I got told about this the other day and memory is a bit hazy as i wasnt listening properly...something about listening and then learning notes...which i found was quite weird...can anyone shed any light?

You are right, they start off that way, but then no matter what key they are in, they sing C as doh, D as Re, etc... they use solfege.
And the piano method incorporates improvising and composing into their exam syllabus and you have levels 14 or 15 to 10, then after that from Grade 9 to 1. The lower the no. the more difficult the test.

thanks! just wondering...

You're welcome! In any case, they start off at age three with the music kids course, there they sing and follow music with body movements, do crabs crawling on the keyboard, and such simple exercises on the electone. Electone (electric organ) keys are lighter, hence better for children.
Then they go for the JMC; Junior Music Course at age 4 where they learn more solfege singing and aural skills and simple tunes on just five fingers on the electone until they finish books 1-4, then they go into the JXC where they are at age seven (also electone based) or classical piano. At that age, they should be able to sing a lot of stuff you play in solfege immediately back to you, be able to play pieces of about Grade 1 or 2 ABRSM standard, improvise a bass, compose a short melody and identify simple chords by solfege names.