Phase 2 of the project aims to make “Exploratory Learning” the mainstream for early childhood education in the future, with scale and support levels extensively upgraded, focusing on the needs of the teachers and children from grassroots families. It is noted that grassroots children are worse off in cases where parents lack knowledge, confidence or direction to guide them, and their schools lack the resources to support their learning, leading to the omission of high-quality education opportunities in their critical learning stage.

In light of this, the service network of Phase 2 will focus on seven districts that have a relatively high proportion of grassroots families, including Kwun Tong, Kwai Ching, Wong Tai Sin, Northern District, Sam Shui Po, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long. It aims to benefit more than 50,000 children and families, principals, some 2,400 teachers, and 440 student teachers of 400-plus kindergartens. Through providing simple and intuitive teaching guides and resources, the project supports teachers and parents to lead students to explore with confidence to develop creativity.

From 2025/26 school year, the General Studies subject will be split into Science and Humanities to augment STEAM education for young students. This underscores the importance of teachers’ role in nurturing students’ interest in exploration. To prepare local grassroots children for a smooth transition from kindergarten to Primary One, the project provides high-quality and personalised “Exploration Learning” teaching and learning resources that will enhance teachers’ capacity and parents’ confidence in guiding children on exploration. This will more effectively develop children’s exploration interest and attitudes, and lay a strong foundation for their STEAM learning in the future.

The three-in-one JumpStarter exploration kit comprises bilingual story books, a teachers’ guide and a parents’ guide, to help children seamlessly link exploration and learning in school and at home. The kit has been well received in Phase 1, and has garnered recognition in various international award programmes, including the top Gold Award in the 2023 International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN), and a place among 20 Best Inventions. In Phase 2, the early childhood education experts of the “CoolPlay” team will continue to develop more age-appropriate, localised and diverse teaching resources. The new JumpStarter will include materials kits for parents to practically guide their children on exploratory learning. An online version of JumpStarter’s Phase I kits will be introduced in stages, to help parents and teachers formulate personlised learning plans in accordance with a child’s preferences and needs. Additionally, the new parent-child exploration journey will venture into the community, under the guidance of the project team, to let children and parents explore more broadly and freely.

For schools, “CoolPlay” provides dedicated support to all kindergartens in the seven districts. These schools account for more than half of all tuition-free kindergartens in Hong Kong. More diverse and tailored teaching support is provided in Phase 2. The project team will have multiple meetings with principals and teachers to better understand their needs and challenges, and then devise plans that cater to the school’s situation and key development direction. The team conducts detailed analysis and planning covering five aspects – curriculum integration, parents’ participation, environment setup, teaching model and school-based development – for designing personalised exploratory learning plans that integrate with the school’s regular teaching, to promote “Exploratory Learning” as part of the school culture.

Considering that schools and teachers have different needs, the team has introduced two collaboration models, Professional Level and Expert Level, for schools to adopt best-fit training based on their needs. To benefit more kindergartens, the project also incorporates a “Community School” concept for schools to continue receiving support after one year in the project, including teachers’ training, the JumpStarter exploration kits and participation in community activity. The team will inject more resources into schools participating in the project for the first time to enhance understanding of “Exploratory Learning” and teaching quality in the districts over the long term, as the basis for establishing a solid community education network.