Irmgard Ritchie kindergarten

At our Kindergarten Tamariki are nurtured and upheld as the Taonga-treasure they are. Recognised and Celebrated as Clever capable learners, we highly value our Whanau aspirations

Our tamariki have been busy building confidence, creativity, and resilience through a range of exciting learning experiences.
From mastering new skills on the monkey bars and learning to swing independently, to collaborating on large sandpit constructions and exploring carpentry projects, children have been demonstrating perseverance, problem-solving, and teamwork every day.
We have also seen a growing love for singing, dancing, and movement as tamariki enthusiastically learn a new dance for our end-of-year Christmas celebration.
Kaiako have been intentionally supporting learning by modelling strategies, scaffolding challenges, encouraging children to share ideas, and providing opportunities for tamariki to test their thinking, solve problems, and build confidence.
Through these experiences, children are strengthening important learning outcomes from Te Whāriki including wellbeing, belonging, contribution, communication, and exploration. It has been wonderful to see tamariki encouraging one another, taking on new challenges, and celebrating their successes together.

What our tamariki are learning this week?

Here's what our tamariki had to say about their trip to the gym and the activities they enjoyed the most!

🤸‍♀️ Rimutaka Gym Sports Adventure! 🤸‍♂️

What an amazing day our tamariki had at Rimutaka Gym Sports! From climbing, balancing and swinging to jumping, running and practising their ball skills, everyone embraced new challenges with confidence, curiosity, and lots of smiles. It was wonderful to see tamariki encouraging one another, persevering through trial and error, and celebrating their achievements together.

After all the fun, we enjoyed a yummy morning tea before finishing with a lively music session full of singing and dancing!

A huge thank you to our wonderful parent helpers. Your time, care, and support made this excursion possible and helped create such a fun and memorable learning experience for our tamariki. We truly appreciate your partnership with our kindergarten whānau. 💙

Te Whāriki in action:
Through this adventure, tamariki strengthened their Mana Atua | Wellbeing, Mana Aotūroa | Exploration, Mana Tangata | Contribution, and Mana Whenua | Belonging as they explored, challenged themselves, and learned together.

To Rimutaka Gym Sports, yey! 💪 😊 ❤️

Last week, tamariki explored a calming rainbow salt sensory experience that encouraged mindfulness, creativity, and active learning. As they scooped, poured, traced shapes and letters, and shared ideas with others, they strengthened their fine motor skills, early literacy, communication, and social skills. The sensory nature of the activity supported emotional regulation while encouraging curiosity, creativity, and sustained, self-directed exploration.

What is the learning?

The key learning from this experience is that tamariki are:

Developing fine motor coordination through scooping, pouring, tracing, and mark-making.
Building early literacy skills by exploring shapes, symbols, and letter formation in a playful way.
Strengthening social and emotional competence through mindfulness, turn-taking, sharing ideas, and self-regulation.
Expanding language and communication by describing textures, observations, and experiences.
Demonstrating curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving as they investigate the properties of different materials.
Engaging in sustained, self-directed learning, showing concentration and confidence while exploring through their senses.

This learning aligns well with Te Whāriki, particularly Mana Aotūroa (Exploration) through investigation and creativity, Mana Reo (Communication) through language and early literacy, and Mana Atua (Wellbeing) through emotional regulation and mindfulness.

A big thank you to Banks and his whānau for the generous treat for everyone at kindergarten. We all had such a fun day, amazing face paintings for the tamariki and delicious fish and chips for lunch.

Your kindness and support made the day extra special for everyone. We really value the contribution our whānau make to our kindergarten community. Working together helps create happy memories and strengthens the sense of belonging and connection for all of our tamariki.

Thank you Sinead and Casey for being such an important part of our kindergarten whānau.

Mobile Library service at Upper Hutt Libraries brings you accerss to hundreds of books and more in the neighborhood!
Here is the timetable.

New items, toys and resources to support children's learning, creativity, and play.