Te Ō Newtown Kindergarten

Kia ora e te whānau,

Over the last week our tamariki have been spending a lot of time challenging their bodies by navigating over carefully crafted obstacle courses that we have set up for them. It has proved highly popular as they practice acquiring skills such as balance, eye/hand/foot coordination, agility, spatial awareness and judgement. It has also proved a huge confidence booster. Great mahi everyone.

Today Julie Anne Genter, our local MP for Rongotai (Green Party) visited us. She listened to whānau and kaiako talk about our concerns with the proposed funding model which will see a loss of funding to kindergarten. We talked about the impact that this will have on our tamariki, our community and kaiako. Our concerns include the importance of retaining 100% qualified kaiako (to support the complex learning needs of tamariki), pay parity for Kindergarten and all ECE teachers and the need for lower teacher child ratios. We also talked about the dire need for faster access to, and more learning support for our tamariki with extra needs.
Julie Anne Genter MP

We have had some very cold and frosty mornings at kindergarten this week. The tamariki have enjoyed exploring the ice and sharing their ideas and knowledge about frosts and ice. There was lots of excitement when we found frozen leaves on our lawn. It has been a great opportunity to explore childrens working theories with them about the natural world.

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Our children have been learning about Matariki, exploring its meaning while weaving their own beautiful stars. 🌟 It's been a wonderful way to celebrate this special time of reflection, remembrance, and new beginnings.

Every day, our tamariki learn about and kōrero around the atua of the Māori world and the unique domains they care for. We reflect on these teachings during our end-of-day breathing, taking time to connect with nature, ourselves, and each other. Our beautiful playground panels help bring these stories to life, creating meaningful opportunities for learning, wonder, and appreciation every day.

This week we have the loverly Whanau Manaaki builders here at kindergarten replacing our old boundary fence. The tamariki are very interested in the work and know the two builders by name. Riley noticed them pouring grey power into a bucket of water then using a "stick that goes around" to mix it.

Our tamariki enjoyed exploring our beautiful Taniwha mosaic and having kōrero about the taniwha who made Pōneke harbour.

This week we have been tiding up our compositing area and cleaning up the worm farm. The tamariki loved using the trolly. They took charge by sourcing the water and transporting it to where it was needed.

Our tamariki are loving exploring our noke (worm) farm 🪱🌱

They’ve been curious and engaged, enjoying a closer look and having meaningful kōrero about where our kai scraps go — learning how they help feed our worms and give back to the whenua.