Whānau Manaaki Wellington South Kindergarten

"Wellington South Kindergarten has wonderful diverse learning community. We have a strong commitment to biculturalism and truly believe in mutual respect for all. We view children as tāonga and feel privileged to have their whānau entrust them in our care.

We have a philosophy of free play and encourage the development of independence, confidence and competence. We are building an integrated service where we continue to develop a range of relationships with other organisations. We believe that early childhood services should be community hubs that support the wellbeing of our children and families by building connections to important services within a supportive environment.

We offer free English language lessons to women on a Monday afternoon 1.45-2.45, and run Explorers Playgroup on Wednesday afternoons 2-5 and every Saturday morning during term time 9-12.

Our kindergarten is nut free.

We have a philosophy of free play. Teachers set up the environment based on curriculum areas such as dough, water, art etc and children’s interests. Teachers observe children and gauge whether their involvement will extend learning or interrupt children’s peer teaching and learning (ako) before moving in to work alongside them.

Because our sessions are 5 hours long, we bring children inside at 11.45am for a quiet story time, or Kulan, where we talk about our learning together. We finish our session with tidy up time at 1.00pm, followed by an informal group time at 1.15pm before saying goodbye to children."