Important Notice
#CTAUnited. Following the latest advisory issued by the Ministry of Health, Curious Thoughts Academy is moving into the digital classroom with immediate effect until Thursday, 30 April 2020. Thank you for your interest in our online classes.
Should you have any enquiries, please contact us at 62502595 or email us at hello@curiousthoughts.sg.
We thank you for your kind understanding.
Tips to support your child in online classes
1. Study Area
Set up an area conducive for learning, such as at the dining table or study desk, away from comfortable resting areas such as sofa and bed. For younger children in Intermediate Class, we recommend a comfortable high chair.
2. Establish a structure together
Work out a routine together with your child such as study, meal, rest timings. Communicate with your child that Curious Thoughts classes will be at specific timing and specific day with the same teacher and friends.
3. Have regular check-ins
After the class, have a conversation with your child about his/her experience. Every change is a new learning experience. Affirm him/her for adapting and showing the spirit of resilience.
Frequently Asked Questions (for Online Learning)
1. What device will I need for online classes?
You can join our Zoom classes on various devices: desktop computer, laptop, iPad, iPhone. We recommend a computer or laptop with good Internet connection, webcam and audio system.
2. Who will be teaching my child?
Certified Jolly Phonics teachers from Curious Thoughts Academy will be teaching your child. When you sign up for an online class, you will attend the weekly online class with the same teacher and same classmates.
3. When will the class be conducted?
When you sign up for the online class, the 4 weekly classes will be at the same timing.
4. What is the duration of the class?
The online classes will be 75 minutes.
5. Where can I find the worksheets for class?
Weekly learning materials can be found in Google Classroom. Please refer to #CTAUnited Parent Guide for instructions (sent upon enrolment).
6. I do not have a printer at home to print the worksheets. What should I do?
If you do not have a printer at home, please prepare a pencil and paper (preferably with lines). We will be showing the worksheet on the screen during worksheet time. Alternatively, you can top up $20 for us to courier the set of worksheets to you.
7. I cannot make it for the class. Can I do a make-up lesson online?
Make-up classes are possible but subjected to availability as our classes are capped at 8 students. Please inform your respective teacher if you need a make-up lesson and she/he will assist you.
8. Both of my children are having concurrent classes but I have only one laptop. What should I do?
We will offer you other alternative slots for your child so that the classes for siblings are not concurrent.
9. Will I have a feedback session after class?
For online classes, feedback will be in a form of a debrief session for all parents at the end of class.
10. Do I need to accompany my child for the entire duration of the online class?
Yes, as our students might not be familiar with technology, parent assistance will be needed for online classes. For some students who are 6 years old and above, they can sit throughout the class independently but please ensure there is still an adult around to help if there are any technical issues.
11. How can we submit homework to teachers?
Please take a photograph of your completed homework and your teacher will e-mark it before sending it back to you.
12. If I like the teacher and want to continue with more classes, what are my options?
We will arrange with you to continue either through online classes or to join our face-to-face classes. Please note that the price for our face-to-face classes are $50 per lesson.
13. What is the teacher to student ratio?
We believe in small group teaching.
For our phonics classes, a maximum of 8 students can enroll in the class.
14. What is the method of teaching?
We use Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar to make learning enjoyable! Jolly Phonics is proven to help children perform at a level at least 1 year ahead of their academic year level. Jolly Phonics' reading skills will give your children an appreciation of quality literature, increase comprehension & fluency & lead children to a life-long love of reading!
Our teachers are all highly qualified and passionate educators in the fields of Jolly Phonics and the MOE-based English Curriculum. We use our own curriculum to make it an interactive and fun lesson for all children. A mixture of games, drama, social experiments and other disciplines are used in our classroom.
15. What is our track record?
We have been teaching for more than 10 years in both MOE schools and private lessons. We have helped many children improve tremendously both in learning to read as well as in their academic grades for English (from Cs to As). Please read our testimonials here.
16. What is the class attire for lessons?
Please wear appropriate clothes as other students will also be looking at you during the online class.
Curious Thoughts Privacy Policy
Introduction
Curious Thoughts (CT) recognizes its responsibilities in relation to the collection, usage, disclosure, storage and transfer of personal data under the Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”).
Personal data will be collected only for lawful and relevant purposes and reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that personal data held by CT is accurate. CT will take reasonable steps to protect the personal data and to avoid unauthorized access.
Customers
We at CT place the privacy interests of our customers high in our priorities. We are committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, accuracy and security of the personal data provided to us. All our employees are required to comply with our Privacy Policy when they carry out their daily activities.
Personal Data We Collect
Under PDPA, personal data is defined as information about an individual who can be identified from that data; or from that data and other information to which the organization has or is likely to have access.
