Auckland Kindergarten Association Celebration Book 2016 by Auckland Kindergarten Association

CELEBRATION BOOK 2016 ENGAGING WITH WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LEARNING

ENGAGING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION. This edition of the AKA’s annual Celebration Book provides an opportunity for us to look both backward and forward. Backward to our beginnings 108 years ago as a community minded and funded organisation, focused on providing a better start for the children of the most vulnerable families. Forward, as we celebrate the many and innovative ways that our services continue to embrace their place in the community and strengthen their role in supporting and engaging with children and their families. Kindergartens, KiNZ centres and playgroups each provide a welcoming place for families and communities to come together, with the shared purpose of enhancing children’s learning. Research tells us that family and community support, and in particular parental engagement, is a key factor in children’s achievement. For many families, this is their first entry point into the education system and what we do sets the tone for their ongoing engagement with their child’s learning. For refugee and new immigrant families, our services can be the pathway to becoming part of their new community. Family and Community Engagement stands proudly as one of the four strategic pillars of our 2015-2025 Strategic Plan. The pages that follow showcase the innovative ways that we currently engage families and communities in children’s learning, and provide a blueprint for the ways we can continue to grow and strengthen this fundamental part of what we are and what we do.

Tanya Harvey CEO

NORTH Bayview Beach Haven Belmont Bayswater Birkenhead Chelsea Devonport Glenfield Greenhithe Kauri Park Mangawhai Marlborough Milford Northcote Northcote Central Snells Beach Sunnynook Takapuna Wellsford Westlake Forrest Hill

SOUTH 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

CENTRAL Epsom North Epsom South Ferndale Freemans Bay Grey Lynn Hay Park Playgroup KiNZ Myers Park KiNZ Sandringham Morningside Mt Albert Mt Eden Mt Roskill Owairaka Parnell Ponsonby Point Chevalier Remuera Sandringham Waiheke Waterview Wesley Westmere

Aorere Bairds Favona Flat Bush Kingsdene KiNZ East Tamaki KiNZ Mission Heights Kotiri Mangere Bridge Mangere West Mayfield McNaughton Murdoch Park Omana Otahuhu Otahuhu Central Panama Road Playgroup Papatoetoe Yendarra

52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

WEST 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

Avondale Birdwood Blockhouse Bay Colwill Don Buck Glen Eden Glen Eden West Green Bay Henderson Hillsborough Hobsonville Kelston Girls College Playgroup Laingholm Lincoln Heights Playgroup Lincoln North Lynfield Massey New Lynn Oratia Ranui Roskill South Sturges Road

72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93

WEST CONT. Summerland Sunnyvale Taupaki Te Atatu Peninsula Te Atatu South Te Atatu Village Titirangi Waitakere Whenuapai

94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102

EAST Anchorage Park Botany Downs Bucklands Beach Cascades Dannemora Ellerslie Farm Cove Glen Innes Glendowie Highland Park Howick Maraetai Beachlands Meadowbank Mission Bay Onehunga Orakei Oranga Pakuranga Pigeon Mountain Pt England Somerville St Heliers St Johns Sylvia Park

104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127

HEAD OFFICE 2015 TO 2025 STRATEGY

4 5

HEAD OFFICE

CONNECTING WITH OUR COMMUNITIES One of the four strategic pillars to underpin the AKA and KiNZ 10-year strategy is Family and Community Engagement. We are currently collecting data that will help us to better understand and support how we engage with families and communities at both a centre and organisational level, and thus support children to develop strong foundations for ongoing learning. The following key initiatives have been implemented over the past year:

Diversity

Digital

• Our ‘Whakamanawa Programme’ is a 10-month professional development programme focused on building teachers’ skills, knowledge and confidence in te reo and tikanga Māori, to strengthen our responsiveness to Māori whānau and their aspirations for their child’s educational success as Māori.

‘StoryPark’, an electronic learning portfolio system is now available across all of our centres and enables wider family, no matter where they are in the world, to be actively connected and involved in that child’s learning.

• Communications and marketing strategies have focused on reaching the many diverse groups that make up the people of Auckland, a highlight was our presence at two of the Pacific festivals over the summer months. • Resources have been developed to build upon our knowledge of, and responsiveness to, different Pasifika cultural groups, supporting our service’s participation in language weeks as well as promoting our early childhood services at major Pasifika festivals.

Language The creation of an Early Language Specialist to work across our centres to support parents/whānau, playgroup coordinators, teachers and education specialists in their respective roles of supporting children’s language acquisition.

Parenting • A 14-session ‘Incredible Years Parenting Programme’ for parents of children aged 3–8, which provides parents with skills to better manage their child’s behavioural problems, creating a home environment that is conducive to positive social and educational outcomes • The ‘Triple P programme’ is currently offered in South and West Auckland. The programme consists of four workshops designed to provide general parenting strategies. This can be followed with more in-depth individual discussions if required.

Playgroup A fifth Playgroup will be opening in October this year; the Playgroups provide, free of charge, opportunities for children and their caregivers to play and learn together, forming friendships and informal support networks.

We celebrate our progress and achievements over the past year and acknowledge the wonderful work our staff in Kindergartens, KiNZ care and early learning centres, Playgroups and Head Office do every day to support families, communities and, most importantly, children.

2015 TO 2025 STRATEGY

WHAKATAUKI

Whāngaia ka tupu, ka puāwai That which is nurtured, grows and blossoms PURPOSE

STRATEGY PILLARS

As a leading and influential early childhood education provider, our purpose is to provide exemplary services that engage children, whānau and communities in relevant, responsive and innovative early childhood education.

EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE Cutting edge pedagogy. FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Communities of learning. STRENGTHEN THE CORE High performing employees and effective systems and processes. FUTURE FOCUS Innovative and responsive organisation.

BEHAVIOURS Commitment to Purpose: Manawanui-to show commitment and dedication. Collaboration: Kotahitanga-oneness or unity; working collaboratively towards the same goal. Respect: Manaakitanga-caring and respecting each other. Trust: Ngākau Pono-to act in a way which shows your trust in others and engenders trust in you. Positive Outlook: Ngākau Pai-to act with positivity.

OUTCOMES 1. Children have strong foundations for ongoing learning 2. Families and communities engage with children’s education 3. Employees performing to their full potential 4. Forward focused organisation

EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE

STRENGTHEN THE CORE

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

FUTURE FOCUS

KINDERGARTEN IS A SPECIAL PLACE WHERE TEACHERS, CHILDREN AND PARENTS COME TOGETHER TO BUILD AMAZING COMMUNITIES AND LIFE-LONG FRIENDS.

TŌKU PEPEHA. A pepeha is a way of introducing ourselves in Māori. It represents our connections to a specific area and people and is about the places, geographical features and people we identify with that make us who we are. While exploring pepeha we have an opportunity to learn more about our whānau and celebrate the richness and diversity that they bring to our kindergarten’s community. “…we love having these stories shared with us, it gives us a really good link to kindy and gives us lots to talk about with L. at home. He loves to see pictures of himself at kindy and tells us his words about what the pictures are about. Thanks G. for your effort on his pepeha, it certainly helped L. connect his home life with kindy…” (B.M., May 2016).

STRENGTHENING CHILDREN’S SENSE OF BELONGING THROUGH INVOLVEMENT. Developing a community of learners to further enhance participation, involvement and learning. We have had the opportunity to work alongside Special Education staff to further strengthen relationships, develop a community of practice, and further encourage parent involvement and partnership at our kindergarten. We used the ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ approach, which focuses on finding out what works, identifying the causes of our successes and aiming to enhance these further. Our goal was to develop a community hub and deepen relationships within the community, responding to parent aspirations and valuing whānau contribution. We have enhanced whānau involvement by creating a welcoming space for parents to spend time at kindergarten, encouraging a culture of ako – reciprocal learning - where parents are invited to share their knowledge, and learn with and alongside others.

OUR KINDERGARTEN PEPEHA. Connecting children and whānau to a place to which we belong. We have started to tell our own pepeha to build upon our mana whenua - our identity and connection to our place for a greater sense of belonging. We engaged with whānau as we explored our maunga, Rangitoto and moana, Waitemata. Creating our beautiful mosaic, which reflects our pepeha, brought children together. It has been a real joy knowing how many hands have contributed and how much aroha has been shared. We discovered Māori legends that tell of the creation of Rangitoto and Waitemata. Children’s art and play told stories of their connection to our pepeha. Their stories tell of visits to the island and what they can see from our beaches. Unveiling our pepeha was a celebration. Whānau and manuhuri enjoyed an enthusiastic pōwhiri and waiata performed by the children. We all shared kai, conversation and laughter as we came together.

TE AO MĀORI CONCEPTS TO ENGAGE WITH WHĀNAU & COMMUNITY. We promote the Tiriti O Waitangi principle of participation to encourage partnerships with whānau. From the first contact we have with whānau and their children, we welcome and encourage whānau to be part of our programme. We focus on the Te Ao Māori concepts of whanaungatanga where family is valued, respected and important. Children are not viewed as learners in isolation - they bring rich whānau experiences and knowledge with them. We welcome and encourage whānau to contribute to our programme by sharing their interests, skills and stories, and by working alongside teachers to support children’s learning. Cultural celebrations are opportunities to invite all the community to celebrate the diversity of cultures within our community. The Te Ao Māori concept of manaakitanga that is focused on care, value and respect supports our kindergarten treaty: We care for ourselves, for others, for our environment, resources and our community.

DISCOVERING THE MAGIC OF BUILDING A COMMUNITY TOGETHER.

A place where we celebrate our cultural diversity through parent participation. We feel very privileged to have such a rich cultural community here. One of the ways we celebrate this is through sharing stories. Parents come to share aspects of their culture with us. One parent comes in weekly to run a mat time in Mandarin. WhÄ nau come in and cook their specialty foods with us, share traditional games and bring in their national costumes. We learn songs in several languages and the children gain a greater understanding of the different cultures and countries represented in our kindergarten community. Parents often join us in our gardening endeavours to share their knowledge and support our children in maintaining our sustainable practices. Once a term we have an educational evening for parents. This term our workshop is looking at how we support our children to be powerful lifelong learners in the 21st Century.

TRANSITION TO SCHOOL. The wider world of whānau and community is an integral part of our curriculum. At Devonport Kindergarten we facilitate a positive transition from kindergarten to school. We encourage parents / whānau to visit feeder schools and make a decision about which school they want their child to attend. Once children are enrolled their photo is placed on the ‘Which School’ board. On Mondays we run our transition to school programme. When children are nearing five, they are taken on a school visit in groups of two or three. One child explained that, “we go on a school visit to see our teachers and to know them.” Children have additional visits with their parents / whānau. The teachers of the new entrant classes regularly visit kindergarten to meet the children. In the child’s last week of kindergarten they are given a centre-produced book all about the school they are going to be attending, to be shared at home with parents / whānau.

FAMILY, WHĀNAU, COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS. Ko tāu rourou ko tāku rourou ka ora ai ngā tamariki. With your contribution and my contribution our children will prosper. We engage with family, whānau and our community to support learning for children, families and ourselves. We have continued to foster te ao Māori concepts of manaakitanga (caring), whanaungatanga (sense of belonging) and kaitiakitanga (caring for the environment). To embrace our enviro journey we focus on reduce, reuse and recycle, with information sharing with Kaipatiki Project members. We embrace diversity with family and cultural events. We invite family involvement, like reading to children in their home language. We welcomed opportunities to include te reo (language) and tikanga (customs) with Matāriki celebrations at our library, hangi and teaching poi. We have established community links to support learning: yoga, dance, authors, police, and special education. We benefit from cultural concerts at nearby schools, Duffy Books in Homes, Windfall Orchards and Paper for Trees. Everyday opportunities, like cooking from produce they have grown, strengthens children’s learning.

