A Journey of Purpose, Discipline and "One-Buttock Teaching"

To date, three of our Little Olive Tree preschools—Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, and Holland Village—have achieved the SPARK 2.0 Quality Certification. We celebrate this milestone not because it was easy, but because it demanded the very best of us.

Getting SPARK is certainly not a walk in the park. It is more like learning the piano—slow, deliberate, sometimes awkward, and often full of scales you don’t feel like practising. It calls for thoughtful planning, clear thinking, purposeful action, and the courage to do the same things again and again—only better each time.

It is the discipline of doing with understanding, and understanding what you are doing.

It is a whole-school effort.

It stretches every teacher, every routine, every corner of the classroom.

And at the beginning, it feels… strange.

Unnatural.

Like wearing a brand new pair of shoes that hasn’t softened yet.

It goes against the familiar rhythm of the classroom flow.

But discipline has its own quiet magic.

The world-famous conductor Benjamin Zander once described how a seven-year-old bangs out notes on the piano—every single note guided by a fresh impulse. It feels scattered, tiring, and a little painful. Many children stop here because it isn’t enjoyable. It doesn’t yet feel meaningful.

But if the child stays the course—keeps practising scales, finger exercises, and follows the metronome faithfully—something beautiful happens. By the age of eleven, the impulses shift.

From one impulse per note

to one impulse per phrase.

And before long, the child begins to play with freedom, flow, and feeling.

The music carries them.

They lean forward on the seat.

They start what Zander famously calls “one-buttock playing.”

Wholehearted.

Fully alive.

This is what SPARK does to a preschool.

When teachers persevere through the early awkwardness—when they commit to planning, observing, reflecting, adjusting—something shifts. The routines gain shape. The documentation gains depth. The classroom breathes differently. The children flourish because the adults have grown.

And one inspired teacher becomes another.

And then another.

And soon, the whole school leans forward—

a one-buttock preschool.

This is the path we have chosen.

SPARK is not a badge we hang on a wall.

It is a framework we live in.

A structure that wraps around our curriculum, routines, learning experiences, special projects, documentation, and parent partnerships.

It helps us do ordinary things with extraordinary clarity.

It keeps us accountable to best practice.

It gives our children the kind of environment where truth, beauty, and goodness can take root and grow strong.

To our teachers at LOT Yishun, LOT Ang Mo Kio, and LOT Holland Village—

we honour your grit, discipline, and heart.

You have taken the long road when shortcuts were available.

You have pressed through discomfort to build something better for children.

And to the rest of our Little Olive Tree family—

this is the journey we continue together.

Practising our scales.

Strengthening our rhythm.

Leaning forward, one buttock at a time.

So that every child who walks through our doors

finds a place where excellence is not an act,

but a way of life.