Poppies Preschool St Martins is a family run and operated Preschool located in a beautiful character villa in Saint Martins Christchurch
Operating as usual
24/02/2025
We want to celebrate and say a big thank you to Niki who has been here with us at Poppies for 11 years. We don't know what we would do without you, your support, and your beautiful relationships with whānau.
Thanks for being part of our Poppies family Niki
19/02/2025
Join us for a playdate in the Nursery (0 - 2 years) next Wednesday and Thursday between 10 - 11am. We would love to meet you!
14/02/2025
A day filled with aroha and manakitanga to celebrate Valentines at Poppies.
E iti noa ana nā te aroha, A small thing given in love.E iti noa ana nā te aroha, A small thing given in love.
Pī day 🐝
Today in the Prepschool we were learning lots about pī. We investigated what pī like to eat, how they pollinate, and how they make honey. Tamariki made some kai for them, grated apple and popped it in the māra to see what happens. We learnt about different types of honey and taste tested Mānuka and Flora honey. We learnt that we need to look after our bees as if we didn’t nothing would grow. 💛🌸🍯🐝
Today we went on a hīkoi around our local awa, Ōpāwaho to pick up rubbish and clean our community. Our tamariki are such great kaitiaki. They show lots of manaakitanga for our whenua, caring for Papatūānuku and Tangaroa. We found quite a lot of rubbish on the wee hīkoi that we went on which was a little sad- but ka pai tō mahi to our amazing tamariki for picking up the rubbish before it gets into our awa and “hurts our animals”. It’s amazing to hear since starting our rubbish walks that outside of Poppies our tamariki are getting whānau involved, picking up rubbish wherever they are and informing others of how to be kaitiaki.
Me mahi tahi tātou mō te oranga o te katoa.
Working in collaboration benefits the collective.
💚
You may have heard about Family Boost in the media recently. With Family Boost you could be eligible to claim a subsidy of up to $75 per week on your ECE fees. Please read the attached Family Boost information sheet. It gives you details on how the scheme will work and what you need to do to claim the payments, as well as FAQ’s. If you need any more help please let us know.
https://www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/-/media/project/ir/tp/publications/2024/2024-qa-familyboost/familyboost---questions-and-answers.pdf?modified=20240325033935&modified=20240325033935 #:~:text=Am%20I%20eligible%20for%20FamilyBoost,three%2Dmonthly%20lump%20sum).
Tamariki at Poppies have been learning all about Samoa this week. We have listened to and learnt some Samoan songs, made lays and have been exploring some shells from Samoa. We have also been cooking and baking traditional Samoan kai. The preschool tamariki helped make sapa sui- it was delicious, and Prepschoolers made Masi Samoa (coconut shortbread). Exploring the shells from Samoa was definitely a favourite- we learnt about coral reefs and hermit crabs finding shells for their bodies!
23/05/2024
Kia ora,
We would love some jars 🫙 for our banana & worm fertiliser- to pop outside for whānau to take for their māra 🪴🏡. If you have any we would really appreciate it ☺️
We have been learning about re using banana skins to make fertiliser for the māra and plants by soaking skins in water for a couple of days🌱. We also love feeding our worms with the skins.
If anyone has any other ideas with what else we can do with banana skins we would love to know!
This week in Aotearoa is Road safety week! We had some guests come into Poppies today to teach us all about how to stay safe near and on our roads. We learnt so much- how to cross roads using all senses, the colour of traffic lights and what it means, as well as safety for when we’re riding our bikes. We then got to go out to check out the police car and some tamariki chose to sit in it. We also practiced crossing roads as well. Dee her co worker Zara then stayed and played for a whole 45 minutes and we got some pretty cool things to take home.
Ngā mihi nui Beckenham police 💙❤️
17/05/2024
PINK SHIRT DAY
Today we had a sea of PINK in the Prepschool to show our support towards “Pink Shirt Day”. This is a great topic to have kōrero on with our tamariki as we stand against bullying. We talked about ways we can show Manaakitanga (kindness and respect to others), include our friends in play, and things we can say and do to be kind to others at Poppies.
He aroha whakatō, he aroha p**a mai.
If kindness is sown than kindness you shall receive.
16/05/2024
We have two new whānau members here at Poppies! 🐣
Today at hui time we asked tamariki for some name ideas for our new chooks. We wrote them all down and picked two out of a hat. Introducing…
Sprinkles & Porridge!
What great names 😂
You are welcome to go and say hi to Sprinkles and Porridge around the back of the car park as we know some whānau love to do this at the end of the day.
Me mahi tahi tātou mō te oranga o te katoa.
Working in collaboration benefits the collective. 💚
Tamariki in the Prepschool have been learning about taniwha. We have been learning the waiata “One day a taniwha”. Today tamariki worked together to create a taniwha and a kōwhai tree to represent our waiata.
*Collaborative art projects bring children together to create something extraordinary
*When tamariki collaborate on an art piece, they learn the value of effective communication, active listening, and respecting the ideas of others.
*Collaboration creates a sense of belonging, by working together, children feel part of a team where every contribution is valued and appreciated.
12/05/2024
We hope you all had a lovely day🫶
With love,
Poppies team x
| Monday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |
| Friday | 7:30am - 5:30pm |