GREENHITHE KINDERGARTEN WELCOMES THE COMMUNITY. Celebrating everyone. At Greenhithe we enjoy sharing the knowledge, skills and interests of our community with the children. We encourage parents to share their culture and interests with our children, whether it is sharing their food, language or family projects. Our teachers in training share their cultural and culinary heritage. Members of the community are invited to kindergarten, the local bee keeper comes in with honey and teaches us about bees, the local librarian and constable come to talk to us about the roles they play in our community. We invite parents, grandparents and siblings to join us for special mornings, allowing our children to demonstrate to families their knowledge and learning. The local school joins us when we have interesting visitors such as the Science Roadshow. Our annual Frozen day is popular with our current families, those who are waiting to join us and those who have left â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all enjoy the snow for a weekend.

WORKING ON COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS WITH FAMILY AND WHÄ&#x20AC;NAU.

Family participation at Kauri Park. Inviting family, whÄ nau and community into our kindergarten experiences is something we truly value. The string art project is one example of how we do this. Inspired by the tukutuku panels in Te Pura Pura Pai, the marae that we recently visited at Birkenhead College, we decided to create a unique art piece for our kindergarten. Each family was given a piece of recycled wood and coloured wool to take home. We recognise the individual creativity that makes each panel so different. When the panels were all fitted together, we had a fabulous representation of Kauri Park Kindergarten. We have enjoyed hearing the stories behind each panel, including who contributed and what inspired them. This collaborative artwork has highlighted the unity in diversity we have at Kauri Park Kindergarten.

FOSTERING ENQUIRY LEARNING THROUGH PARTNERSHIP WITH WHĀNAU & COMMUNITY.

Developing an understanding of our unique rural and coastal community can be achieved when we support whānau to contribute to our curriculum. When Eden’s dad, Richard, came into share his job as a beekeeper with us, the children were fascinated. They see beehives around our community, and have a natural interest in nature. Richard’s presentation gave us a lot of information and provided us with many more questions. Suddenly our learning environment was buzzing with information on bees and rich learning opportunities around this intriguing subject. When Lynda brought in her bee suit, some hive boxes, trays and a smoker, the children began exploring through dramatic play and then began building their own hives from blocks and crates. They made smokers from cardboard and constructed bees to go into them. Teachers provided picture provocations to support children to draw pictures of bees and build knowledge.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ARE LEARNING TOGETHER THROUGH ENVIROSCHOOLS. We have achieved Enviroschools Silver Status together! Our families are learning about Enviroschools alongside their children. It is awesome to see them initiating and getting involved in the many different aspects of our journey. We have noticed the children’s lunchboxes are very healthy since we have encouraged “litter free lunchboxes”. Parents are involved in sustaining our garden projects and reaping the rewards! Children enjoy harvesting delicious food from the gardens and our guinea pigs and birds do not miss out! As a community we work together to reduce waste and continue to learn ways to recycle. Boxes and other interesting items are creatively recycled into works of art. Families share their cultures to enrich all our lives, through being involved in celebrations, their language, food and special treasures. Māori perspectives guide us in everything we do. Showing manaakitanga, being a “caring Kiwi” is important to our community. We notice that children share this concept and are working towards creating a peaceful, healthy community.

WHĀNAU INVOLVEMENT AT MILFORD KINDERGARTEN TAKES MANY FORMS! “Fulfill the needs of our children and tomorrow they stand strong.” At Milford Kindergarten, manaakitanga (caring) is very important to us, it is at the centre of our philosophy. We promote an open door policy and we remind parents that the kindergarten is their place as much as ours. We encourage parents to come in and share their skills, their passions or just simply spend some time in our welcoming environment. Through this, we are learning about one another as a community, discovering people’s cultures and home lives. Through strengthened relationships, we are able to enhance our children’s achievement and maximise their successes. Some of the different activities which involve parents and whānau are: grandparents’ day, beach evenings, multicultural lunches, and visiting our local marae and places within the community. We have found that these activities promote a genuine sense of community and we are able to deepen children’s learning through gained knowledge and unity.

ENGAGING WITH WHĀNAU AND OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY. At Northcote Kindergarten, the community is an integral part of our teaching and learning philosophy. We have been building up a relationship with our local retirement home by going on regular hikoi, with whānau as extra helpers. On our last visit, the tamariki had made daffodils to hand out to their elders. We did a short concert of waiata, which was met with clapping, singing and delighted faces. It is an opportunity to make links with the wider community and foster this through sharing our passions for craft and performance. We were given some craft to bring back to the Kindergarten by the residents. We have amazing whānau who support us on excursions, and value the learning that happens when we venture out beyond the Kindergarten gates as a group. We look forward to many more hikoi where we learn about the wider world.

WHÄ&#x20AC;NAU AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. Connecting links with the family and the wider world. Our transition-to-school group of children (Tui Group) visit our local library in Northcote with the support of a parent helper. Our kindergarten enjoys the reciprocal visits from Marie, our librarian, who provides interactive learning experiences on the mat for us on her termly visits. Our children, with support from their whÄ nau, are constantly developing their interests in pre-literacy / literacy and numeracy as they engage with a variety of learning experiences that are a part of our daily routines. Our annual wheel-a-thon is always a fun time during which we have opportunities to be competitive in child and parent races whilst developing our gross motor skills. Sometimes some of our younger siblings who attend a nearby community day care centre spend some time exploring our kindergarten at drop-off and / or pick-up times.

FROM BEACH CLEAN TO BUTTERFLY CREEK.

From a survey, we put some great ideas into practice... To increase whānau participation and to support children’s learning, we surveyed other kindergartens, parents and tamariki. From the results we decided to provide a variety of events to appeal to a wide range of families, some becoming a regular fixture on our annual calendar. Our most popular events included adult “Play Dates”, cultural feasts, a focus on literacy, a parent education evening on school success, an evening fish and chip picnic. For a trip to Butterfly Creek, our Parent Whānau Support Group fundraised to pay for bus travel and parents supported children on the hour plus trip each way to make the excursion possible. A beach clean proved very popular and extremely worthwhile. We also hosted kapa haka performances for a local school, and residents of a local rest home.

HAERE KĹ&#x152;TUI - COMING TOGETHER.

A well-worn whariki brings together all those who are important to the task. Belonging is about having a secure relationship with, or a connection with a person or group of people. In this instance, the partnership between children and their families, kindergarten and school. Jump Jam has become a regular part of our programme every Wednesday, walking to join the juniors at Sunnynook School. It is a great opportunity for the children and families to connect and reconnect with the school, the school teachers and their old kindergarten friends. The children begin to develop a sense of belonging in the school and community and that sense of mana transfers to their parents and extended families. The relationships developed through this are strengthened between school, kindergarten and the families. When children feel a sense of belonging, they can be emotionally strong, self-assured and able to deal with challenges and difficulties.

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY. Engaging our whānau and community to support children’s understanding of sustainable practices. One of our goals, as we work to becoming a Green Gold Enviroschool, is to encourage stronger community engagement through sustainable practices. With the cooperation of our whānau, we are constructing an igloo out of 2 litre milk bottles and in the process we are increasing our community’s awareness of the creative possibilities of up-cycling rather than discarding. The butterfly garden began with a grandmother donating swan plants to the kindergarten. Interest is growing and we will continue to work with our community to contribute and share their knowledge and resources. We aim to develop the area further and encourage whānau to set up their own butterfly gardens. Alongside our local primary school, we are encouraging our community to consider the impact of traveling to kindergarten by car and think of more sustainable forms of transport such as carpooling, cycling and walking.

WHANAUNGATANGA RELATIONSHIPS AND ENGAGING WHĀNAU. How whānau supported tamariki learning through the preparations and celebration of Matariki. To support our Matariki celebration, whānau became actively involved in the preparations and celebration by helping the children to make their korowai, learning new waiata, preparing kai for the day and having an active role in our kapa haka performance. To make each child’s own korowai, many of our parents came into kindy during the weeks prior to our celebration and helped their child to sew and decorate their korowai. With creativity, focus and passion in mind tamariki took part in having responsibility – ‘te kawe tokohanga’ - for their own designing and identifying their –‘whanaungatanga -relationships’ by drawing their whakapapa at the top of their korowai. ‘Fostering independent learners, ‘mana tamariki - mana whānau.’ It was amazing to see how our celebration brought all of our whānau together to support their child’s learning in acknowledgment of this very special cultural event.

CELEBRATING INNOVATION.

During summer we had a new sun umbrella installed and the umbrella company, Proformance Shades, asked us to trial a new product - a small mini-tramp developed from recycled car tyres and rope. They’re made by a group in South Auckland who wanted to employ people and make a sustainable product, with a percentage of sales given to charity. We ordered a few and thought that they were fantastic. Our children used them in imaginative and varied ways within their play. We posted information on our blog and the AKA posted it to their Facebook page. Overnight sales went viral and the company received calls from all around New Zealand and even Australia. Because of our help promoting the product, we helped to raise thousands of dollars for the Westpac helicopter and the Children’s Christmas Fund. We’re proud of the way we have used our skills to support our community.

AUCKLAND KINDERGARTENS ARE WELCOMING AND INCLUSIVE OF THE WIDE DIVERSITY OF THE CHILDREN AND WHÄ&#x20AC;NAU WHO ATTEND. BY EMBRACING DIVERSITY WE LEARN FROM EACH OTHER AND ABOUT OURSELVES.

EMBRACING THE OLD AND NEW. A journey of global learning at Epsom North Kindergarten. The ever-changing face of inner city Auckland has seen our kindergarten community become increasingly multicultural. Our children’s global knowledge is expanding with family members sharing traditional food, culture, and languages. Extended family and caregivers generously give their time to our children and the environment. Our front entrance welcomes our diverse community with greetings in some of our many languages, scribed by our older participants and decorated collaboratively with our children. We enjoy regular expeditions to our neighbouring community gardens and community crèche. The children experience opportunities to learn skills and tips with the older generation of gardeners in Epsom, which the children put into practice in our own gardening area. Visits to the Epsom Community Crèche, where many of our children began their preschool experience, enable relationships with the teachers to continue as well as an opportunity to develop new relationships with the younger generation of learners at the crèche.

WHĀNAU TANGATA - OUR COMMUNITY ENRICHES CHILDREN’S LEARNING. Through fostering positive relationships with our whānau, we share our culture. Our unique environment is welcoming and inclusive, providing opportunities for all contributions to be valued. Through a sense of belonging, our parents are empowered to lead and share their knowledge. Parent led sessions such as cooking, gardening, art, sewing, music, science and storytelling make for a lively and vibrant atmosphere. Community events are the opportunity to build relationships with other parents, and a sense of community is engendered. We are part of a rich cultural community who contribute readily their knowledge and cultural festivals. Cooking is the opportunity to come together, and share and celebrate. Extended families and friends are welcomed, this fosters a sense of pride that each and every family has a place. Epsom South is a Silver Enviroschool, teaching sustainable practice. Parents / whānau have led and contributed to our journey, building and maintaining knowledge and practices. This is embedded into our shared community culture.

THAT WHICH IS NURTURED, GROWS AND BLOSSOMS. “Whāngaia ka tupu, ka puāwai.” Kotahitanga in action. As a new teaching team we have worked in collaboration with parents and whānau to develop our kindergarten philosophy. Our philosophy offers our kindergarten as a place where parents and whānau are invited to contribute to our programme. This year we have introduced a termly shared morning tea for our kindergarten family / whānau, and also our waiting list families. This shared morning tea has provided excellent opportunities for new parents to meet one another, whilst enabling valuable interaction between teachers / kaiako and this vibrant community of learners. Recently parents, grandparents and whānau joined us on a morning walk to Mt Albert Grammar School farm, where the children were invited to bottle feed lambs, milk a cow, feed piglets and observe a sheep being shorn. As the farm is only a ten minute stroll from kindergarten, we hope to make this a regular event.

