Lake Okareka Preschool

We have some news…

On Friday night, Lake Ōkāreka Preschool was named the ECC Exceptional Community-Based Centre Award 2026 winner for demonstrating outstanding commitment and setting a benchmark for excellence!

It’s no secret that our little preschool is something special, and that’s down to the incredible teachers who have poured their hearts into this place for decades. Leslie, Davina, Erin, Megan, Kylee and Val, and every single one of our amazing relievers, this really is a testament to the amazing Kaiako you are. Your dedication to our tamariki and whānau is what makes Lake Ōkāreka prechool the special corner of the world that it is.

We also have to give a huge shoutout to our friends down the road at Pathways Steiner Kindergarten Rotorua. Being shortlisted alongside them was an honour in itself. There’s something really special about being part of a Rotorua early childhood community that lifts each other up like this.

Congratulations to our whole team. How lucky are our kids to be growing up with centres like this in Rotorua.

Mānawatia a Matariki

We visited Te Pūtake o Tawa where we remembered our pūrākau of Hinemoa and Tūtānekai retelling the story of their aroha for each other and that Hinemoa had swum all the way to Mokoia island to be married to Tūtānekai.
Next was Kataore our taniwha who lived in a cave just up the hill. We sang our pepeha to Kataore 'Te Arawa te waka'. Being able to connect to another part of our Preschool pepeha, Kataore te taniwha strengthens our knowledge of our tūrangawaewae.
Then we saw Wāhiao. He was Hinemoa's brother. All the sculptures were made of different materials, and Wāhiao’s body was a rock that came from the Mount Tarawera eruption 1886.
Then we had a special treat looking at Bailey’s logging truck. It was so big he beeped is horn and flashed his lights for us then we asked him lots of questions about his truck 😊

We are fortunate to work alongside our Rotorua East primary schools and early childhood centres to learn our local pūrakau, whakapapa and make connections to our whenua. As a collective we have already produced two wonderful books retelling the story of Ko Whakapoungākau te Pae Maunga and Īhenga – The Name Giver using art and illustrations from our tamariki.

Ra whānau ki a King Charles 🫅
Happy birthday King Charles 🎂
This year we celebrated King Charles' birthday by making feijoa muffins, royal crowns, the British flag and all topped off with a Royal high tea. Hip hip hooray 🥳

Our tamariki have been learning our new pūrakau: Uenukukōpako and his Kuri. Our tamariki do not just listen to the story but live it through art, multimedia, drama and much more bringing the story to life.

Happy Mother's Day for yesterday. We hope all our mums enjoyed learning about yourselves through the eyes of your own child. There were some lovely answers 🙂🙂

A BIG thank you to Birch Built and Hodgson Plumbing for our amazing new water tank for the sandpit. We can now collect rainwater teaching our tamariki about the water cycle, conservation and sustainability, fostering an early sense of environmental responsibility becoming kaitiaki, guardians of our Preschool. 😊

Celebrating Anzac Day tamariki have been learning about remembering our soldiers at war who served with courage, bravery and resilience to protect us. A special treat was to make and enjoy some yummy Anzac biscuits.
Did you know Anzac biscuits are oat-based treats famously linked to World War I, believed to have been sent by families and women’s groups to Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers due to their long shelf-life, as they contained no eggs.