the world, art and design, and personal, social, and emotional development. Other Languages Available: Cantonese. Features: We use a variety of learning tools, curricula and methodologies to achieve the goal of individual education for individual needs. We provide interactive and energetic learning sessions in small group and individual settings. To ensure the progression of every child towards achieving their full potential, our professional staff members conduct twice-yearly developmental assessments to monitor their progress. Facilities: Classrooms, Individual Therapy and Assessment Rooms, 2 fully- equipped Sensory Integration and Motor Therapy Rooms. www.watchdog.org.hk Executive Director: Stella Wong Description: Watchdog Early Education Centre is a registered charitable organisation in Hong Kong providing intensive and well-rounded early intervention and therapy programmes for children with special educational needs aged from new born to six. Watchdog operates separate English and Cantonese speaking programmes. The children we support have a wide range of challenges including Global Developmental Delay, Autistic Spectrum Disorder(ASD), Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) as well as a variety of learning difficulties and physical disability. We offer psychological assessment, specialist teaching both on an individual basis or small group setting, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Music Therapy. We serve over 450 children annually. Curriculum: Watchdog provides separate English and Cantonese speaking programmes, with an assessment centred curriculum which monitors the key developmental areas in children: cognitive; fine motor; gross motor; sensory integration, self-help skill; expressive and receptive language, and social relationship. Features: Watchdog offers Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Music Therapy, Psychological services and counseling. Scholarships: Watchdog operates a system of fee remission (partial or full) for families in need of financial assistance. This system applies to school fees and speech therapy fees. Watchdog is always prepared to discuss financial difficulties and possible solutions both long term and short term, to ensure that families avoid unnecessary stress and hardship. Fees: HKD$750 per month Admission: Referrals are made through the Central Referral System for Rehabilitation Services Subsystem for Disabled Pre-Schoolers (CRSRehab-PS) of the Social Welfare Department as well as Paediatricians, Psychologist, Kindergartens and Schools. Uniform: No School Lunch Available: No Scholarships: No. Fee remission available. Parents: Parent involvement is very important to the programming at Watchdog. We provide several supporting resources for the parents of our students, including home programming, home visits, parent resources and toy library, parent-child activities and school visits. Accreditations: All teachers at the CDC are required to meet the Hong Kong requisite standards for professional registration. Inspection: Last evaluation was carried out by external education professionals in 2017. Transport: MTR: Wanchai Station (Exit A3); Parking: Car park at Tai Yau Plaza Parents: We value parents’ input and have implemented several mechanisms to gather their opinions. We strive to keep parents informed and encourage them to meet with our staff via Parent-Teacher Meetings and Home Visits, to discuss their children’s learning progress. We also equip them with useful parenting skills by offering various parent workshops. The School Book 2019-2020 147