Preparatory School Eco Day Meet the New Head of Pre-school

Preparatory

School Eco Day

An inquiry by Year 6 children into plastic pollution, led to the Preparatory School holding an Eco Day.

The students had learnt a lot about the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean from the New Zealand based charity, Our Seas Our Future, whose Mission Statement is to protect Aotearoa’s coastal and marine ecosystems through advocacy, education, and environmental stewardship, ensuring that they are managing sustainability and protected for future generations.

They spread awareness about plastic pollution to the rest of the Preparatory School through posters and presentations in classes, and encouraged families to send their children to school with a single-use plastic free lunch, to avoid packaging that is used once and thrown away. Students also collected rubbish around the Preparatory School environment.

The Year 6 students did a great job of pushing this initiative and raising awareness of such an important issue.

Year 6 students during their successful Eco Day.

Meet the New Head Pre-school of

Head of Pre-school, Mandy Jenkins New Head of Pre-school, Mandy Jenkins, says she couldn’t have been more welcomed into the St Andrew’s College family. “Everyone has been incredibly warm and friendly, and I feel at home here already. The Pre-school has an exceptional environment, and I’m enjoying the opportunity to explore the wider College campus and discover all the other wonderful opportunities available to the Pre-school children.”

Mandy has a wealth of experience working alongside children and their families. In addition to being an early childhood educator, her previous roles include social worker, youth worker, and behaviour therapist. She has a Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Early Childhood Education) from Victoria University, and a Masters degree in Psychology, from the University of Otago.

“My own personal philosophy of teaching and learning emphasises that children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships. My practice draws strongly from the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, and its focus on learning environments that provide conditions under which tamariki, and kaiako can explore, test, and revisit ideas together.”

Mandy worked as an early childhood teacher at the Karori Childcare Centre in Wellington, and after moving to the United Kingdom, was Deputy Room Leader in the Pre-school section of Reflections Nursery and Forest School, a Reggio-inspired nursery in the southeast of England. After returning to New Zealand, she became Head Teacher at Arrowtown Preschool Cotter Ave, a community-based non-profit centre, which was also inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach.

She is happy that becoming Head of Pre-school at St Andrew’s has brought her back to her hometown of Christchurch. “I grew up in Christchurch but haven’t lived here for a very long time. Once my husband and I had our daughter, Stella, the pull to return home was strong so she could have a close relationship with my Mum, and we could be closer to our extended whānau.”