Paraparaumu Kindergarten

31/08/2026

A visit from Harold the giraffe is aways fun. Through stories, picture cards and music tamariki learnt that experiencing different emotions and being able to name them is a good thing and that everyone has them. Through naming emotions tamariki learn ways to recognize them and develop self regulation

30/08/2026

When kindy needs new sunshade poles, the tamariki enjoy watching work in progress.
Events like this provide opportunities for the tamariki to observe real work, understand the process of digging deep holes the process of concreting, check out different types of machinery and make sense of the world around them

21/08/2026

What a wonderful day we had today celebrating Onam, the vibrant South Indian festival that honors King Mahabali.
Creating a beautiful Pookalam, with all the colorful flowers that the tamariki brought in. Wishing everyone a very Happy Onam!

20/08/2026

We need our tamariki to have the best education available

Affordable, inclusive and high quality early childhood education is essential for tamariki, whānau and our society on the whole to thrive.

But what does high quality ECE actually look like? Research tells us some of the most important aspects of high quality ECE are:

✅ Fully qualified ECE teachers
✅ Good child to teacher ratios
✅ Warm environment where whanau and parents are welcomed
✅ Celebrating and nurturing of language, culture and identity

At Whānau Manaaki, we believe in the right of every child to quality early childhood education.

19/08/2026

Our annual cupcake fundrasier is happening again! Made by one of our wonderful mummas, with all the money coming back to our kindergarten for resources for our family corner!
The cupcakes are delicious. Great if you have a party coming up!
Flick us a message or comment on post if you would like to make an order!

18/08/2026

The proposed changes to funding within Early Childhood Education (ECE) will have a wide-reaching effect on everyone who accesses ECE or works as a qualified registered teacher, especially those working in not-for-profit centres (such as kindergartens) or those who actively and intentional hire 100% qualified teachers.

What is clear is that education is not valued in the right way by the current government, with special focus on changing the ECE landscape despite research that supports just how vital education in the early years is!

The impact of these proposed changes will have a substantial effect on the fully qualified with bachelor's degrees, fully registered teachers, some of us may lose our jobs - especially if they remove the funding provided for 100% qualified teachers, others could be paid minimum wage with the removal of ALL pay parity (so not just pay parity between private and public ECE, but the pay parity that Kindergarten has with primary).

We have a world leading ECE Curriculum, yet it feels that we’re not worthy of being called teachers, our bachelor's degrees are not held in high regard, and we can simply be replaced by the untrained, unqualified and inexperienced.

This government believes that your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren and your mokopuna are not worthy of qualified teachers, or of sufficient funding to do our jobs.

This government and the funding review are not even looking at the mass amounts of profit that are being made by large private ECE companies in this country.

We love our jobs! We love TEACHING your tamariki, supporting & helping them grow into strong capable learners but if this government is elected again, it is highly possible that all of this will change, and quickly too.

You and your tamariki matter to us, and because of this we strongly encourage you to enrol to vote (and please vote), ask questions and talk to people about the impact this could have on your whānau and the people that matter to you.

13/08/2026

What a busy and productive morning we had with Martin the Toymaker!

Today, we made four beautiful birdfeeders. There was so much mahi tahi going on as the tamariki glued, sawed, hammered, and screwed the pieces together. It was wonderful to see so many of our older tamariki engaged throughout the entire morning, helping with every step of the process. Some of our younger tamariki joined in too, coming and going as they pleased.

A huge thank you to the Pelorus Trust for making Martin's visits possible. We are so grateful for the opportunities these hands-on provide for our tamariki!

10/08/2026

Tamariki spied a Monarch butterfly checking out our Swan plants today.
They were so excited to observe it fly up to and around the Swan plant and finally landing on one.
"Look I think it is laying eggs for us"
Oh, the wonder of the world from a child's perspective is just magical.

04/08/2026

This week we held our own version of the Comman Wealth games.
We had long jump, shot put, bowls, javelin throwing, running and sack races.
The games started with the National anthem and then a parade.
What a great way to celebrate world wide events, encourage physical activities, support tamariki to celebrate their cultures, see themselves as global citizens as well making sense of their world around them

28/07/2026

Tamariki are encouraged to use their own ideas to set up equipment in their own way for their own purpose.
This supports a child lead curriculum where kaiako can focus and support and extend the
interests of tamariki.