FOSTERING A LINK WITHIN OUR WIDER COMMUNITY. Freemans Bay Kindergarten children help out the Auckland City Council. Freemans Bay Kindergarten is part of the Adopt a Park programme run by Auckland City. This means we are a guardian of Western Park / Tunamau. Western Park borders our kindergarten and thus is an area that tamariki and whÄ nau spend time exploring, both during kindergarten time and after kindergarten. As part of the Adopt a Park programme, we were asked to give feedback on a draft plan for a new playground. Tamariki have been interested in finding out the process of developing a new playground from what was there, the draft plan, and the removal of the old playground, to now building a new playground. Tamariki watch the progress each day and the discussions and questions that have arisen and been explored are varied, from what type of machine are they using, who are the builders, and what and how will they build it? There is lots of anticipation as each stage of the rebuild is completed.

STRONG RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS. We re-looked at how we engage with families/whānau to support children’s learning within our teaching strategies. Our strong relationships are supported by personal contact with families: • Head Teacher is the initial contact. • All children / families attend a pre-entry session. The teachers discuss their approach to learning, philosophy, strategies, focuses and points of difference. Families share their viewpoint, ask questions – the basis of a foundation of trust, professionalism and knowledge of the early childhood setting. Our planning is visible to all, written and visual, and constantly read by families and children. • Families value the children’s portfolios but also appreciate verbal information shared with on arrival or departure. • Committee meetings are wonderful opportunities for more in-depth discussion and information on the learning experiences at the present time. This is filtered back throughout the community.

MA WHERO MA PANGO KA OTI AI TE MAHI, COMING TOGETHER AS ONE.

Sushi, Supasui, Matacurry Soru, Roti, Pikelets … Are all dishes that whānau at our Playgroup have been making over the past few weeks. The sharing of food has been a great way to learn about food from other cultures, as well as hearing family stories that have been passed down through generations. We have heard many things about each other; our backgrounds and places of origin, the similarities and differences of who we are, the skills we have and how we can work together at playgroup to support our tamariki and their learning experiences. As each dish has been created, we have noticed our tamariki taking a lead role in sharing their knowledge and skills with other children and whānau within the group. Through korero, our whānau discovered that the sharing of food is celebrated across all cultures and everyone has a story to share. Extended whānau and our friends from the school came to enjoy the food, company and the experience of being a part of our Playgroup community.

STRENGTHENING RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS PLUS PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT.

Home visits gaining a higher level of parental engagment. The infant and toddler teaching team have been home-visiting new families for the past four years. It is an amazing opportunity to build a stronger relationship between the teachers and the child, parents and their whānau and support peaceful transitions. We are able to discuss the family’s values and aspirations for their child and they are able to share the uniqueness of their child and what routines and rituals are followed in their home and how we can best replicate these at the centre. We have noticed that parents are more confident and empowered to initiate discussions that supports their child’s learning as the relationship with the teacher has strengthened. Documenting and contributing their voice and sharing their perspective and observations of their child’s learning experiences have also increased.

RECOGNISING AND RESPONDING TO ASPIRATIONS FROM OUR WHĀNAU.

Involving parents and our community reinforces our teaching practice. At KiNZ, partnership is based on the shared aim of supporting children’s learning. It is important to us that our community connections extend beyond our centre and we actively seek out innovative ways to build strong relationships with our whānau. Storypark has developed a sense of belonging where parents consistently respond and feel more informed about their child’s daily learning experiences. And our parents feel more confident to approach teachers to initiate conversation. Collaborative partnerships are created and strengthened during daily interactions and communication, as well as in practices. Teachers acknowledge deeper relationships with our whānau and this has encouraged rich long lasting connections.

CHILDREN, COMMUNITY AND OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT.

Motivating our children and families to consider how they can contribute to waste minimisation. We purchased a set of bins to support our effort to recycle at kindergarten. These include paper, compost, soft-plastics, general recycling and landfill bins. Each bin is colour-coded to correspond with public waste bins and household bins. We introduced these at a special mat-time where we discussed with the children what kind of rubbish goes into each. Children were invited to put a piece of rubbish into the right bin (a popular game!). Since the new bins arrived, our landfill rubbish has reduced considerably. Children are empowered to help sort our daily rubbish, and are quickly learning about waste minimisation and waste management in the process. Through regular Enviroschools newsletters and other initiatives at kindergarten, these sustainable practices are influencing our families and wider community to minimise waste and recycle.

ENGAGING WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY INTO KINDERGARTEN. Embracing our multicultural community and building relationships that foster children’s sense of identity. We provide a welcoming environment where we build relationships with our families and community. Whānau feel a sense of belonging to our kindergarten which empowers them to share their cultural celebrations, language, customs and food. Whānau are provided with opportunities to participate in events where they can meet with other families, such as family picnics, cultural lunches and parent whānau meetings. We encourage whānau to share their skills and artistic passion with the children. Parents have initiated workshops for the children using sustainable resources and the message of “re-use, re-love and recycle” to inspire children to care for their environment. Our kindergarten aims to provide a broad range of experiences to assist our children to make sense of their wider community. We source expertise from the community to provide learning experiences to the children that are meaningful and relevant to their lives.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVE PLAY ARE CRITICAL FOR LEARNING. Muscle development leads brain development; the body teaches the brain, research says. At Mt Eden Kindergarten we believe in the importance of inclusive partnerships with all parents / whānau of our kindergarten. We value their knowledge and contributions for their child’s learning and development. Due to the high number of working parents and busy family lives, this can be challenging. One way we overcome this is by organising regular events such as trips or community events. A regular trip we go on is to the Tri-Star Gymnasium where children are provided with unique opportunities to experience a range of physical movement activities using the gym apparatus. We ask whānau to become actively involved by supporting and encouraging children on the challenge courses as they balance, use upper body strength, jump / land, swing, bounce, crawl and do forward / backwards rolls. Seeing their children challenged in this environment helps us to communicate the importance of active play and development not only for physical health, but for learning.

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS WITH OUR WHĀNAU AND LEARNING COMMUNITY.

Engaging whānau and family to participate and contribute to our learning programme at our kindergarten. At our kindergarten, all the kaiako endeavour to develop a culturally responsive partnership with our parents and whānau. We do this by encouraging whānau involvement to support our tamariki / children’s learning. Our family and community are an integral part of our programme here at Mt Roskill Kindergarten. We have lots of experiences and special events that involve our families, whānau and community. We are very lucky to have so many different cultures, beliefs and different traditions that we get to celebrate. We recognise and respect the diverse and unique perspectives of our whānau, by having open communication at all times. Through these reciprocal and responsive relationships we have, our children’s sense of belonging is valued and supported.

OUR WHĀNAU HIKOI TO OUR MAUNGA, TE PUKE O WAIRAKA. Fostering mana whenua / belonging in our kindergarten and strengthening our relationships with whānau. At the beginning of the year we held a community event to celebrate the learning we have been sharing with our tamariki of our local maunga, Te Puke O Wairaka, and our understanding of mana atua. Our celebration was a hikoi up our maunga where we shared kai and celebrated the stories of Te Puke O Wairaka. It was a great day with an awesome turn out of tamariki and their whānau. We started our walk from kindergarten which lead us through the streets of Owairaka and to our maunga. We enjoyed a feast of kai and then the tāmariki had a wonderful time running and climbing up grassy hills and rolling down. “For one, it makes the kids very independent. Even Hayley (mother) was really amazed at the children enjoying themselves. We should do it more often, to help the kids prepare themselves, playing, sharing together. It was a lovely day.” Feedback from one of our tāmariki’s kuia.

CELEBRATING WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT. “It takes a village to raise a child.” At Parnell Kindergarten, we value the contribution from our family / whānau and wider community in supporting children’s learning. Children’s interests are fostered and extended through the family and community involvement and engagement of the learning program. We acknowledge and value the multicultural makeup of our kindergarten community. Cultural celebrations are an important part of our curriculum and we encourage whānau to share these special events with us through feasts, concerts and sharing of special traditions. Children’s connections and knowledge of the wider world are extended through visits from parents and community members. “He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.” What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.

INVESTIGATING OUR WIDER WORLD WITH WHÄ&#x20AC;NAU. Our response to a familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit to an orphanage in Sri Lanka. One of our families let us know that they were visiting an orphanage in Sri Lanka over the holidays. They told us that they were taking some supplies for the children with them, and we thought we could do the same. We spoke a lot about the children at the orphanage during mat time and we consulted a map as to where the orphanage was located. We decided we would put a variety of toys and resources from the kindergarten aside for them and write them a card. The family took a number of photos of them sharing our gifts with the children and upon their return, we were able to share these with the children at mat time through Storypark, using the Clever Touch Station.

MANA WHENUA AT PT CHEVALIER KINDERGARTEN. Building family and community engagement. Ensuring our people are at the heart of the kindergarten. This year we have been celebrating mana whenua and our wonderful community here at Pt Chevalier. This has taken the form of creating pathways for our whānau to be at the heart of the Kindergarten community through red carpet hospitality, starting a whānau coffee group for new parents and family, plus a variety of social events that support engagement. We aim for a strong community identity, where stakeholders co-create experiences. Recent outcomes include the fantastic UpCycle Disco, as part our Enviro Schools project, and celebration dress up day with a theme of book and film characters. Future events include a parents’ art evening to experience at first hand the life of the kindergarten.

FAMILY CONTRIBUTION AND ENGAGEMENT.

Encouraging the participation and engagement of families / whānau to provide an educational programme that supports a diverse range of learners. We are always interested in families supporting children’s learning by being actively involved in our programme. Recently this has been through; helping at the children’s Olympics, attending a parent workshop on learning through play, and contributing to our cultural night which included dishes from 30 different countries, music, dance and learning about cultural celebrations and rituals. Families provide experiences that increase children’s awareness of the world and celebrate the uniqueness of each child and family. Our parent / whānau committee works collaboratively with the teaching team, holding a monthly coffee morning to welcome new families and create new networks. They also plan a range of social and fundraising events to promote a sense of belonging and community.

MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS. Whānau engaging with our kindergarten to deepen and foster children’s learning. Relationships are the foundations from which our kindergarten thrives. These relationships endure past children continuing on their learning journey at school. This face painting example is an exemplar of a past whānau member coming into our environment, knowing that we will embrace her talents and contribution to the curriculum. From her role modelling what is possible around transforming ourselves into characters, we have seen an explosion of renewed interest in exploring body art further. We have noticed that children have been passionate to explore this sensory experience with the freedom of their own possibilities. Face painting is a wonderful tool for sensory exploration. Face painting also promotes oral literacy through the transformation into characters and the practicing of the art of storytelling. Children get to explore and go on magical journeys as they deepen and experiment with their ideas and imaginations.

IT TAKES AN ISLAND TO RAISE A CHILD. Whiria te tangata. Weave the people together. Our island offers a richness of experiences and resources that support our tamariki to reach their full potential within our learning community. These community connections have built up over time and are now embedded in the teaching practice and philosophy of the kindergarten. This year we have been able to host Tanya Batt, a storyteller who brings stories to life through drama, music and imagination. We also have Hillary and Laura, our adopted whaea, who come and spend time with us and share their knowledge of gardening, spinning and ceramics. Waiheke Kindergarten has a strong environmental ethos that tamariki share with whÄ nau, leading to a more sustainable community for all. Teachers network with schools on the island and attend cluster meetings to achieve shared goals. We work in partnership with Piritahi, our community marae, to strengthen connections with them and for our children to develop a sense of belonging to their marae.

WE TAKE PRIDE IN CELEBRATING ALL CULTURES AT WATERVIEW KINDERGARTEN.

Cook Island Language Week. It was Cook Island Language week and we dove into their culture. We asked our Cook Island whÄ nau if they would like to be a part of the festivities during the week. We wore head-dresses and set up the environment to look like we were in the islands. We watched Cook Island dancing and had a try ourselves. We noticed the head-dresses they were wearing and thought this could be something to make with the children. We had drumming that parents participated in, we printed out money after a parent shared that they have a $3 note! We looked at photos of Rarotonga and cut out the ones we liked the best. One of our grandparents who writes for the Cook Island Newspaper offered to publish some photos. A documentation board was made that we showcased the activities that we had provided during the day - our children really enjoy revisiting these with their parents.

