The Joy of Childhood

SHARE THE JOY OF CHILDHOOD WITH US

Being small is wonderful.

Our place within the Rangi Ruru Girls’ School family means so much to our children, their families and our teachers. As part of the wider school community, we are fortunate to have the amazing resources of the school on our doorstep. These add a rich depth and complexity to the learning opportunities we can plan for and engage children in.

Here at Rangi Ruru Preschool we work with families to ensure that there is continuity between the Preschool and home environments, with shared values and aspirations for children’s learning. Our guiding principles are Whanau Tangata – family and community are integral to engaged learning; Nga Hononga – supporting responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things; Whakamana – empowering children to learn and grow; Kotahitanga – reflecting the holistic way that children learn and grow. These, along with the Rangi Ruru core values of Respect, Aroha, eNdeavour and eNthusiasm, Generosity of Spirt and Integrity, guide our amazing teaching team in the planning, delivery and assessment of our childcentred daily programme. Our teaching team is made up of highly experienced and qualified Early Childhood Teachers. Our commitment to children’s learning is matched by our commitment to have fully qualified and registered teachers supporting their learning. Our established team have been together for many years and feel very privileged to teach within our school community.

Over the last months the teaching team and children have been out and about, making ourselves known in many areas of the school. We have really enjoyed working alongside faculty members and students in a range of areas. Helping the older students with their assessment work is a real joy for us. Recently we have particularly enjoyed working with the two Year 7 and the Year 12 Digital Technology classes. Our involvement as ‘clients’ of the girls has meant that they have used their skills to produce authentic products, such as colouring books (made from images of the preschool children and our activities) and web applications designed with games and activities to engage and challenge young learners. We have been able to assist the girls during their studies by regularly spending time together, sharing ideas, and testing out their work at various points along the way. Alongside working with the students come many opportunities to learn from the expertise of Rangi Ruru teachers. A real favourite for us was exploring crazy and exciting dry ice experiments with Mr Van Rossen whilst the big girls were on study leave.

A true highlight of this year has been our Annual Trike-a-thon. Whilst COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all of us, we have observed a very positive outcome for our Preschool children. Many of them spent time learning how to ride two-wheeler bikes! This meant that we had to upgrade the Trike-athon track from the school rose garden, to double the size in front of Mana Wahine. This was the first year we have held our Trike-a-thon during a school lunchtime, and what a success it was. The event was supported by huge numbers of students and faculty members; cheering for the children, helping them on their way when little feet got tired, and treating themselves to the sausage sizzle and baking fundraiser.

Outdoor Play Pirate Day Painting

The children completed a combined total of 763 laps of the track and raised an amazing $1600 in sponsorship to put toward outdoor play equipment.

The quiet halls of Te Koraha regularly play host to our preschoolers, who take great delight in exploring offices and asking questions of all the staff. They have a strong sense of place in the school and have developed a wonderful relationship with Dr Hastie (‘Sandra’ to anyone under six years of age!). No trip past her office is complete without the mandatory jumping up and down, waving furiously, trying to get her attention – and she doesn’t let us down – no matter who is in a meeting with her, we can always trust she will respond in kind with a wave. Recently we also took over Te Koraha on ‘International talk like a pirate day’. Our band of fearsome pirates stormed the house and took over the staircase. It was wonderful to have so many administration staff come out and join us.

We have recently said ‘a happy goodbye’ to children heading off to Primary School. It has been sometime since we have had places open within the Preschool and their departure has meant that we currently have limited places available. We look forward to welcoming new families into our wonderful Rangi Ruru whānau, and we warmly encourage our school community to let family and friends know that spaces are now available, and invite them to come for a viewing if they are considering enrolment now or into 2021.

Nāku noa, nā

Words by Linda Scanlan CENTRE MANAGER