About Us
Small Pukeko’s Early Learning Centre
Philosophy
‘Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti arahia o tatou mahi’
Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work
Small Pukeko’s Early Learning Centre, believe we provide a safe learning environment for babies from 3 months old to 6 year olds. We pride ourselves on respecting and valuing everyone’s beliefs, individuality and family values. We view all tamariki and whānau as taonga (treasures). Our desire is that all tamariki and whānau, achieve a sense of ūkaipōtanga or belonging. We hope to provide an environment where everyone is seen as an integral member and where, as a whole person with your identity intact, you can make your contribution.
We strive to foster a love of learning, by providing a nurturing, encouraging atmosphere where the child is able to explore the environment in their own way and time and be supported in their interests and learning.
We believe in allowing time for them to explore without interruption, to develop their creativity, to build relationships and friendships with adults and children and to gain trust in the adults around them.
We value kotahitanga as a teaching team and learning community, and strive to work together to allow Small Pukeko’s to be a learning environment that meets all whānau and tamariki needs and aspirations. All members of our learning community are encouraged to have their say in regards to the daily running of our centre.
Our motto: Respect is Key – Treat others as you wish to be treated.
Our relationships with parents, whanau and local community
We believe strongly in the importance of relationships with our parents, children, whānau and local community.
We believe in the importance of children developing a strong safe base of trust in the adults around them so that they are able to explore and learn confidently. We develop this through our primary care system where every child in the centre belongs to a specific whānau group led by a teacher. The teacher forges a strong trusting relationship with the child and their whānau, getting to know them well, providing a safe base for children and parents to turn to and ensuring that the needs of all are met.
We strive to empower our whānau for them to gain a sense of belonging within our centre. We value the tikanga principle of whanaungatanga, by making all whānau feel welcome within the learning environment and encouraging whānau input into all aspects of daily practice. We work hard to develop collaborative and reciprocal relationships with everyone in the centre; children, parents, whanau, staff, community through face to face communication, whanau noticeboard and social media.
We strive to be active participants in our community, participating in local events and maintaining a strong relationship with our local school. We embrace learning about our whānau whakapapa to strengthen our relationships in the centre, identifying and acknowledging our dual heritage.
Our Tamariki
We uplift all children’s mana by providing a learning environment where tamariki can strive to achieve their best and develop through their own personal strengths and interests.
We value the importance of our tamariki having a key teacher to follow through with transitions throughout their time with us.
Children are trusted, supported, respected and valued as competent and capable learners.
We value, respect and reflect cultures throughout the centre and for our tamariki to gain an understanding of the world around them and other cultures in the centre.
We aim to instil a sense of trust and confidence for children to be themselves. Teachers are consistent with limits and expectations so that the children can develop self-discipline, self-respect and respect for peers, teachers, whanau and their environment.
Our Learning environment
We believe by providing open ended resources (such as items from nature, tyres, material, pipes etc) and rich learning experiences, it will support our tamariki to grow and develop emotionally, intellectually, physically and socially. We will give our children plenty of opportunities to make discoveries to acquire and practise skills in authentic situations relevant to them and their interests.
We believe, every child is an Artist. We want the tamariki to develop their creativity abilities. We support, encourage and let them decide what they want to do; thus being their interpretation. We never draw or make for the
children – we let them do it. We provide opportunities for children to create what they desire.
We strive to support children in learning about caring and respecting the centre environment and the resources we provide.
Our teachers and staff
We are compassionate, kind, caring, patient and nurturing staff who ensure every individual child’s needs are being met.
Teachers at Small Pukeko’s are welcoming and are always enthusiastic to teach. We attend professional development to stay passionate, up to date and knowledgeable in many areas of early childhood development.
We respect and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi by providing a bi-cultrual learning environment. Teachers aim to utilize Te reo Māori through everyday interactions and activities. We also integrate a range of tikanga Māori throughout our practice including whakapai ngā kai before meal times and supporting our transition to school children through the local school pōwhiri process.
Te reo is spoken in the centre by staff and role modelled to each other to develop other teachers to reach their full potential.