THE WESLEY READ-A-THON. An innovative way to support children’s early literacy. The Wesley read-a-thon is a special event we run twice a year. For several weeks over term two and four, whānau are encouraged to read to their child at kindergarten. We have a reading chart on the wall, for each story the child has with an adult they get a stamp. When they have ten stamps they get a certificate and a free book (thanks to Duffy Books). The teachers are very passionate about the read-athon because it has a huge positive impact on the children’s interest and engagement in books and boosts their language skills. Children can often be seen enjoying books on their own or with friends. As parents and whānau see the benefits of reading, they continue to read to their child long after the read-a-thon has finished. Our initiative to support early literacy is also supported by a ‘Take Home Library’ for children, core books that are always available, and drama linked to favourite stories.

ENGAGING WITH PARENTS TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LEARNING.

At Westmere Kindergarten we encourage our parents to get involved in our programme. Parents are invited to share their skills and experiences with us. Miro’s Dad, Dallas, had been a basketball referee at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. We asked him to share his experience with us. Learning about the Olympics became a tangible experience for the children when they were allowed to try on Dallas’ uniform and hold his medal. During our Matariki celebration our parents were the ringawera and prepared the hākari with the children. Our families also donated to the City Mission, extending on the theme of sharing time, knowledge and kindness with the wider community. Each term we have a social event which is organised by, with and for, parents. Our mid-winter Disco was a huge success and it was a delight to see the parents and children experiencing a warm, happy community occasion. We know that children thrive best in an environment that is built on a strong and positive community of learning.

AT AUCKLAND KINDERGARTENS CHILDREN ARE ENCOURAGED TO MAKE THEIR OWN LEARNING CHOICES WITH THE SUPPORT OF TEACHERS, PARENTS, WIDER WHÄ&#x20AC;NAU AND THEIR PEERS.

KO AORERE TĀTOU! He taonga rongonui te aroha ki te tangata. At Aorere we feel privileged to have whānau who have been with us for years, who welcome our new families, and make them feel at home, comfortable and happy to be involved. Whānau contribute to planning and activities with children, and share culture, traditions and knowledge with our community. • Whānau make Christmas presents with children, to give to families. • Whānau and children create art to enter into the Eye On Nature competition - we got a second place and a merit award! • Our Language Weeks are always a great success due to whānau spending the week sharing their culture through food, cooking, dancing, singing and weaving. • We have wonderful shared lunches every term planned, coordinated and run by our whānau to celebrate events such as Matariki and Eid. We are blessed to have such wonderful whānau who enjoy donating their time and resources for the benefit of our community. .

WHĀNAU GROUPS! In 2016 we started whānau groups, where each teacher leads a group of 10 children and families. Each group selected their own logo and slogan. Each teacher is responsible for portfolios, absences, notices, team morale and programme engagement. Children who attend kindergarten each day receive a token for their group which equals one point. “Question of the week” is an interactive concept where parents can contribute feedback and suggestions to the program / reviews and also receive points for their team. Other ways for parents to engage and receive points: • Attendance to Parent/Whanau support group meetings • Contributions to our programme e.g. baking, cooking, language weeks, parent helper, special events. At the end of each week points are posted. Healthy team competitions have encouraged all whānau to attend and be involved. The final results are announced at the end of term prize giving.

WHANAUNGATANGA AT FAVONA KINDERGARTEN. Visiting the marae has had a positive impact. Our visits to Papatuanuku Kokiri Marae have made an impact on our tamariki, whÄ nau and kaiako knowledge and practice of whanaungatanga in our kindergarten and daily lives. It has developed from small beginnings to a way of being for our community. The kaiako at the Marae has had their mana lifted by the enthusiasm of how our akonga have embraced the practices they have learnt. This has culminated in our Matariki celebration being extended to inviting Kotiri Kindergarten and the new entrant classes at Favona Primary School to join us this year. Due to the success of this event both Kotiri and the new entrant classes have requested to join us again next year and to perform alongside us. The icing on the cake is that Favona Primary School has requested that it becomes an annual event to be looked forward to by everyone.

COMMUNITY, PARENT & WHĀNAU INVOLVEMENT. Promoting parent / whānau involvement in children’s learning. With a majority of our tamariki being of Māori and Pasifika descent we have many daily opportunities to explore and discover each other’s cultures. The language weeks throughout the year serve to continue and further extend our exploration of this, giving us the opportunity to encourage whānau involvement in sharing stories, dance, music, food and other traditions from within their culture. We have found in a number of cases parents have been shy and unsure about the value and importance of sharing their traditions and experiences. However, by supporting and explaining the relevance of their involvement in the positive learning outcomes, they have come to understand just how vital their input is. We also involved our community by regularly visiting our local primary school library, receiving visits from the new entrant class, and by having a visit from St Peter’s College Kapa Haka group - who performed for us and then spent time reading and playing with our tamariki.

‘HE MAURI TŌ TE TANGATA, HE WHAKAPAPA TŌNA, HE MANA MOTUHAKE.’ ‘Everyone has mana. Everyone has a whakapapa, a genealogy, heritage and identity that makes that person no more and no less important than the next person. When we learn to treat everyone with care and respect, there are fewer barriers to establishing and maintaining relationships.’ (taken from Core Education.) This has been the journey for us this year. We have focused on getting to know every individual whānau, using ‘aroha’ and ‘manaakitanga’ to understand their needs and gain deeper understanding of their dreams, goals and aspirations. We are always striving to create a positive environment for whānau to feel comfortable in and be a part of their child’s learning As a community of learning this has enabled us to connect to our whānau and families, to empower them to pass on their own unique culture to the next generation. He mihi nui ki oku whānau – tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kato.

PARENT AND WHĀNAU ENGAGEMENT IN THEIR CHILDREN’S LEARNING.

Supporting children’s literacy through the Duffy Book Scheme and a parent workshop. KiNZ East Tamaki was involved in a Pilot Project for measuring Social Outcomes. It was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the outcomes and consider ways that we could support the children’s learning and involve our parents and whānau. We held a workshop with parents about the value of reading with their child. We invited our local librarian who demonstrated how to read to children with meaning and enthusiasm. He also encouraged the parents to join the local library. We used the workshop as an opportunity to present each child with a book distributed as part of the Duffy Book Scheme. We encouraged parents to read them that very night! The parents and whānau engaged really well at the workshop and gave us wonderful feedback. One of the fathers read to his daughter for the first time that night, so we felt that a milestone was achieved.

CELEBRATING “SUPER-ME.” Recognising children’s special powers uplifts their ‘mana’, their self-worth and impacts them positively. Playing superheroes was noticed as an emergent interest for a group of children and with time it has taken shape and become an interest for many. The teaching team has been supportive of the children’s interest by encouraging tamariki to use their creative potential in various areas. The tamariki have been creating superhero accessories by incorporating Māori myths and legends, which embrace the concept of superheroes. The teaching team designed capes with the values of the Centre treaty on it and it was used as an incentive to promote the centre values. One of the most successful parts was organising a Super Me day, when the children and teachers came dressed in something they created at home. Our whānau have been very responsive and together with their children they made hand crafted capes or various dress ups to showcase their child’s strengths and cultural identity. This supported the tamariki to perceive themselves as leaders, be aware of their own special strengths and see themselves as confident and competent learners.

TE WHĀNAU KOTIRI. Children and their families experience an environment where they know that they have a place. This year has seen many changes at Kotiri Kindergarten, but one thing that has remained constant is the support from our whānau and community. At the end of term one this year, we said ‘haere ra’ to our old building and moved into our temporary site at St Marks Church, Mangere East. This was made possible with the help and generosity of our Kotiri whānau and community. Although we are in a temporary site, the support demonstrated by our wonderful whānau has never faltered. For Samoan language week, our Samoan parents approached the head teacher with a proposal to lead the week’s events. As a result of having expert support from our families - and ex-Green Bay Kindergarten pupil, this was a huge success. There are many more examples where our community has rallied around us to awhi and tautoko our kindergarten. We are very fortunate and blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive community and whānau.

THE MANGERE BRIDGE KINDERGARTEN COMMUNITY GARDEN COMES TO FRUITION. A celebration of community sustainability learning. Every Monday as we walked back from Ambury Farm, we noticed the walkway beside the kindergarten was dirty and very unloved looking. We decided to do something about it. We invited our kindergarten families, the neighbours in the street, community organisations, Auckland parks, and the community constable to a meeting attended by over 30 people and an idea was born. We wanted to convert the walkway to a garden and so we liaised with all interested parties and designed a concept plan. We applied for a grant from a local community organization and received enough for 10 boxes - a great start! On Saturday 13th February this year, we called a working bee and had about 40 people turn up to help move, fill, dig and plant, and our first boxes were in! And this is the result! Fantastic food for guinea pigs and people!

PLAN, DO, STUDY, ACT (PDSA). At Mangere West we have been doing the National Early Learning participation project. Our successful PDSA project has been the café at kindergarten, which we have every Friday morning. The plan was to involve whānau participation within the café, through cooking and learning alongside the children. All parents were invited to share their cultural cooking. Whānau enjoy the café and have made friendships along the way. Whānau are also acknowledging and asking questions about the café, and we have received an abundance of feedback from whānau, children and teachers. Children have been encouraging whānau to come to the cafe. Whānau have said that even when their child is sick they still want to come to kindy because it is café day and they talk about it all week! It has enabled us to be more open to ideas and has also allowed the teachers to have informal conversations with whānau about their child’s learning.

ENCAPSULATING AND CELEBRATING THE CULTURAL VOICES OF OUR COMMUNITY. This is our innovative mahi. The breath ‘o nga hau e wha’ encapsulates and celebrates the cultural voices of our community. Language through visuals, images, and arts and craft define the story told through korero, waiata and kani kani. It is diverse in flavour and art, and to incorporate those colours through festive foods, and crafts, has allowed us to communicate and connect further with our whānau and tamariki As we look around our centre we see our whānau, we see those who inspired them - Tanemahuta, Ranginui, the Ei and Sei, the ula and hula skirts, the tapa and tivaevae, the poi and pate’s used as the heartbeat for music. These cultural beliefs and artefacts are used to express language, they are our tamariki and whānau’s voices for all to see and listen to when they come to Mayfield Kindergarten. This is our innovative mahi.

STRENGTHENING WHĀNAU RELATIONSHIPS.

‘Appreciation’ Happy Father’s Day breakfast. To strengthen our whānau engagement we introduced our first Father’s Day breakfast. We would like to build a deeper meaningful partnership between our whānau. The theme was simple but effective as we and our tamariki wanted to show our Dads and Papas how much we ‘appreciate’ all the wonderful things they have done and still do. A reminder was posted on Storypark and placed on our outdoor and indoor white notice boards. The menu was a smorgasbord of cold and hot food, and beverages. There was a good commitment to some working dads including mums who came along. This was an opportunity for teachers to connect and highlight the daily learning taking place with the tamariki. We listened to their stories and hopes for their child, and we recognised that their stories will help us to determine the best strategies and best practice for their child’s learning.

EXPLORING THE HISTORICAL LIFESTYLE AT MURDOCH PARK KINDERGARTEN. We have learned a lot from the Papatoetoe Historical Museum since we affiliated with Jenny Blake, the museum facilitator. Last year we did research on the history of Papatoetoe through the Museum. Since that research we have developed a strong relationship with this part of our community. We invited Jenny and her team to share their programme with the children. This was all about demonstrating how food was made in the olden days. Our children and their whÄ nau really enjoyed the opportunity to make butter from the cream, and make potato chips using the old equipment. At the end we all dressed up in the clothes that were worn in the olden days. Some of the clothes were heavy but the children really enjoyed it. It was good to see how people back then lived, and how much technology has changed life over the years. It was an opportunity to explore together with children and whÄ nau how things were done historically, and was a great way to connect with our community.

