Blooms Academy was conceptualised in 2017 because its founder, Mr Jeffrey Ang, saw the importance of developing the whole child.
Mr Ang is an ex-MOE teacher with more than 15 years of teaching and tutoring experience. After reading chemistry at the National University of Singapore (NUS) on the MOE Teaching Award, he went on to complete his Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at the National Institute of Education. He subsequently taught at the junior college and secondary school levels.
Mr Ang specialises in O-level Chemistry and has seen most of his students scoring distinction for the subject. However, in the course of his teaching, he realised that a handful of students would score well only for Chemistry and that some students would choose to give up on other subjects that they were not interested in. Thus, Mr Ang saw the need to develop students’ interest in learning and this could be done if they are motivated through better results.
Blooms Academy offers classes in Chemistry and English. These subjects are complementary and offer students a good foundation in learning and coping with the O-levels examinations and beyond. There are also plans to offer classes in Mathematics and other science subjects when suitably-qualified tutors are recruited.
The focus of Blooms Academy is thus to develop the whole child and prepare students for the future through honing cognitive abilities that are in line with 21st Century Competencies. Blooms Academy’s teaching philosophy is inspired by Howard Gardner’s 5 Minds for the Future:
The Disciplinary Mind — Students at Blooms Academy will have mastery of major schools of thought, including Science, Mathematics and English. We believe that mastery in these subjects forms the foundation for our students to do well in other arenas. Blooms Scholars who attain achievements in other domains and for their talents will be recognised by the Academy.
The Synthesizing Mind — Blooms Academy develops our scholars’ ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole such that learning for a subject supports the overall development of the mind and learning for all subjects.
The Creating Mind — With the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions, and phenomena, Blooms Scholars will be able to apply learnt concepts to challenging questions of a different context.
The Respectful Mind — Learning at Blooms Academy takes place in a small group so that students develop an awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups. Cooperative learning takes place in our classrooms and learning is thus multiplied.
The Ethical Mind — Blooms Academy believes that the fulfillment of one’s responsibilities as a student and as a citizen is important in developing servant leaders of the 21st Century. We model this through participation in community activities and also through our Financial Assistance Schemes for needy students. We believe that no child should be denied of academic support because of financial constraints. Please speak to us if you are in this situation.