Tadpoles Early Childhood Centre

This year’s theme for ‘Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna which means, connect me to the soil of my ancestors.
Our tamariki love celebrating all the language weeks and Cook Island Language week is no exception. Check out our photos to see all the fun that was had. There will be plenty more added to Storypark for our Tadpoles parents.

We are hiring!
Are you a registered ECE teacher looking to join an amazing team of teachers? Our team is exceptionally talented at both caring for and teaching children but also love to have lots of fun in and outside of work hours. At Tadpoles, everyone is valued and recognised for their own special talents. We would be looking for someone who is a highly motivated, effective practitioner, passionate about teaching and learning, and can recognise the importance of setting up an environment that supports and encourages children’s learning. But what is most important to us is that you love being with children and working alongside passionate and happy people each and every day. Some of the perks we get are: We have signed up to Pay Parity, all teachers get 3 hours of non-contact time that can be done at home each week (so you either come in 3 hours late or you leave 3 hours early), paid staff meetings and professional development, 50% contribution to Teacher Registration fees, Friday treats, staff social events that are always memorable and a happy and fun environment to teach in. We have waiting lists in all three rooms and our whānau and community of parents is one of a kind. Mangere Bridge is a tight-knit small village where people are close and connected. People who belong to the Tadpoles community, just love it! So…if you would like to part of our amazing team, please email your expressions of interest to [email protected] or call on 021 323878.

Mānawatia a Matariki
Our celebrations for Matariki ended this week. Together at Tadpoles we reflected on the last year, we spent time together doing special rituals and we made plans for our year ahead. Our tamariki enjoyed reading lots of story books about Matariki, made many treasures to take home, planted new gardens and helped to make our kai for our annual Soup for the Soul day. And as usual the Pyjama Day was a huge hit. Although our Matariki lights have been taken down for another year, we will remember this special time we had together.

Favourite Stories Week
It was a fun packed week enjoying more stories than usual, where plenty of favourites were shared. On Thursday the children showed up dressed as a favourite character and of course the teachers didn’t disappoint with their efforts either.

Talofa Lava fanau,

Manuia le vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa!
(Happy Samoan Language week)

This year's theme for Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa is Fa’aāuāu le Folauga i le Va’a o Tautai - Continue the Voyage with Competent Wayfinders of the Ocean.

This week our tamaiti have been immersed in the Samoan culture, through arts and crafts, music, dance and food (supasui, niu and panikeke).

Faiaoga Tina then led a beautiful celebration this morning, where her daughters Rose and Naomi performed a traditional Samoan siva for us. Everyone was in awe of their graceful moves and we all joined in at the end with a final siva.

Manuia le faaiuga o le vaiaso,

Team Tadpoles

Happy Mother’s Day to all our amazing mums. Hope you all have a wonderful day today in this glorious sunshine. It was great to see so many of you at our annual Mothers Day afternoon tea on Friday. A great opportunity to meet other Tadpoles mums and share tips, tricks and the not so successful parts of parenting. We appreciate you all. Love from the team at Tadpoles # # #

Meri kirihimete whānau!! Thank you all so much for your continuous support of our great little centre. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing community of parents, tamariki and teachers!! You all make coming to work each day an absolute pleasure!! Looking forward to spending quality time with you again in 2022. To end on a high…we won 1st place in the Māngere Bridge Village decoration competition with our Christmas Scarecrows. Great work team!! Have a fabulous holiday # # #

The Tadpoles Children’s Christmas Party was a little different this year with the absence of our whānau. However, this didn’t stop the fun from happening. The team put on a great party that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Check out Storypark for lots more photos and videos of your child’s day.
Merry Christmas everyone!! # # #

'Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki 'Āirani
Cook Islands Language Week!

It was a bright and colourful week as we celebrated the Cook Island culture with language learning, crafts, fruit tasting and dancing. We were even lucky enough to have Nana Teina join us one morning for a special mat time.

'Autuitui 'ia au ki te Oneone o tōku 'Ui Tupuna - Connect me to the soil of my ancestors