ENGAGING WITH WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY TO ENHANCE NGA TAMARIKI LEARNING.

“Relationship, kinship, sense of family connection - a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging.”. At Omana Kindergarten we welcome and invite all whānau to participate in our warm, inviting learning environment. Whānau are happy to contribute and have conversations together sharing their knowledge and skills with akonga and kaiako, while engaging in exciting and meaningful learning experiences. We encourage whānau to share their interests, language and culture. We make time to listen to whānau, and acknowledge their presence and value their contributions. We take notice of family celebrations e.g.: parent’s and sibling’s birthdays / the birth of a new baby, therefore strengthening our connections and relationships. We also celebrate cultural language weeks and festivals with inclusive experiences.

POSITIVE FEELINGS IN YOUR HEART WILL RAISE YOUR SENSE OF SELF-WORTH. He oranga ngakau, he pikinga waiora. Here at Otahuhu Kindergarten, we value the concept of sustaining our physical well-being. As an Enviroschool, we aspire to promote healthy eating and being physically active. Teachers offer children a safe but challenging environment for development of balance, locomotor, teamwork, turn taking and manipulative skills. This year we have chosen to work alongside Active8 sports group to take this journey a little bit further. This offers our children an opportunity to work with male role models, they also bring a bit of Pasifika flair to the activities. Our aim is to set the stage for life-long healthy habits, as we know that physical activity is vital to many aspects of child health and development. Our parent aspirations quite often reflect some of the essential social skills for their children. We believe by channeling childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy in this way, we are effectively promoting social competence and the physical well-being of all tamariki, which will stay with them throughout the rest of their lives.

UNITED WE STAND WITH OUR OWN DIFFERENT IDENTITIES ALL FOUND AT ONE HAPPY PLACE. At Otahuhu Central Kindergarten have had a number of cultural weeks, language weeks, shared lunches and fundraising events over the last year. The support which we have been receiving is just indescribable, the way parents have participated in our events and involved the community, it has been fantastic. We follow the concept of whanaungatanga- seeking to build relationships with families over time. It is instilled in our centre vision and philosophy. We have celebrated Pacific Island Language weeks - we have used the skills of our Samoan and Tongan teachers and parents to help us celebrate and learn about their language and culture. The older siblings (from St. Joseph school and Otahuhu Primary School) performed during Tongan and Samoan Language Weeks. The parents contributed and helped raise funds, it was absolutely amazing to see everyone participate and dress up in the cultural costumes, even though we are all different, we stand united.

OUR PLAYGROUP VISITORS. The tamariki at Panama Road Playgroup have an ongoing interest in farm animals. We have been singing songs, making masks, using our plastic animals to make art creations. Recently, at our whﾄ］au hui, it was suggested we could invite a travelling farm to visit our playgroup to support this interest in animals. Our Coordinator with support from the Playgroup whﾄ］au, organised the fundraising opportunities, and a few weeks later during the school holidays, we had a visit from Little Bo Peeps Farm. We got to hand feed the pig, goat, lamb, rabbit, calf and then had turns at having a ride on the pony. This was a great opportunity for our tamariki to see the farm animals up close and in real life. There were lots of questions, wonder and amusement as the animals interacted with the group and our whﾄ］au watched with their tamariki, sharing memories of their experiences and learning alongside each other. We invited all our extended whﾄ］au to join us on this special day and had a shared lunch to celebrate.

A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS GROWING TOGETHER.

The difference translations have made. At Papatoetoe Kindergarten we have always been extremely proud of our warm, welcoming environment and the strong partnerships we have with our multicultural families and community. Whānau have been supported by the employment of language support staff (funded by a grant from the Auckland Airport Community Trust) who translate our learning stories, newsletters, notices and important documentation. This gives parents a greater understanding of their children’s learning and also allows greater links between home and kindergarten. We have been excited to see the response of parents as they read their children’s learning stories and translated kindergarten documentation. This has created and cemented more inclusive relationships, which has encouraged parents to be more involved in the kindergarten curriculum.

TEAM WORK! WHAT’S GOING TO WORK? TEAM WORK - KOTAHITANGA! Teachers, parents and whānau working together as a team builds the best pathway for children’s learning. At our Kindergarten building good relationships with our whānau and children is central to who we are and what we do. Speaking the languages of our families makes our families feel valued and understood. Good relationships need good listeners. Our parents share their goals and dreams for their tamariki and we listen and take note. As we plan for children’s learning we incorporate our families’ dreams into our daily programme. Our families want their children to learn about letters and how to write their names. We make literacy learning fun - through music, art and play. Our tamariki love our song that teaches phonics the sounds of each letter of the alphabet, and enjoy making letters from coloured sand. Our four year olds practice writing their names, proudly showing off their work to their families. Our families get together and support each other during our whānau coffee time. Together we share information and ideas about supporting children’s learning.

CHILDREN DESERVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN THEIR COMMUNITY THAT IS SAFE, SECURE AND JOYFUL, AND WHERE WE CAN COME TOGETHER TO SHARE IN THEIR EARLY UPBRINGING.

OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER: AVONDALE KINDERGARTEN DOES NOT STAND ALONE. We are part of the circle of family which includes, and is surrounded by, whānau and community. Our many and varied cultures unite sharing their skills, knowledge and time throughout our kindergarten day. We acknowledge the importance of parents and whānau in each child’s learning and value the unique and innovative contributions they bring. Feasts and celebrations also bring our communities together as a whole. Whether it be a local business building vegetable gardens, our elderly community sharing a cup of tea, neighbouring school teachers reading stories to our children, or parents sharing their skills, there is one common theme: the sharing of time. Here at Avondale, when we share our time together, our children’s lives are enriched and a sense of belonging and togetherness is created.

PROMOTING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LEARNING. Whānau, children and teachers celebrating the 2016 Olympics. Celebrating and learning about the Olympic games has allowed the children to make connections between events around them and beyond. They have learnt about the different sports involved and sportsmanship. They have practised our national anthem and learnt about New Zealand’s flag, and flags of other countries. During the fortnight the games were on, the children participated in several fun activities such as hurdles, shot put, egg and spoon races, sack races, clean and jerk (weight-lifting), long jump and flag making. The celebration ended with our own Birdwood Kindergarten Olympics, complete with a pre-games feast and opening ceremony with our torchbearers. There was much laughter on the day and energetic flag waving, as both children and their parents participated in the activities. The event ended with edible medals for everyone, including the parents.

CONNECTING KINDY WITH OUR WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY. Our kindergarten fosters a keen sense of belonging through incorporating whānau and the community into our learning environment. Whānau are invited to be active participants in their children’s learning, through participation in our weekly cooking activities, termly visits to our local library for stories and song, and Playball on Friday afternoons. Parents arrive early to watch, learn and grow with their child as they join Playball - a great skills-based learning experience. As Blockhouse Bay feeds into five primary schools, once a year we ensure we visit all our local schools with our whānau and tamariki. School principals also visit kindergarten to read stories at mat time to our tamariki. Our kindergarten has a wide range of cultures, our kindergarten cultural shared lunches are very popular. Our tamariki have the opportunity to widen their taste horizons and dress in the attire significant to their culture while sharing the day with mum and dad.

GUMBOOTS IN THE PARK WITH OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is the people, it is the people, it is the people. We have been fostering strong relationships with our neighbouring centres for some time. Our group includes Akongatia Kohanga Reo, Leataata Samoan Preschool, Little Kauris and ourselves. The teachers meet for kai and kōrero once a term at each other’s centres. We also regularly gather in the local park and enjoy one another’s company. Last term at one of these gatherings we had ‘Gumboots in the Park’. It was a cloudy day that threatened heavy rain but that didn’t stop us from having a fabulous day. We started with a Zumba session, followed by running races and a nature treasure/taonga hunt in the ngahere. Massey Matters provided a sausage sizzle for morning tea and we finished with a tug of war, the adults against adults and children against children. We had a fabulous day and are counting the days to our next event. Special thanks to Massey Matters, who sponsored us.

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT AT DON BUCK KINDERGARTEN. Engaging with our community to support children’s learning in our kindergarten environment. Over the year we have held a number of events that have involved parents, family and whānau in the kindergarten programme. This has given our children the opportunity to share their learning and knowledge with their families, and has empowered them. We acknowledged all the different cultures we have in our kindergarten with a cultural day. This involved a shared lunch with foods from around the world, and the opportunity for our children and their families to share their cultural heritage. To celebrate Matariki and embrace this important event for our Māori families, we had a breakfast with our families and a small concert. We organised a disco this term for all the children and families to support the children’s current interest in dancing. Also this term to educate the children about keeping themselves safe and keeping their family safe, we invited a number of people from the community such as the Fire Brigade and St John.

EMBRACING WHĀNAU TANGATA AT GLEN EDEN. Ahe aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata. We believe it takes a community to grow a child. Our whānau / families are diverse and we want everyone to feel they belong in our kindergarten community. We respect the cultural capital of all our whānau and value their knowledge of their child’s learning journey. These relationships of trust and respect lay a strong foundation for ongoing learning. Our tamariki are enriched by the diversity of our community. Each child’s mana is upheld as teachers respond to their individual and unique learning interests. Whānau are encouraged to contribute, and we ensure that their child’s learning is frequently shared, in conversation, through Storypark and in learning stories. From our wider community, we invite important people. We work closely with MOE early intervention teachers, who access and support children with developmental difficulties. Kindergarten to school visits support an optimum start for tamariki. Within our caring community children thrive.

ENGAGING WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY THROUGH A BI-CULTURAL CURRICULUM.

Collaboration within the kindergarten and community promotes participation. Through our curriculum whānau have been invited to participate or contribute to their children’s learning through pepeha, family tree, whakapapa, and being invited to join us for special events that were held for Matariki celebrations. Exploring their pepeha has developed the children’s confidence and encouraged them to take ownership of their own identity. This collaboration inspired a family tree, creating a sense of belonging for both the tamariki and whānau. The wider community support children’s learning through special events where ideas and cultural experiences are introduced. We recently attended Matariki celebrations at the local school where the older children demonstrated rangatira / leadership in organising events for our tamariki. Our children are able to see their older siblings and friends in leadership positions, providing positive role models.

HE AHA TE MEA NUI O TE AO? HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA.

Relationships with tamariki, whÄ nau, kaiako and the wider community are at the heart of our practice. Our most significant event involving the wider community has been the blessing and opening celebration of our beautiful new outdoor environment. This provided an opportunity for us to include people from our past and present. Having Larissa, Jackson and Reganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mum - and ex-Green Bay Kindergarten pupil - as our architect, was a huge bonus and provided a really valuable connection between everyone in the kindergarten and wider community. It also provided another important opportunity for us to begin a relationship with our local kaumatua, Bill, who did us the honour of blessing our playground. The kaiako also value our connections with the wider community, including the local library, schools, emergency services, public health and extended families, whose support ensures the best early learning outcomes for our tamariki.

EMPOWERING LEARNERS THROUGH VALUING THEIR CULTURAL IDENTITY. He tangata, he tangata, he tangata, it is people, it is people, it is people. Our children come from many unique cultures, with English often a second or non-existing language when they start kindergarten. Creating strong links at kindergarten to their home cultures and languages helps children feel valued, gain a strong sense of belonging and empowerment, learn and thrive. We work closely with whānau to uphold cultural aspirations, and hold regular cultural events to celebrate our children’s heritages. We have built a strong relationship with our local library, visiting for story time each fortnight. Whānau attend with their children. The librarian also visits us each term. We utilize the library for cultural books and resources to support our children’s learning. Children’s successes are showcased throughout the environment and we hold regular events such as our recent obstacle-a-thon. Whānau come and celebrate our children’s perseverance, determination, and growing abilities.

