News

Many schools now are having their annual cross country and we have noticed the Awapuni School children practicing running around their back field for the past few weeks. Ashlyn was very excited because she was going to be leaving early to watch her sister Kalissa run at school and wanted us all to come.

At Cloverlea Kindergarten we have spent several weeks painting a mural that is now mounted out the front of the kindergarten.  One child painted at a time but were watched and supported by their friends. The tamariki were very focused during this project and their mana/pride shows when sharing with their whanau.

Term 2 we have been lucky to have one of our grandparents come in for parent help and make some reusable sandwich bags which we now gift to families when they start Milson Kindergarten. There was a lot of interest from the children watching and asking questions.

Awapuni Kindergarten visited Raleigh Reserve to see all the changes that are happening. Paths have been created and gardens are now starting to be built. Unfortunately we missed the diggers but we got to see what they have created. Climbing on the large rocks was a 'must' and quite a challenge. A quick swing and slide before we ran down the new paths.

Children are busy learning waiata at the moment as they get ready for our Matariki celebration.  To extend on this learning a group of our children visited College Street School Kapa Haka Roopu.  The warm welcome was amazing, our children gave a koha of putiputi – woven flax flowers that they had made.

Our children had a day of loose parts paradise after the previous day of watching Treescape at work on our ash tree. We knew the tree needed attention to ensure safety, but as they cut down from the top we learned its disease required the whole tree to go.

We have had such a lovely term with many visitors at the kindergarten sharing the joy of learning alongside our eager tamariki. Grandparents day was very special. We love to invite whanau to come and spend time at kindergarten so we can strengthen our relationships and learn more about who our tamariki are and where they come from.

This term at Campbell Street many of our tamariki have shown and interest in investigating heroes. We began our investigation by looking back in time and learning about the heroes of the past. The tamariki shared a love a a book about the life of a Knight so we searched high and low and discovered that there are still many knights living amongst us today.

To celebrate Matariki we had a family day.  Our tamariki peeled and chopped vegetables, cooked soup and baked a delicious cake to share with their whānau.  We then shared our kai, toasted marshmallows on the fire and practiced weaving flowers. What a special time we had sharing stories and spending time together.

Kapa Haka has been a strong focus for our tamariki for the past few terms.  As part of extending our tamariki interest and to develop and strengthen relationships with Kaiako and tamariki at Te Arawaru bilingual unit at Central Normal School we were invited to participate in one of their Friday kapa haka practices.