From the office

Hello Families and welcome to March. 

It is almost the end of term 1 and the children are busily preparing for Easter and the holidays. 

It has been a very exciting first term with quite a few events happening throughout the past months. 

Thank you to all of our families who participated in our Cultural Banquets for Harmony Day. This was truly a wonderful experience for the children in that they were able to discuss and sample foods from different cultures. It was a real community effort that bought so many different lifestyles together and is a fine example of how our service incorporates Quality Area 6-Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities of the National Quality Standards. 

Another great example of this was Funky Hair day to raise funds for the cancer council. This was a fun day for the children and we would like to thank everyone who made a donation to the Cancer Council. 

 Staffing: we would like to welcome 2 new relief staff to our centre. Miss Suman who has previously worked at our centre and Miss Falguni. Both new relief staff will be working throughout the rooms so please feel free to approach them and say hello when they are on shift. 

Trivia Night

Parents and friends, we are still looking for team entries for our trivia night. We need approximately 10 teams to make this night a success. This is our first fundraiser for the year and an event we have put together for our parents. Come along for a great night of fun, laughter, knowledge, games and prizes.  Cost is $15 per head. Time: 7pm start. Entry forms are available from the front foyer and are due back by 12th April at the latest so we can cater. Dinner is provided.  Please talk to your families, friends and neighbours and invite them to participate.

Upcoming events.

 Signing In and Out. Could all parents please ensure that they are signing their children in and out on the laptop every day they attend. We are currently waiting on new tablets and do understand that the computer is a little slower however it is a legal requirement that all children are signed in and out every day. If you miss a sign in then staff will do this for you however you are required to confirm this on your next log in. There are some parents who are not signing in at all and this could affect your child care benefit and rebate. So please ensure you are doing this every day. If you require assistance please see our staff for help. 

 Dropping children at the centre: Please ensure you are taking your children to the rooms and dropping them off with the educators. Please do not leave children unattended in empty rooms or yards. This is a very frightening experience for a child-to be left alone. Our educators are always on premises so please ensure you are checking in with them and leaving your child in their care. 

Pre School News

 Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou, Tena Koutou katoa e whanau( Welcome Dear Families: Maori)

As we near the end of term there are so many of the children's achievements we are very proud of. Here are just a few.

1. The children are showing their interest in attempting to write their own name on their artwork.

2. The children are learning to be more resilient and persist through challenges in their play. e:g: puzzles and construction.

3. The children are developing their confidence in creating patterns with the patterning blocks

These achievements are celebrated on a daily basis and documented in the learning stories which are displayed on our wall above the lockers.

Now is also a good time to start thinking about schooling options for 2019. School interviews will begin as early as next term so they are able to gain an understanding of the children's current skills and capabilities. 

In the next month our Teacher selected topics include engaging the children in experiences related to Easter, The Commonwealth Games and ANZAC Day. Of course these are in addition to the curriculum being based on the day to day interests of our children.

Your insight and input is greatly appreciated in our curriculum delivery

Could all parents who have not done so please remember to bring back your Kindergarten acknowledgement forms and Transition statement consent forms as we require them on file.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents for your understanding, co-operation and honest and open communication in relation to the room routines, curriculum and spaces. It is an honour to have such wonderful partnerships.

This year is going to be a memorable one!

Ma Te Wa(until next time: Maori)

Joyce and Bithi. 

Senior Kindy News

Hi everyone,

It is hard to believe that we have spent almost 3 months in Senior Kindy already. As educators we have spent this time getting to know the children and their interests. This assists us with our curriculum and corresponds to Quality area 1-Educational Program and Practice. 

Our children are becoming more independent with taking care of their belongings, toileting and making healthy choices at lunch time. We encourage parents to also allow your children to be more independent at home so that we are working together in partnership to develop these skills. 

We have been doing a lot of work on our colours and  we are now moving onto our shapes. We have been supporting this learning through our transitions and books at group time. In relation to science, we have also been using our weather chart every day. The children love taking turns at being the weather boy or girl. Our pet turtle Gonzo is always needing care so the children have been caring for and feeding him as well. In addition to this we have also planted some corn and are currently caring for this to see how it will grow. 

Our current focus is on space and our planet earth. So there will be a lot happening in the coming months in relation to this.

We would like to congratulate Miss Erin on her recent marriage and hope she is having fun on her honeymoon.

We wish all of our families a safe Easter break.

Gabby

Junior Kindy News

 Welcome to our Junior Kindy room for 2018! We have all settled into the room well this term and have been busy exploring the room and making bonds with our new friends. we have welcomed so many new friends already including Mikhail, Preston, Isabella, Ryan, Lucia and Tabias. 

To begin the year we have been exploring our Identity through sharing information about our families. We have had discussions at group times, shared what we did on the weekends and talked about our family members and our cultural heritage. We have a wonderful world map on the back wall linking our children's cultural identity. Please take the time to have a look. We have also been adding our family photos to our tree on our back wall. If you haven't already brought in a photo please do so. We can add it to the wall. 

The children have shown a keen interest in art so we have been exploring different mediums such as finger painting, easel painting, group painting and felt pen drawing.

Role play has also been very popular and the children are developing their social interactions through imaginative play with each other and the dolls..

Some friendly reminders!

Please label all of your child's belongings so we can recognise who things belong to.

Please ensure you are checking your child's pocket every day for  notices.

until next time

Kathryn and Deep

Toddler News

A Huge Hello to all of our toddler families

We have had such a wonderful two months settling into the toddler room and it has been really great to see young friendships forming between all of the children. We have been focusing on building Learning Outcome 1.5 where we can see the children establishing and maintaining respectful, trusting relationships with other children and educators and initiating interactions. we can see the children beginning to play together, especially in the home corner area where they pretend to feed each other.

Dancing is another opportunity for the children to engage with one another as they hold hands or copy each others movements.

We would like to say a huge thank you to our families who participated in Crazy Hair Day and Harmony Day. It is great to see everyone joining in on our centre events, helping our families and children feel a sense of belonging within our centre.

one small thing! Please do not forget to take drink bottles and sheets home to be cleaned before the start of the new week.

Thank you

Mel and Pam.

Nursery News.

 What a great start to the year we have had in the nursery! All of our children have settled into the room and have happily been exploring their new environment and forming relationships with both their educators and peers.

We have been focusing on sensory development and creating a sense of belonging with the children over the past months. We have provided experiences such as water play, shaving foam play, painting experiences, musical instruments and sensory bottles.

All of the children have come a long way in their gross motor development and mastering crawling confidently now. Some of our children are pulling themselves up to standing and even taking steps. We like to leave these first time milestones for parents to see however if you would like us to inform you of these please let us know.  We will continue to encourage these skills into next term and provide experiences for further development while extending on the children's interests.

Until next time

Sarah, Ai and Jo