ENGAGING WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LEARNING. At Hillsborough Kindergarten, we value our partnership with parents and the community. We welcome and value their contribution and involvement within the children’s learning experiences at kindergarten. Our parents enjoy spending time with the children and supporting their interests and learning. This term we celebrated Matariki. We invited the kapa haka group from Waikowhai Intermediate School. They performed the legend of Ranginui and Papatūānuku to the kindergarten children. It was a meaningful learning experience for all of us. Continuing the Matariki theme, we celebrated with a disco strongly supported by our parents and whānau. Another contribution from our parents and whanau to the children’s learning is the Aspiration Tree. We welcome our parents and whanau to tell us about their aspirations for their children’s learning at our kindergarten. We use these aspirations as part of our strategies in promoting children’s wellbeing and enhancing their learning journey.

LIVING, LAUGHING AND LEARNING TOGETHER. ‘It takes a whole village to raise a child.’ At Hobsonville Kindergarten we see children as citizens of today, actively contributing members of their families and of their communities. Our role is to ensure children have plenty of opportunities to contribute and make their presence known out in the wider community. Some examples of this are our open door policy, where family / whānau are encouraged to stay and play, or our weekly community choir practice where children and their families take part in group singing together. We also hold gatherings for our families to take time to be together, get to know one another and celebrate, such as our recent kindy disco. We’re active in our local community through visits to our local primary schools, most recently we were invited to see two different junior school plays! By making ourselves known in our local community, more and more learning opportunities are being opened up to our children to take advantage of, and the links between kindergarten, families, and the wider community are growing, forging a strong learning community.

KELSTON GIRLS PLAYGROUP ADVENTURE TO WEST LYNN GARDENS. With our gumboots on and jackets buttoned up, our Kelston Girls College Playgroup whānau recently went on an adventure to West Lynn Gardens in New Lynn. This was a great way for our whānau and tamariki to enjoy each other’s company while exploring nature at its best, in our local community. Our tamariki led the way, pointing out the wonders that they noticed while the parents encouraged the children to stop and smell the ‘roses’. We explored the many taonga of Papatūānuku using our senses; listening to trees blowing in the wind, crunching the leaves under our feet, smelling and noticing the world around us. We had fun tramping through the 4.5 acres and finding the hidden treasures along the many different paths. West Lynn Gardens is run and maintained by community volunteers who create a wonderful place for people to come together and enjoy nature. Nature offers so many great learning opportunities, and walking through the gardens with our whānau is just one!

LEARNING TOGETHER FOR SUSTAINABILITY. He rā whatiwhati kō A day of hard work. Sea Week was approaching and we had a few things planned to inspire and celebrate our waterways and beaches. We made a beautiful, giant fish out of some rubbish that we had collected. We also organised a beach clean-up. There was a great turn out, and a deep sense of community spirit. We were joined by grandparents, aunties and some locals, all out to help with the clean. We found it really hard to find much rubbish, as Laingholm Beach is kept pretty tidy. When the tamariki asked “Where are we going?”, their whānau replied “We are going to the Laingholm Beach Clean Up.” and the tamariki all cheered. What a way to finish a day. It filled us with such joy to see the great turn out and be among the amazing support of our community.

OUR MAT TIME JOURNEY.

The tamariki and whānau at Lincoln Heights Playgroup have been really enjoying the creative mat times that have been happening at playgroup. We asked our whānau for their favourite songs and different ideas to support and encourage our tamariki to join in. Our parents have been busy making resources, telling stories and sharing what their child is interested in. We have had visits from our local librarian who introduced us to some new songs and shared different ways of telling stories. Most recently, we took our tamariki to visit Don Buck Kindergarten to join in their mat time. This was a great way for our tamariki to see what happens at kindergarten and for our whānau to meet the kaiako and see their local kindergarten in action.

MEET YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

Providing whānau the opportunity to gather information about the local schools. To extend on our transitional programme, we organised a ‘come along’ to meet the local schools (Principals / Deputy Heads), and had morning tea, supplied by our whānau. The event was planned to be one of mix and mingle, whereby whānau could gather informed information helping them in making a decision on choosing a school for their tamariki. It was very informative for the whānau being able to have their questions answered in a relaxed atmosphere. Our strong relationships with the local schools was evident in the way tamariki showed off their kindergarten and told Kevin (Principal of Pomaria) what tools that he needed to use for the dough. There was much gaiety and conversations around the dough table between tamariki, whānau and kaiako.

HE WAKA EKE NOA – WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. At Lynfield Kindergarten we reach out to whānau and they reach back. We work to build authentic relationships with our whānau. Authenticity means learning names, enquiring about familial customs and beliefs, and unearthing the unique skills and interests of the important adults in the lives of our tamariki. We invite whānau to come into kindergarten and share their strengths so that we all learn something new. For example, during Samoan Language Week, Lisa, a mother in our community, led mat time in Samoan. Lisa taught us a Samoan song and led all of us in a siva. She shared resources that helped our teachers to nurture the Samoan language in our community. She also cooked a huge pot of her favourite Samoan pudding, which we shared along with food from other Samoan members of our community - yum! Lisa transported us to Samoa using our five senses. We look forward to future journeys to India, Hong Kong, Iran and Pakistan with our whānau.

AN INVITING AND INSPIRING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR WHĀNAU AND TAMARIKI.

At Massey Kindergarten, we pride ourselves on offering an inclusive and inviting environment for our tamariki, whānau and community. Our door is always open to our whānau and community, so parents and caregivers feel welcomed as they walk in. We enjoy the company of our whānau daily as they stay and hang out each day with coffee and kai and join in with play. Along with the amazing support from our whānau and community, we continue to have successful events such as annual disco fundraising, kindergarten hāngī and our Santa Parade at Westgate. We believe through our inclusive programme we have greatly empowered children’s learning, and the development of their cultural knowledge, social competence and independence in being a lifelong learner for the 21st century.

TOGETHER WE CELEBRATE OUR RICH CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Creating connectedness and a sense of belonging in our kindergarten community through cultural celebrations. At New Lynn Kindergarten we celebrate and respond to the wonderful cultural diversity of our community within our practice, the environment, our program and through celebrations. Our kindergarten provides a place to come together, connecting and celebrating each other. Over the year we have celebrated Eid, Diwali, The Filipino ‘Go Grow Glow’ festival, Samoan Language Week, Matariki, Chinese New Year, Japanese Children’s Day and Persian New Year. Recently we held our first ever Eid celebration. Some parents delivered cultural dishes throughout the day, others came in to cook for the tamariki, and others enjoyed sharing their knowledge and the meaning of the different customs with the children and the teachers Within our kindergarten community we aim to create a true sense of belonging, a kindergarten where people are welcomed and have a valued sense of place.

OUR KINDERGARTEN WHĀNAU.

At Oratia Kindergarten we value our close relationship with the local school and community. Our close proximity to the school allows us to be part of regular events, such as Stark Brown picnic, cross country races, Matariki celebration, Flower Show day, library visits, and folk dancing and jump jam, which support great transitions to school. As a semi-rural area, we are at the heart of the community, and we find that our community has inter-generational links with both the school and the kindergarten, with many stories and history being retold within the kindergarten. We regularly create and enjoy opportunities for sharing knowledge, experiences and understanding to support children’s learning. We also celebrate other significant events and happenings in our wider world such as the Kindergarten Olympics, Christmas, Matariki, and language weeks, by sharing our families’ / communities’ knowledge and home cultures at kindergarten.

WHĀNAU TANGATA. FAMILY AND COMMUNITY.

Each year we celebrate Matariki in different meaningful ways. This year we sought to foster wider relationships by organising a celebration at the Ranui Community Gardens with three other early childhood services. We were strongly supported by our whānau who helped with the organisation of this venture. On the day, our children, whānau, teachers and the wider community came together to enjoy kai (morning tea), waiata (songs) and whakatō (planting). Community voice: “While Matariki was the kaupapa of the day, the positive outcome was whakawhanaungatanga, building positive relationships with other ECEs. Also community groups such as the people who run the gardens and businesses who donated the products, thus making whānau aware of community aspects which they may not have otherwise discovered.” Mina Prip Children’s voice: “I planted beetroot trees. Seeds will grow into big trees” Levi

POPPA JIM COMES TO KINDERGARTEN. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.â&#x20AC;? Aesop Poppa Jim has been part of our kindergarten family since July 2012, and this relationship is providing a connection with Hillsborough Heights Retirement Village. This partnership has inspired Metlifecare to form a relationship with the Auckland Kindergarten Association and their hope is more kindergartens and retirement villages will make a connection. In May, the teaching team and Poppa Jim hosted kindergartens who were interested in learning more about intergenerational learning. This was followed by a workshop in August for kindergartens who had made the decision to begin their own intergenerational learning programme. This is yet another example of our learning community inspiring others. In July, Metlifecare presented Poppa Jim with an award to acknowledge his involvement in leading the way in fostering an intergenerational experience for their organisation. Recently Shirley, another resident, came and shared her interest of felting with the children and they enjoyed making their own felt squares.

WE’RE ALL WORKING TOGETHER; THAT’S THE SECRET.

Celebrating and bringing together whānau and our community to support all tamariki learning. Edmonton Meadows Rest Home visit each year and it is always a magical time. It brings together three generations for an interchange of knowledge, encouragement and enjoyment. We invite our tamariki, whānau and visitors to participate in our mihi. A beautiful way to start our day and acknowledge each other. Our Matariki concert acknowledged our bicultural heritage. Our children stood tall and proud as they sung their waiata in te reo Māori, Chinese and sign language for whānau. They performed their haka with vigour, their poi with confidence and together we enjoyed a feast of many different cultural dishes. As a community, we learned together. Excursions are a regular event where whānau support their tamariki by attending the excursion. This excursion was to the transfer station where we learnt alongside each other.

LEARNING IN PARTNERSHIP.

At our kindergarten, we take pride in building a strong community through effective partnership with our families, whānau, schools and local organisations. Our families’ sense of belonging is fostered by the respect we have for their cultural backgrounds and the diversity that they bring to our kindergarten community. We support children’s self-esteem and confidence in their own ethnicity through respecting and valuing each unique family culture and way of being. At Summerland we recognise children’s strengths, needs, interests and dispositions which we communicate to whānau when planning for children’s learning. Children are involved by being encouraged to question, make choices and lead their own learning. We encourage, support and help families to fulfill their role as some of the most important people in their children’s lives. We believe that a successful partnership will foster community wellness and stronger learning outcomes for children and their families.

WHĀNAU AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN OUR KINDERGARTEN PROGRAMME. Fun and exciting ways we support our tamariki and their learning. This year we have had many events at our kindergarten that have involved whānau and community – Whānau Tangata. Like a visit from Constable Carl, who talked to the children about bike and scooter safety, and the importance of wearing helmets when riding, prior to us having our wheel-a-thon. Developing our cultural world map has involved our tamariki and whānau. This input has strengthened their Mana Whenua – sense of belonging within our kindergarten community, through understanding and acknowledging the importance of who they are and where they come from. Our Matariki shared lunch involved our tamariki welcoming their whānau to the kindergarten. A haka was performed, waiata sung and karakia said before eating kai. Every two weeks we have a visit from the fabulous aerobics instructor Rhonda. We spend half an hour having fun, laughing, and learning some important facts about keeping ourselves fit and healthy.

THE LEADER AT THE FRONT AND THE WORKERS BEHIND THE SCENES. ‘Children’s performance showcases their learning.’ Te amorangi ki mua, te hāpai ō ki muri. The teaching team at Taupaki Kindergarten regularly promote engagement with whānau and community through events that are part of the programme plan. These are both regular calendar events such as Matariki and spontaneous ones that follow the children’s interests. A bi-annual event that is inclusive - in that every child has a part to play - and well supported by both whānau and our community is ‘The Kindergarten Show’. The local school provides the venue; their P.T.A. and our whānau provide the kitchen facilities, food, costumes, sound and video equipment. These photographs illustrate our most recent show: ‘There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea’. It included songs and plays that had a sea theme and included Te Reo and a sustainable element. The finale included whānau participation, where everyone joined the children in singing and performing.

