Takapuna Kindergarten

Welcome to Takapuna Kindergarten. We have a large outdoor garden where children can play, a newly renovated building, and friendly, fully qualified staff dedicated to providing the best possible early childhood education in Takapuna. Our programmes respond to the individual needs of each child, in close consultation with parents and whanau. There is a strong focus on goal setting for children, and nurturing them to meet those goals.

We are very proud that our kindergarten in Takapuna has achieved Silver Enviroschools status and we continue to work with our community to build and maintain the sustainable practices that are important to us. The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki, guides our teaching and helps us to create a learning environment that embraces the diversity of New Zealand children. The curriculum is based around five principles of learning: wellbeing (mana atua) belonging (mana whenua), contribution (mana tangata), communication (mana reo) and exploration (mana aoturoa).

Unlike any other Takapuna childcare centre, we are part of a tradition of educating Kiwi kids that stretches back more than a century. The Auckland Kindergarten Association, of which our centre is a part, was established in 1908 and is a longstanding organisation with a charitable purpose, teaching children academic and life skills.

Kindergartens are set apart by many things, one of which is the integration into the community. Relationships within the local area are important to us, and we take a collaborative approach with families to ensure our children learn both at kindy and at home. The transition to school is a big focus for our older kids, and we work hard to prepare them for this big life change.

The teaching team behind our Kindergarten is passionate about providing an education that goes beyond what you’ll find at a typical Takapuna daycare provider. We have four early childhood qualified and registered teachers, a teacher support person and an administrator making up a dedicated staff.

Our learning philosophy

For the past 110 years, the Auckland Kindergarten Association has been igniting young minds by encouraging them to explore their imaginations through play. For many of us, kindergarten was where we began our life of learning; it was where we started learning skills like sharing, tolerance, patience, respect and self-confidence.

We view children as capable, competent, life-long learners, and our philosophy encourages children to make their own learning choices, problem-solve and observe and explore at their own pace…with support from teachers, parents, wider whānau and their peers. We value the importance of child-initiated, play-based experiences. Our kindergarten teachers nurture your children’s interests and natural curiosity by working alongside them, expanding language and introducing mathematical and science concepts, as well as literacy, digital technology and sustainable practices.

Our centres have gardens and natural outdoor spaces where children can create, explore, be imaginative and expressive. There’s plenty of room to safely run about, being imaginative and physically active. In fact, the natural world is essential to free-range play. AKA encourages each kindergarten community to explore and enrich their diversity and uniqueness. Some have regular excursions into the local community; some are Enviroschool kindergartens that live and breathe sustainable practices; while others engage in long-term research on child interest-based programmes of learning.

As an organisation, we formally acknowledge the dual heritage of Aotearoa / New Zealand, and work to uphold the spirit and intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in each kindergarten. We are accessible, secular and welcoming to the wide diversity of tamariki and whānau who attend our centres, and value ongoing partnerships between teaching teams and leadership staff with families and whānau. We value ongoing learning for teachers, parents and whānau, and the sharing of knowledge, skills and attributes is fundamental to achieving the best learning outcomes for children. Teachers and staff can access collegial professional time to ensure that quality practice is enhanced so current theories of learning and development within New Zealand’s world-class Te Whāriki early childhood curriculum are shared and understood.

Children learn

Children in our kindergartens have the opportunity to:

• Feel confident, develop responsibility and a sense of independence
• Play meaningfully alongside other children and adults
• Develop effective communication skills
• Persevere, problem-solve and take risks
• Explore limits, boundaries, routines and conflict resolution strategies
• Practice fine motor skills such as threading, writing, cutting and grasping
• Develop gross motor play such as physical games like climbing, throwing, kicking, balancing and lifting
• Develop creative expressions through painting, music, collage, movement, dance, finger-painting, drawing, cutting, pasting and story sharing
• Develop early numeracy, literacy and science skills
• Learn techniques through trial and error
• Explore the world through experimenting, questioning and curiosity
• Develop confidence and celebrate both attempts and successes
• Develop a passion for learning and a love of life
• Have fun!

Older children will be supported in their transition to school to make this process as simple and seamless as possible. Book a visit here on Kindello today, we’d love to meet you.