St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten

This week at kindy has been full of creativity, celebration, and imagination. The children enjoyed preparing for Mother’s Day by creating special gifts and sharing stories about their mums through art, writing, and play. During New Zealand Sign Language Week, we also learnt how to say “Thank you,” “I love you,” and “Happy Mother’s Day” using NZSL.

Alongside this, the children explored their interests through building projects, sandpit investigations, and imaginative dragon play. It has been wonderful to see so much curiosity, creativity, and friendship growing throughout the week.

We’ve been making the most of the warm weather, spending lots of time outdoors and enjoying the sunshine together. Our busy builders have been hard at work, using their imagination to create and build-especially their exciting new “McDonald’s”!

We rebuilt our vegetable garden bed with support from whānau, and the children loved being part of the process and planting new seedlings. So much joy in building, creating, and learning together in the sunshine!

Our children have been busy building, repairing, and fixing in the playground, learning about tools and working together as a team. We also explored ANZAC Day, talking about remembrance, gratitude, and heroes. The children made poppies, enjoyed music and movement, and baked ANZAC biscuits. Our ANZAC Teddy Day added a warm touch, with children sharing their favourite teddies and showing kindness and care. A lovely week of learning and connection. 🐻

Our children have been enjoying harvesting and sharing the vegetables and herbs we’ve grown together. We have also noticed a strong interest in the scaffolding work around our church and neighbourhood. The children have been observing the builders and bringing these ideas into their play.

We are delighted to share that our Head Teacher, Olivia, has been featured in the Eastern Times. The article reflects our philosophy, values, and the importance of relationships, play, and learning within our kindergarten. We are so grateful for our staff, children, whanau, and community who are at the heart of everything we do.

May this be an opportunity to glorify God's name and give thanks for the work we share each day. We also look forward to seeing more voices from the early childhood sector being shared and celebrated. You can read the full article here. ❤️

Educator in Action, with Olivia Ng of St Andrew’s Chilton Kindergarten How long have you been an educator, and where did you train? I’ve been working in education for 27 years in Aotearoa New Zealand, having trained at New Zealand Tertiary College. I also completed a postgraduate diploma and a master’s in education degree at the University of Auckland. My journey h...

In our garden studio, our herbs and vegetables grown beautifully, so we decided it was time to harvest! The children helped make spinach and egg wraps, choosing their own spinach to use. Many picked the tallest one (58cm) because it looked "big, juicy, and yummy". We had a wonderful time harvesting, cooking, and sharing food together.

This week, our tamariki were fascinated by worms and their role in the garden! They shared ideas about how worms eat, sleep, make holes, and help plants grow. We also explored shelters in nature, building insect homes with cardboard and loose parts, and extended our creativity through construction play, including a toy house and an imaginative garden.

Our gardening continues! The spinach has reached 54cm — maybe time to harvest! We also planted spring onions and watched beans grow in jars with magnifying glasses.

This week, the children watched our herbs and vegetables grow—our tallest plant is now 39 cm! They measured spring onions, noticed the long roots, and even discovered worms in the soil. We also started a bean-growing experiment in jars and used our imagination to pretend we were seeds, moving our bodies like growing plants. It’s wonderful to see their curiosity and creativity in action!

This week, our children explored a crafting pumpkin and feijoas brought in by families. They loved touching, smelling, and observing them, and were fascinated to discover the pumpkin seeds inside. Some even wondered what would happen if they ate the feijoa seeds! They shared imaginative ideas, like seeds “sleeping” and waiting to grow into plants. The children also watered and measured our herbs, vegetables, and sprouting seedlings—the tallest plant reached 29 cm!

Inspired by the church roof construction, they explored building at kindy through drawing, blocks, and creative play, imagining what builders might need. It’s been wonderful to see their curiosity, imagination, and love of learning in action!

Our children enjoyed their first walk of the year! They explored the community, noticed the construction at the church, and collected little treasures like acorns and leaves. Back at kindy, the learning continued with water pipes and construction play. Our children experimented with water flow, redesigned their projects, and worked together to solve problems, such amazing teamwork and creativity to see!

This week our children have been busy in the Garden Studio. They explored herbs and vegetables — touching, smelling rosemary and peppermint, and noticing different shapes and textures. We’ve been watching our spring onions grow, drawing their changes and making predictions (some think they might grow taller than us! ). Planting day was full of teamwork and care. A big thank you to our wonderful whānau for sharing seeds and planting alongside us.