CELEBRATING MATARIKI.

We encourage whānau input into our programme in many different ways. Celebrating Matariki is just one of them. Celebrating Matariki respectfully depends on participation from our Māori whānau and kaiako, as we want to ensure that we are respecting tikanga Māori. Whānau drive the annual hāngī process, with support from other whānau and kaiako. Whānau are invited to input into the programme around Te Ao Māori. This year we had one of our matua share their whānau taonga at mat time. Tamariki got to see and feel authentic pounamu and bone carvings and talk about the significance of these taonga. What an awesome experience. One of our mātua stood up at the celebration and spoke of his experiences of Matariki growing up. The tamariki performed waiata, action songs and poi for our whānau during the celebration. Their passion in performing was inspiring. The Peninsula Primary School Kapa Haka group also performed, many who were previous students at kindergarten.

WORKING TOGETHER TO SUSTAIN OUR BODIES AND ENVIRONMENT.

We focus on sustainability through the health and well-being of our children. Wherever possible we involve our community of families to share with us in sustainable healthy living practices. Each month we invite whānau to a fitness session followed by a healthy breakfast. Cath, our experienced fitness instructor, leads us all through half an hour of fitness and relaxation to motivating music. Everyone then shares in a healthy breakfast. Our whole tinana feels fit and healthy! Earlier this year our whānau helped us build a new vegetable garden with funding from Little Sprouts. The children then filled it with a trailer load of compost. We are looking forward to spring peas and beans! To help reduce landfill waste, whānau have supported us in making wax lunch wraps from fabric and bees wax. Most children now wrap their sandwiches in these. Sandwiches are fun to eat and we’re very pleased that the use of gladwrap has greatly reduced.

“IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD”

Kahore taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini. We cannot succeed without the support of those around us. At Te Atatu Village Kindergarten we cherish the wealth of knowledge, culture and experiences that tamariki and their whānau bring to our learning environment. Through whakawhanaungatanga (building relationships) we strive to learn and grow alongside each other. We warmly encourage whānau to contribute to our community of learning. We’ve all been enriched by the opportunities their contributions create; from the sharing of their cultural knowledge of food, art, language and song, to unique learning experiences by whānau sharing their professional expertise. Whānau tangata is an integral and valued part of our philosophy. Through innovative programmes, such as our links with primary schools and visits to a local rest home, we ensure our tamariki have solid connections to their wider community and a strong sense of belonging within it.

EMBRACING WHANAUNGATANGA AT TITIRANGI KINDERGARTEN.

Fostering whanaungatanga in our kindergarten supports our children’s learning journey. At Titirangi Kindergarten we endeavour to provide a culture of connectivity and whanaungatanga among our whānau and community. We support our whānau by hosting family events which enables them the opportunity to connect with one another and build new friendships. By building these positive relationships, our families are supporting their children’s learning within the kindergarten environment. We feel it is important for our children to feel safe and happy in order for them to grow, challenge themselves to their fullest potential and succeed in their learning journey. By fostering our culture of whakawhanaungatanga with our whānau and children, we are ensuring their learning is supported in an environment that is welcoming and respectful for all.

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WHANGAUNGATANGA AT WAITAKERE. Authentic participation in our kindergarten community. At our kindergarten, it is an authentic aspect of our culture that all whānau are valued and welcomed in. We believe and value the active participation of whānau within our kindergarten community on a daily and weekly basis, as well as at special times. We are very lucky to foster an active committee of whānau, who help us as teachers to hold lots of fundraising events. Over the past year we have had a frock swap, gala day, phone book deliveries and whānau fun evenings. We also encourage our whānau to stay and support their tamariki during sessions. We have a parent roster board, as well as just welcoming whānau to stay, play and share their expertise and knowledge. This is evident through very strong whānau participation. Especially on trip days to local community like the fire station, library and school visits. As many of our visiting whānau and relievers say “This place has a great vibe.”

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FOSTERING WHĀINGA AT WHENUAPAI KINDERGARTEN.

How do we support our whānau to achieve their aspiration / whāinga for their children? We wanted to use a more collaborative approach for making parents aspirations visible and relevant to the child. We also wanted a way to celebrate children’s achievement with them and their families. The aspirations are posted in the kindergarten using an attractive aspiration tree and native birds. This display depicts clearly the parent’s aspiration and motivates them to support their children’s learning at home. It also embodies and embraces our commitment to Treaty of Waitangi and the AKO system of learning. We celebrated our children’s whāinga with their parents in a mat time ceremony, where they received a taonga. The parents and children both took great pride in celebrating their achievements. For example, Abby’s parents both attended her achievement ceremony and were very moved to see their little girl at the front of the group accepting her taonga.

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FRIENDSHIP AND WIDER PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS ARE AT THE CORE OF WHAT MAKES AUCKLAND KINDERGARTENS SPECIAL AND A GENUINELY INCLUSIVE PLACE TO BE.

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CELEBRATING OUR INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Since August of 2015, we have been developing our whakawhanaungatanga with our friends from a local rest home and a local retirement village. Together we continue to plan innovative, meaningful and fun opportunities for our tamariki and their whÄ nau to engage with our elderly friends. After many visits to kindergarten, our elderly friends wanted to reciprocate by inviting us to their home / village with a Teddy Bearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Picnic and an Easter Egg Hunt. These visits gave the elderly the opportunity to think and plan for our tamariki, who were now learning to be appreciative guests. When celebrating our Matariki lunch we recognised that our manuhuri were unsure of what Matariki represents, so the tamariki were able to share their knowledge while learning to be gracious and helpful hosts. We value these intergenerational experiences of being together, and learning from each other.

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BUILDING ENGINEERS: SAND AND WATER A WINNING COMBINATION. As teachers we are often challenged to validate children’s learning in the sandpit. When water is added into that mix it can be dismissed as wet and messy play. Through discussion, children’s portfolios and children’s Storypark stories, our families have come on board to support their children’s possibility thinking, experimentation and problem solving. The families offer their support by ensuring their children are in old clothes and gumboots - with a few sets of spare clothes tucked away in children’s bags. The families appreciate that towels are on hand so that children can dry and dress themselves. As we document, we are able to point out children’s working theories, their collaborative work and their dispositions to persist for families to understand the purposeful learning the children are engaged in. Pukenga hanga ki te paturu ia tatou i roto i te ora, building skills to sustain us through life.

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LEARNING TOGETHER AT BUCKLANDS BEACH KINDERGARTEN. Community and whānau play an important role in our children’s learning. At Bucklands Beach Kindergarten, we believe that our programme is strongly enriched by the participation of our parents and whānau who regularly share their skills, interests, culture and traditions with us. For example: cooking, Zumba and Chinese Arts to name a few. Through these experiences we are better able to build a sense of belonging for our tamariki and their families, and deepen the links between home and kindergarten. We also gain unique and meaningful experiences and learning opportunities to engage our children. We have also developed strong relationships with some of our local schools. Not only with our local primary schools, but also with our local college, where we often have students come and visit us as part of their curriculum learning. This provides many opportunities for mentoring between our children and older students, which empowers and engages in reciprocal learning for all involved.

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AT CASCADES KINDERGARTEN. Connecting people by getting to know one another. At Cascades Kindergarten, one of the ways we involve our community is to acknowledge and celebrate the important cultural celebrations. We believe acknowledging whānau cultural heritage fosters a sense of belonging, and a willingness to participate in supporting their children’s learning. When whānau and children see cultural artefacts, music, language, food and stories shared by their friends, it is an opportunity for them to be curious, be involved, explore and build on their resilience. This provokes a genuine commitment to respecting each other’s diversity. Our open door policy to visit and have a play gives our community the chance to build on the familiarity of our place before their child can begin. It gives us an opportunity to form an early relationship with each other. Through community involvement within our learning environment, our aspirations are for a positive effect on children’s attitudes as they transition into the cosmopolitan nature of Auckland.

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HONONGA WHĀNAU I DANNEMORA KINDERGARTEN. Family connections at Dannemora Kindergarten. Building and maintaining meaningful relationships that are supportive of children’s learning and family aspirations. Whakamanawa simply means to be heartened, inspired and encouraged. At Dannemora Kindergarten with the support and encouragement of our families/whānau, hapori, and through the modules of reo, tikanga and Te Aō Māori, we build strong reciprocal relationships together. The whakamanawa kaupapa encompasses every facet of our curriculum weaving together each individual strand to create our own whāriki of holistic learning. It has enabled us to reach out to our whānau, giving them the strength and confidence to share their insights, hopes, dreams and desires for their tamariki. Whānau involvement is evident in our day-to-day programme, where they continue to work alongside us, supporting and encouraging their tamariki in our kindergarten environment. We achieve this by inviting our whānau to join us for social events, excursions, and to share their stories.

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TE WHAKAWHĀITI MAI I TE WHANAU ME TE HĀPORI. Engaging with families and community in our kindergarten. Our passionate team value our partnership with our families and local communities. We are fortunate to be amongst a local and wider community that offers their knowledge and skills and through these rich connections our tamariki gain a deeper understanding of their place in the wider world. We hold events throughout the year such as Disco, Olympics Day and many more. We also encourage our families to share their experiences and culture throughout the year and participate in our cultural events. These strong relationships have enhanced the sense of belonging for tamariki and whānau. As a way to support our children in a smooth transition to school, we have an ongoing relationship with our local school allowing us to take our tamariki for a few visits, getting familiar with the new environment and routines. Our teachers participate in network meetings, getting to know our local school better and different ways to make our children’s kindergarten experience a meaningful gateway to the next stage of their learning journey.

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FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. Belonging Goal 1: children and their families experience an environment where connecting links with the family and the wider world are affirmed and extended. Here at Farm Cove Kindergarten we value our diverse cultural learning community. We foster positive, responsive relationships with whanau to create a community of learners. Our families collaborate with the teaching team and children in supporting the curriculum. We are proud to share our heritage of Aotearoa with our tamariki and whānau. Similarly, families are also invited to share their cultural heritage with us. Our bicultural journey has included visits to our local marae and museum, where together we celebrated ‘Matariki’, incorporating stories, waiata and the harvest of kumara. Over the past year, we have been strengthening and deepening our partnerships with whānau. During “Samoan language week”, we invited our Samoan aiga to share their culture, song, dance, costume, food and oa (treasures).

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GLEN INNES SUPERHEROES. We all have special strengths, and know that these are valued. Our story started with superhero play. Props were made, super powers shared, individual superheroes created for all to see when powers of ‘Good Choices’ were demonstrated. We went looking into our community for superheroes. Hidden super powers of whanaungatanga were uncovered from our own kindergarten whanau, especially during our language weeks. We had our local Police Officer, Fire Service, Dental Nurse, and Medical Students visit to share their super powers of manaakitanga. On our regular visits to St Andrews Retirement Village we discovered the super powers of ako as we lead the music & movement sessions with the elderly. The super power of turangawaewae continues to grow with our local schools, where our tamariki feel safe, empowered and connected through their transition to school. The greatest super power that has been unleashed is whakamana. That our tamariki are all superheroes with amazing powers to share and to take ‘up, up and away’, ‘to infinity and beyond’

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CELEBRATING CONNECTIONS AND INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING. As a Silver Enviroschool kindergarten, Glendowie Kindergarten is committed to fostering connections of care and belonging. Through the process of ako, manaakitanga and whanangautanga, we are able to build responsive and reciprocal relationships in our community. Over the past year, we have strengthened our relationship with the staff and residents of Henry Campbell house at St Andrew’s Retirement Village. As we continue to deepen our relationship with St Andrew’s, through shared experiences of storytelling, music and singing, we are creating bonds of aroha and belonging. The partnerships between tamariki, whānau and the wider community, have created an understanding of diversity. This has been a privilege, and serves to remind us that we are all valued members of the community.

