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Love is at the heart of our preschool.
Twenty years since its opening Gulf Harbour Preschool still has the reputation of being the Hibiscus Coast’s premier early learning centre. Gulf Harbour Preschool is owned and operated by Lynda and Stephen who are both qualified, primary trained teachers who know how vital it is to create “a love for learning” in your child’s foundational years.
Our Image of the Child / Ākonga
We believe that all children are competent, curious learners; capable of complex thinking, interested in their world and full of potential. They are natural researchers who question what they see: thinking, hypothesizing, making predictions, experimenting and expressing their discoveries in a variety of ways. Every individual child at our centre will be encouraged to grow and learn in their own way, at their own pace, being supported and nurtured by our caring team of teachers and a strong peer group.
Our Families / Whānau
We treasure our relationships with parents, whānau and the community, believing strongly in the value of meaningful, regular interactions to support children’s wellbeing and inspire their learning.
Whanaungatanga/relationships are an integral part of our teaching strategy at Gulf Harbour Preschool, as we foster links between home and preschool. Parents are encouraged to participate in our learning program by sharing in their children’s interests and researching with their child at home, reinforcing the learning from Preschool. We value the important role parents play as they encourage their children to contribute books and other resources, and personally share with us their own expertise and experiences.
Our Environment / Akoranga
Our learning environment is richly resourced and plays an important role in inspiring children to explore, wonder and create, with provocations purposefully set up for children to engage in complex learning experiences. Children’s wellbeing is our goal and is evident in our settled, secure children who have formed strong friendships which frequently become life-long relationships.
We are fortunate to have children at Preschool who hail from all over the world, and it is exciting to celebrate their customs and language. Te Reo me nga tikanga Māori is embedded into our programme and our interactions with children, and our teachers are committed to honouring Te Tiriti ō Waitangi. We believe in weaving our bicultural heritage into a multicultural programme to support all learners. Te taiao/the environment is respected and utilised in our roles as kaitiakitanga/teachers and guardians.
Our Learning Journey / Marau Mātauranga
Our goal is to create a life-long love of learning in each child. We believe in acknowledging children’s wonder and curiosity and providing them with opportunities to explore at their own pace. Learning opportunities are a response to children’s interests, with inquiry-based learning occurring through intentional and free play activities. Through exploration of intentional materials children are encouraged to construct their own knowledge and understanding.
Literacy and numeracy is embedded into everything we do, exposing children to emergent concepts as well as focused learning experiences. Peer learning and tuakana/teina concepts are encouraged as our mixed-age group of children support each other’s learning. We provide a variety of activities to maintain children interests and to appeal to different learning styles, as we strive to achieve tino rangatiratanga/self-determination for all children.
The Arts / Auahatanga
We value the role that the arts play for providing children with endless opportunities to express themselves and their learning. We perceive art to be a fun-filled process of engagement/auahatanga that is creative, reflective, deliberate and that deepens and extends children’s learning. Children communicate and represent their understandings, emotions, discoveries and interests through encounters with a range of media, materials and art techniques. Our specially designed taupuni mahi toi/art studio allows for creative exploration all day long, with a skilled teacher present to facilitate meaningful art experiences. We love performing arts/toi whakaari and our annual Christmas show is the highlight of the year, representing our learning through poem, drama, song and dance.
