Our Curriculum

Grounded in a well-designed, nature inspired environment, we provide a curriculum with just the right touches, a guiding hand alongside the room to explore. We provide a place to grow, wonder, to build curiosity and share magical journeys.

Guided by our national curriculum; Te Whāriki, we acknowledge, support and foster your child's individual learning pathway. Your child’s innate ability to learn, develop and explore will be sensitively supported by our knowledgeable teaching team, as they develop the dispositions, skills and mind set for a life long journey of learning and discovery.

We also acknowledge whānau in their unique role as children’s first teachers. We encourage whānau as knowledge sharers, working in trusting, valued, supportive and inclusive relationships to build on our programme. Children will have opportunities to learn through trial and error, through repetition and as they work alongside their peers. They will be supported to develop a sense of themselves, their agency and how they can use their own skills, knowledge and abilities to become successful. In a world that is ever changing, what is important is that we encourage children to share, develop and grow dispositions of collaboration, resilience and perseverance that support success regardless of where our children find themselves. We value our connections with nature; where puddles are seen as opportunities to explore the properties of water and spider webs share the magic of mathematics.

Te Whāriki and Learning Dispositions

Learning dispositions are a set of behaviours, woven and linked to the strands of Te Whāriki, we believe that when children:

• find an interest they are showing a sense of belonging

• are involved and attentive they are highlighting a sense of well-being

• preserve with difficulty and uncertainty they are showing a sense of exploration

• express their ideas they are highlighting communication

• take some responsibility in working with or alongside others they are highlighting a sense of contribution.

It is kaiako knowledge of the Strands and Principles within Te Whāriki that weave together to support and acknowledge children’s learning over time. Kaiako utilise observations based on this framework to document children’s learning, highlighting the evolving dispositions, interests and strengths, documented through narratives, stories, photographs or videos to share children’s learning with families.

We acknowledge the aspirations for children within Te Whāriki, that tamariki are “competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 2.).

The four Principles below lay the foundation for this to happen:

• Empowerment – Whakamana: The early childhood curriculum empowers the child to grow and learn.

• Holistic Development – Kotahitanga: The early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow.

• Family and Community – Whānau Tangata: The wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum.

• Relationships – Ngā Hononga: Children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things (Ministry of Education, 2017, p.18-21).