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ARCHIE PLANS AN ARCHIE-SAURUS, SIMON AND JARED-SAURUS DAY Honouring children’s plans, collaborating with whānau, whānau involvement, and whānau voice. “We appreciate teachers embracing and encouraging children to follow their interests and allowing the children to ‘own’ their day and how it unfolds. The planning process is children-led with support given from parents and teachers. The teachers do a great job of fostering the children creativity and imagination. Storypark is a great platform for sharing ideas and plans that children have for teachers to pick up on and follow through at kindergarten. Archie was very motivated and enthusiastic about sharing his passion with his friends and very much wanted to include his buddy Jared and sister Ava in any way he could. Archie enjoyed taking his dinosaur figures, stickers and books to share with his friends too. We appreciated the way Archie was supported, encouraged and assisted to make his day a success and it was very pleasing to see Archie excited about his ‘Dino day’, a real pleasure to watch.” Kylie and Simon.

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COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS. We have many opportunities to connect with the wider community. Some of the highlights include: • A visit from Brian at ‘Hands on Creatures’ who brought in a variety of animals, insects and reptiles, and shared his knowledge and expertise while the children had an up-close-and-personal encounter. • Our local library invited us to their Matariki Celebration. The children learnt about Matariki through a variety of songs, stories and legends. Our local librarian attends regularly to read stories and teach the children a variety of new action songs. • Improving our outdoor area to provide a quiet, stimulating space for the children. This was supported and driven by our whānau and local community during a working bee one weekend. • Every Wednesday we have a local dance teacher attend. She engages the children in dance and movement, promoting their gross motor skills and physical well-being. • To extend our children’s interest and knowledge around fire safety, our local community fire brigade came out to our kindergarten, along with a fire truck and a variety of equipment for the children to explore.

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EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES THAT SUPPORT THE CHILDRENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SENSE OF BELONGING. The annual Family Fun Run is a fantastic opportunity to connect with the wider community. The Maraetai Beachlands Kindergarten Support Group / Committee has been running a Family Fun Run fundraising event every October at Omana Beach for the last three years. The wider community of Maraetai and Beachlands are invited to take part which includes runners and walkers. The options are a 5km or 8km run/walk. The tickets are $10 per person or $20 per family There are refreshments and food available and additional fun activities for the children. The event has had a very good response from everyone. We have had good support from the wider community, with donations of a bouncy castle, marquees, food, advertising etc., as well as helping to run the event. The venue is ideal - next to the beach and a playground - making for a fun morning out for the family and community in general.

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BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS WITH OUR WHĀNAU AND LOCAL COMMUNITY.

Ko tāu rourou ko tāku rourou, Ka ora ai ngā tamariki. With your contribution and my contribution our children will prosper. Building positive and reciprocal relationships is very important to us. We aim to bring our whānau and local community together to support, extend and encourage our tamariki as they learn. Mentoring from our Samoan families gave our tamariki a taste of the Samoan culture through song and dance. Our Chinese families supported us during Chinese New Year, demonstrating Chinese script, and doing cultural arts and cooking activities. During Storybook Week family members came to read their favourite stories. Students from our local school visit us and their Kapa Haka and Pasifika groups always love performing for us. We deeply acknowledge and thank our whānau and local community for their ongoing involvement in our tamariki’s learning.

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MISSION BAY’S WEARABLE ARTS FASHION SHOW 2016. Encouraging community participation and children’s creativity with this fantastic annual event. Here at Mission Bay Kindergarten, we hold a wearable arts event annually. This is a great time for whānau and community to come together. We actively engage whānau, encouraging them to create their children’s costumes, and invite them to attend this special event. We all enjoy watching the tamariki on the catwalk which is followed up with a shared lunch. Through the wearable arts, we continue to follow our philosophy of recycling and sustainability. We revisit previous years’ work through the use of printed books and photographs and encourage the use of a wide variety of mediums. The children have great ideas, like Rainbow Fish, Astronaut, Robot, and Popcorn Seller. The Teachers make costumes too, challenging themselves to share their new creativity each year.

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LEARNING TOGETHER INCLUDES FAMILY AND COMMUNITY. A Te Whāriki emphasises the learning partnerships created between children, teachers and families. It also values the learning that takes place as children find their place in the context of a wider community. For us it happens like this: teachers and whānau create learning opportunities within a socially inclusive and fun loving environment, people in our community help to expand children’s view of the world around them. This year the Teddy Hospital Doctors visited to allay fears of medical environments. Our ongoing focus on environmental sustainability led us to visit the Auckland City Council’s Zero Waste facility. Our families are absolute experts when it comes to putting on the wild and wonderful winter Disco, and hiking up our local maunga provides great exercise for children and their adults.

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EXPLORING OUR BICULTURAL HERITAGE IN AOTEAROA. Educating the children about Māori culture and traditions. It was wonderful to see our Māori tamariki swell with pride as they shared their culture and knowledge with the kindergarten community. We studied Māori myths, making our own version of the famous story “In the Beginning”. To support and extend the children’s’ learning we decided to take them to the Auckland Museum to see a live Māori Cultural Performance. The children experienced a vibrant glimpse of Māori culture through an engaging performance which took them on a journey through the story of Aotearoa New Zealand and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. It was very special that the children could see a live show with Māori people dressed in their traditional wear, singing and dancing to authentic Māori sounds and music; rich in folklore and legend that reflects Māori heritage. As educators we take great pride in following Te Whāriki, the Ministry of Education’s ‘Early Childhood’ curriculum.

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CREATING SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR PHILOSOPHY.

Creating sustainable, long-lasting connections with our whānau and community is an integral part of our philosophy. We provide opportunities for whānau to contribute how they can, where they can, when they can, in ways in which they feel comfortable. We acknowledge the shared responsibility for the nurturing of our tamariki. This partnership stretches beyond the kindergarten into our wider community. When what we do resonates with our families it creates communities and defines our kindergarten as a distinctive part of their lives. Mā te rongo, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora. Through resonance comes cognisance; through cognisance comes understanding; through understanding comes knowledge; through knowledge comes life and well-being.

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TŪRANGAWAEWAE MY PLACE TO STAND. Ko te whānau ko au, ko au ko te whānau. I am the whānau and the whānau is me. Over the last two years we have strengthened links with a community marae, Te Whare O Matariki, creating a sense of belonging between us that has strengthened the mana of our children and whānau. One whānau discovered their descendant was Chief Te Wherowhero and his photo was displayed in the marae, which was a proud moment for this whānau. “What a wonderful marae, we really felt at home and welcome” they told us. A special moment occurred during the whakatau when two whānaus connected during introductions realising that they were from the same iwi. Our parents did an amazing job during the whakatau, taking on leadership roles like the kai karanga. These discoveries would not have been possible without our connection with this marae. Our bond continues as one of our children returned to the marae to release some of our kindergarten tadpoles into their pond.

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FOSTERING A COMMUNITY OF HAPPY AND ENGAGED LEARNERS.

Taha tinana - to challenge myself physically and try new activities. At Pigeon Mountain Kindergarten, we foster a community of learners, whether it is the individual child, or whÄ nau and greater community. Their culture and knowledge is respected and invited into the kindergarten programme. We held our mini Olympics, where children took part in many physical activities like the sack race, obstacle course, long jump, skiing, horse racing, etc. Our mums, dads and whÄ nau were invited to come and support us. We have some children who have just started with us, they were also welcomed. Our families were very supportive during the event, they looked after children and encouraged them to take part in the games. We also had grandparents who wanted to be part of this special event by helping set up activities and supporting us all.

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OLYMPIC SUPPORTERS’ DAY. To celebrate the Olympics coming to a close, we had an Olympic Supporters Day with some fun games on the school field. We came dressed in the colours of our countries and invited our whānau along to cheer us on. We split into three teams - NZ, Samoa and Tonga! We had a flag bearer who lead their team on to the field. The three games were the sack race, the egg and spoon race, and rugby skills. We had to practice our jumping skills with the sacks and this proved to be a little tricky. We used lots of concentration and handeye coordination as we balanced the eggs on the spoons without dropping them. The rugby skills were lots of fun as we zig zagged between the cones holding onto the ball - some of us scored a try as we passed the yellow marker! We finished with two group races - balancing bean bags on our heads and holding onto a friend’s hand! When we got back to kindergarten we had a special medal ceremony where we were presented with a gold medal and certificate for our participation and effort! This links to our kindergarten treaty under taha tinana and taha whānau. Our whānau really supported this event with their participation and support of their tamariki!

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CREATING TAONGA FOR THE PEOPLE WE LOVE.

Please enjoy this beautiful keepsake, made with love and careâ&#x20AC;Ś Over the past term, our children have been working tirelessly to design and screenprint T-shirts to gift to their Dads for Fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day. The process begins with each child drawing a picture, the picture is cut out by a teacher or parent, and then the child uses fabric paint to screen print the picture onto the T-shirt. As the interest developed, children created T-shirts for siblings, grandparents and cousins, even as wedding presents! The popularity of the T-shirts meant that families were on board to help with hours of cutting, ironing and wrapping. It has been amazing to see our children design something with a specific person in mind, as with that, they have been encouraged to consider: who is this gift for? What do they like? Why are they special to me? The T-shirts have become a wonderful, meaningful and creative reflection of these relationships.

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HE AHA TE MEA NUI O TE AO? HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA.

What is most important to people? It’s the people, it’s the people, it’s the people. At St Heliers Kindergarten our community and whānau are always welcome. We invite members of our community to participate in our learning programme, like our local librarian and our community constable. Our families are also welcomed to participate in our learning programme for our tamariki. One of our parents taught our children yoga over a month, and other parents are always welcome to cook with our children or share any other skills they may have. We celebrate international events like the Olympics so that our tamariki are aware of the wider international community that they belong to. When we come together as a community we promote our children’s whanaungatanga, their sense of belonging where their whānau is always valued and welcome.

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WHAKAWHANAUNGATANGA PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS. Manaakitanga (caring for people) is modelled on the giving of yourself, which develops whanaungatanga (relationships) where people work collaboratively and collectively. Here at St John’s Kindergarten, from our philosophy; whānaungatanga (relationships) interweaves our essential attributes such as whakaute (respect), kotahitanga (unity), māia (confidence), manaaki (caring), and manawanui (perseverance). Our curriculum develops on the experiences children bring and links with the everyday activities and special events of whānau and cultures. We take pride in being inclusive, many of our special events involve our tamariki, their whānau and our community in making memorable, purposeful and meaningful experiences for lifelong learning. We foster culturally appropriate ways of communicating and encourage participation and involvement by whānau, extended family and elders within the community. We hold regular whānau events, fun kindergarten experiences, sharing of people’s strengths, knowledge and connecting with local marae and tikanga Māori.

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SYLVIA PARK KINDERGARTEN, STRENGTHENING WHANAUNGATANGA WITH OUR COMMUNITY.

We utilise our unique location to collaborate with our neighbouring school, Sylvia Park Primary School. Our kindergarten and Sylvia Park Primary School have a reciprocal relationship towards learning. We foster tuakana teina - our big school buddies teach us their haka, include us in assemblies, and share their exciting projects. Our tamariki make contributions and offer their suggestions on the shared spaces, gardens and sustainability. We encourage our whānau and wider community to share their culture and language through celebrations, play and regular events. Recently the Cook Island drummers shared their cultural knowledge, exploring rhythm and percussion. Father’s Day is one of the many celebrations which we embrace. We love our families feasting, cooking and sharing food together. Our whānau committee have organised fish and chip evenings, circus disco parties and Halloween nights. Kaiako and whānau participate in information sharing events such as our recent language and literacy evening.

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IBC1

PO Box 6933 Wellesley Street Auckland 1141

Tel 09 373 5635 Fax 09 307 1248 Email info@aka.org.nz

Tel 0800 4 KINDY www.aka.org.nz