Primary School

In Singapore since 2014, Deepali originates from India (Mumbai) where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Diploma in Pre-school Teacher Training. Subsequently, she attained her Postgraduate Certificate and Master’s Degree in Education (major in Leadership) from the Monash University, Australia. Deepali has been an early childhood educator since 2003, with experience in teaching at international schools.

The time spent with learners at school has developed Deepali’s perspective of valuing each child as an individual as well as a part of a community. It also aligns with her own motivation to be a lifelong learner. Viewing the learner as the prime focus, including their interests and needs, assisting learners to achieve their goals, preparing them to be independent thinkers, involving them in authentic and relevant learning has been what Deepali strives for during the many years of teaching the early and primary years.

She believes OWIS' pedagogical approach is effective, balanced, creative and engaging and closely aligns with her own approach. Deepali’s beliefs on children taking ownership of their learning are reflected in the goals of the school too.

Apart from teaching she loves cooking and painting with her daughter. Deepali also enjoys travelling to different places, meeting new people and discovering diverse cultures.

Melissa hails from, as she puts it, the small State of Vermont in the USA. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Champlain College and a TESOl Certificate from American TESOL Institute.

Wanting to broaden her horizons after living in Vermont for a couple of decades, Melissa decided to experience different cultures and countries first hand. She has lived in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Egypt, prior to moving to Singapore. These opportunities have allowed her to meet a plethora of lovely people from all over the world.

After trying different 'office' jobs, Melissa (for whom, children have been a constant in life) realised that she was happiest when informing and guiding children. She feels challenged to be a better person each day, a positive role model and a life long learner. She has been living her true passion when teaching and declares that there is no such thing as being bored in this job!

Her philosophy is to teach to the whole child; meeting each child where (s)he is at; providing lessons that are appropriately challenging while also peeking the child's interest in wanting to learn.

Melissa loves "Mango with sticky rice" and Photography!

Erika was born and raised in Winconsin, USA. She has 22 years of teaching experience and this is her 15th year teaching in Singapore. She has taught elementary art at Singapore American School and at various international schools in New Zealand, Egypt, China and Japan.

She endeavours to let students discover things on their own. She mentors their skills and provides materials but lets them do the research, have their own ideas, their own path of inquiry, experiment, plan, etc. She encourages each child to have a personalised outcome based on their own critical thinking and problem solving. She believes that the emotional wellbeing of the child must come first before real academic learning can take place. 

Erika’s parents were both teachers and she thought she never wanted to be one. However, when giving swimming lessons to children when she was in University, she realised that she loved working with children and she could help them blossom in creativity. She is still in touch with all her students from her first batch of students 22 years back and firmly believes there is a special bond formed between teachers and students.  

She has 3 boys aged 12, 10 and 7 and loves to go on long nature walks at the local reservoirs and identify wildlife with them. She also paints and does art as well as breaking up fights between her 3 boys! She attends International Baptist Church on Sundays.

Inma graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education International Teacher Education for Primary Schools. She has taught in different local schools in Spain and Denmark and international schools in Sweden, Portugal, Denmark and Tanzania.

Inma believes that children are the future! Her most important task as a teacher is to ignite the spark that leads to a lifelong love of learning. She likes providing her students with a welcoming environment based on an atmosphere of caring, respect and risk-taking where mistakes are seen as positive steps of the learning process. She encourages her students to take responsibility for and reflect upon their own learning to support them towards becoming independent and engaged learners.

She is happy to be a part of the OWIS team because it is very diverse and inclusive, truly showing internationalism and multiculturalism.

Inma likes hiking, scuba diving, traveling and trying different cuisines from around the world.