“To grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society”.
(Aspirations for children identified by the national early childhood curriculum Te Whariki)
Our centre provides a wide range of materials and activities that encourage children’s learning through exploration and play, both individually and though group play.
Our programme planning is inspired by the Learning Stories model of assessing children’s learning. This model is based on our belief that children are active learners who set their own goals. It starts with what the children can do and know already and it contributes to their future learning.
Our planning process involves: Noticing the play; Recognising the learning that is taking place; Responding by adapting the teaching to meet the needs of the child identified in the story; Documenting the play and how we respond to the learning we observe; and then Re-visiting our responses to see if they enrich or extend the children’s learning. This is a collaborative process with ongoing involvement of all the teachers, the child, and the parents and whanau.
Several learning stories are formally written up for every child over the course of a year. However, noticing, recognising and responding is a constant process that underpins our everyday work.
The children each have a profile book – a collection of their art, photos and learning stories, together with group stories. Children and parents, as well as teachers, contribute to the profiles. Parents’ input is invited though parent aspiration forms and whanau voice forms, as well as though informal discussions. A valuable part of our planning involves children, their families and the teachers reflecting upon what we see in the profile books, and so the books are accessible for children and whanau. (They are stored on the bottom shelf of the children’s book case.) Together we provide a record and an individual pathway of learning for each child.