As your preferred educational service and training provider, we require certain personal information from you for the purpose of offering suitable products and services to you. Personal data collected about you and your child may include:
1. General identification and contact information
Name of parents, name of child, address and mobile number, age, date of birth, gender, school of child
2. Identification numbers issued by government agencies
NRIC and occupation (for training)
Last 3 digits of Identification numbers issued by government agencies (for student enrollment)
3. Medical and health information
Allergies for teachers to be mindful of students
Dietary requirements for trainees
4. Other Information enabling us to provide our products and services
Previous education
Why you are registering your child with us or why you are joining the training
How you found out about us
Your child’s strengths and weakness
How we use your personal data (Purpose & Notification Obligation)
We may collect and use your personal data to:
identify you
communicate effectively with you
provide you with ongoing services and respond to your inquiries or instructions
make or obtain payments
investigate and settle your Government claims (for training)
recover any debt owed to us
detect and prevent fraud, unlawful or improper activities
conduct surveys about our customer service
coach employees and monitor for quality assurance
comply with all applicable laws, including reporting to regulatory and industry entities
resolve complaints, and handle requests for data access or correction
We will only collect and use personal data in an open, fair and lawful way that is necessary for the purposes identified by us above.
Releasing Your Data to Others (Transfer Out)
We may disclose your personal data to third parties:
regulators, law enforcement and government agencies (for purposes of Government claims for training)
We will only disclose your personal data as it is reasonably required for the purposes stated above and the data is limited to information necessary for us and these third parties to do the work. These parties are also required to comply with the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act.
Obtaining Your Consent (Consent Obligation)
We will only collect, use, disclose, store and transfer personal data for the above purposes with your consent or as allowed or required by law. We will tell you why we need your personal data before or at the time we collect it.
You can give your consent expressly or impliedly. Your expressed consent can be given to us in writing, verbally (e.g. through our centre’s phone) or electronically (e.g. through our website or email). Your implied consent can be given to us from your action or nature of dealings. For example, when SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) informs us of a successful claim, they will provide your data to us for us to confirm your successful claim. If your employer signed up for training for you, they may give consent on your behalf.
Withdrawing Your Consent
You may refuse or withdraw your consent for us to collect, use or disclose your personal data by giving us reasonable notice so long as there are no legal or contractual restrictions preventing you from doing so.
But if you withdraw consent for us to use your personal data, we will be unable to provide you with the products and services that you asked for or have with us, including preventing us from processing the paperwork required for your SkillsFuture or UTAP claim. Withdrawing such consent will require you to pay upfront for all programmes. Withdrawal of consent related to student information (for classes) will result in the loss of access to some services such as access to our school app (app is linked to parent’s mobile number and child’s last 3 digits of Identification Number).
Using Information for Marketing Purposes
The information you supply will only be used in-house, to update you on updates related to your child, as well as our latest student programmes or training programmes.
Accuracy
We will take all reasonable efforts to ensure that your personal data collected by us or on our behalf is accurate and complete.
Your Rights of Access & Correction
Under the PDPA, you have the right to request access to any personal data of yours that we have, and know how it is being used and disclosed for the last 12 months to the extent your right is allowed by law. However, you may be charged a reasonable fee for every request for such access.
You also have the right to request correction of your personal data.
Protecting Your Personal Data (Security)
We protect your personal data from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification or disposal by having physical, technological and organizational safeguards in place that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the data.
All our staff, representatives and service providers who act on our behalf must comply with our privacy policies and practices and can only access your data to do their jobs.
Retention
We will keep your personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purposes for which it was collected and as required for business or legal purposes. Once your personal data is no longer required for these purposes, we will destroy, erase or make anonymous the data.
Additional Information We May Collect
Use of Cookies
We may also receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us on our website. Through the use of “cookies”, which are small text files placed on your computer by websites, we are able to collect non-personal information such as your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses.
We use the information collected for the following purposes:
Keeping count of return visits to our website;
Determining which features on our website that users like best
The cookies used on our website will not collect your personal information unless you specifically provide us with the information. You may opt to disable cookies or prevent your browser from accepting new cookies through your browser settings.
If you choose not to allow us to place a cookie on your computer, this may restrict your ability to perform certain transactions, use certain services or access certain content on our website.
Contacting Us
If you have any concern, query or complaint about our personal data protection policies and practices or wish to request access to update, correct or withdraw your personal data, please write to:
Curious Thoughts, 261 Waterloo Street, #03-33
Singapore 180261
General Hotline: 62502595 or 82024372
Email: hello@curiousthoughts.sg
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We review this Privacy Policy regularly and reserve the right to make changes at any time to take into account of changes in our business and legal requirements.
We will place updates and our revised Privacy Policy on our website. If the changes are significant and reduces your rights under this Privacy Policy, we will notify you on this website as well as through more prominent notices (e.g. email notification, letter). Any changes will be effective 30 days following the date on which this Privacy Policy is revised and posted on our website.