Childcare options in Waterview

Kia ora, Welcome to Waterview Early Learning Centre, (ELC)

We are a hidden gem, nestled down a long driveway in the community of Waterview, our small 40 children licence ensures we have a fun-loving, relaxed atmosphere. Our outdoor environment has plenty of space for your child to run around and play.

Our fun-loving environment fosters children to learn through play and we understand and respect each child’s uniqueness and nurture their individuality allowing them to develop at their own pace. We support children’s social emotional abilities and encourage the Tuakana/Tiena relationships that form naturally in our environment.

All interactions with children and whanau are respectful and everyone’s feeling, voices and opinions are valued. We have an open-door policy and welcome you any time, we look forward to seeing you and your child soon

Kia ora and welcome to Waterview Kindergarten

Waterview Kindergarten is a well-established centre that operates under the Auckland Kindergarten Association. Recently relocated, the new environment offers inviting play areas for children, supporting both group and individual play.

The Teachers at Waterview Kindergarten promote an inclusive and respectful environment where learning is fun.  We value the cultural diversity of the community and embrace all contributions. You are welcome to come and meet our teaching team and have a look around our kindergarten!

Our kindergarten has early childhood qualified and registered teachers.  The teachers are dedicated to, and passionate about, early childhood education.  Each kindergarten has a head teacher plus teachers and support staff.  Quality learning programmes are based on the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whãriki.

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.

Our Proven Approach

With very experienced staff and a clear philosophy, The Rumpus Room offers an exceptional and proven choice to allow your child to play, learn and grow. To support our philosophies we have developed a play based, project centred programme that allows children to explore their own interests and develop a greater understanding of the way the world around them works.

We understand the importance of creating respectful interactions between the child and teachers, where the child is an active participant. With this in mind we promote an environment for our children which allows them to be curious, investigate, make decisions and problem solve to make sense of their world and their place in it.

Children learn through play and exploration and our programme supports this approach. Our children have access to exciting and challenging resources that provide them with the space to explore, have adventures and daydream. Play. Learn. Grow. Help your child transition successfully to school and find their place in the world.

Our Distinct Philosophy

At The Rumpus Room we believe in fostering strong and trusting relationships, building links to our community and ensuring constant communication between teachers and families. The development of trusting relationships is essential to effective learning and our children benefit from having a close relationship with a key caregiver. We work with parents to understand each child’s individual routines in order to ensure consistency between the centre and home.

Having strong ties to their environment gives children a sense of well-being and belonging so we ensure that we get into our local community as much as possible. We also work with the new entrant teachers at our local Primary Schools to help our children transition seamlessly to school. We know that the education of children is a partnership between the centre and home and so we keep families informed with an online parent portal and weekly newsletters.

You’ll find our very experienced early childhood educators working with the children in our great space or out exploring the local community having adventures with the children. The Rumpus Room provides quality education and care to each individual child in a home-like environment where teachers strive to ensure children are happy, secure and respected.