Our philosophy embeds learning through play and our session routines are responsive to this being flexible to the children’s needs. Each day teachers provide opportunities and experiences to challenge, extend and build on children’s interests, foundation skills and learning dispositions. This may include arts and crafts, baking, music and dance, puzzles, stories, science, play dough, dramatic play, block play, carpentry, water play, sand play and manipulative play.
OUR CURRICULUM AND PROGRAMME
Our curriculum is based on the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki, which is designed to support children “to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.” Te Whāriki (2017). Te Whāriki provides the basis for a programme that is woven together from the five strands to develop children’s knowledge, skills and dispositions. The curriculum has strong links to the school curriculum's key competencies for children to learn and develop:
Wellbeing/Mana Atua/Managing Self Independence, self-help skills, emotional competence, some understanding of keeping themselves safe, to articulate themselves, a range of strategies for getting help.
Belonging/Mana Whenua/Participating and Contributing Sharing home life, knowledge of and care for their community and environment, decision making and planning, social confidence, understanding of rules and values such as honesty, courtesy, fairness
Contribution/Mana Tangata/Relating to others Feeling welcomed and positive about themselves, welcoming and respectful of others, confident in their interests, strengths, knowledge and abilities, work cooperatively, understand others have a different point of view or feelings, express their needs and feelings
Communication/Mana Reo/Using language, symbols, and texts Literacy skills (visual, oral and written), enjoy books, print concepts, familiarity with te reo Maori, practical mathematical concepts, fine and gross motor skills, enjoy expressing themselves creatively through music, art, craft and design.
Exploration/Mana Aoturoa/Thinking Have starting points for further learning, are adventurous and creative, make choices and decisions, non-locomotor and manipulative skills, use innovation, discovery, imagination experimentation and exploration, early mathematical concepts and skills, explore scientific and technological worlds, make sense of the living world, make sense of the physical world, appreciate their environment and how it changes.