Papatoetoe Kindergarten

Kia ora and welcome to Papatoetoe Kindergarten

Our culturally diverse and inclusive kindergarten in Papatoetoe encourages social interaction in a multicultural environment to provide a foundation of respect, uniqueness and community. We follow the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki. This is based around five principles of learning: wellbeing (mana atua) belonging (mana whenua), contribution (mana tangata), communication (mana reo) and exploration (mana aoturoa). By using these principles in our programmes, we nurture and teach each little learner in a way that responds to their individual needs.

Creative and innovative teaching is key in our kindergarten, and we endeavour to provide a top quality early childhood education in Papatoetoe. Part of that is our learning environment – and a great feature of our kindergarten is the exceptionally large outdoor area which provides opportunities for the children to explore all areas of the curriculum in new and different ways.

Our kindergarten offers so much more than just Papatoetoe childcare – it is a community-based centre of learning, helping to produce well-rounded Kiwi kids. We are part of the Auckland Kindergarten Association which has a well-established reputation for early childhood education. It has been around for more than a century, and we are proud to belong to this charitable organisation.

As part of the community focus, each kindergarten in the AKA is closely linked to nearby schools, facilitating an easy transition to the next stage. We also encourage families to be a part of their child’s learning as much as possible.

High quality learning environments and innovative teaching also set us apart from other Papatoetoe daycare options. Being a kindergarten, we are part of a long-standing tradition of teaching little ones and preparing them for life.

The passionate and purposeful team at Papatoetoe Kindergarten is committed to providing an environment where children are encouraged to make their own choices and are supported to experiment, explore and extend their skills and knowledge to realise their full potential. The teachers are all registered and qualified early childhood teachers.

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.