Childcare options in Tawhero

We are a privately owned and operated childcare facility for 2-5 year olds (Up until the day before the 6th birthday).

First Years Learning Centre was created with the passion and vision for providing quality care and education for children to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators.

At First Years our vision is to work in partnership with parents and their whānau to provide the best care and education for their children. Working in partnership means the best possible outcome for children as we work collaboratively in joint activities and projects to ensure the best outcomes for all children.

Here at First Years we value the importance of educating the heart and the brain of a child. We understand and value that the brain develops connections which are formed through environments and interactions within those environments.

These set the foundations for their future life.

Here at First Years we ensure all our interactions are positive, informative, promoting and age appropriate for the child’s developmental age. Play creates a brain that has increased flexibility and improved potential for learning later in life.

Young children’s play allows them to explore, identify, negotiate, take risks and create meaning. The intellectual and cognitive benefits of playing have been well documented. Children who engage in quality play experiences are more likely to have well-developed memory skills, language development, and are able to regulate their behavior, leading to enhanced school adjustment and academic learning.

The centre will provide all of these opportunities for children Please feel free to visit us and have a look a look around and see if after looking through our website that this is the right place for your child to be educated and supported to develop to their best possible potential.

Pasifika Early Learning Centre is a culturally inclusive centre located in the grounds of Tawhero School in Whanganui. The service provides education and care for children aged from birth to six years.

** Please note : This Centre is not currently taking enrolments **

First Years Infants and Toddler Learning Centre

Aged: 0-2 Year old (up till age 3)

At First Years we believe and understand that during the early months of life, the infant is totally dependent on others and is learning to anticipate events and to communicate her or his needs in a confusing world and toddlers vary and swing back and forth more than in the case for other age groups.

In order to thrive and learn, an infant must establish an intimate, responsive, and trusting relationship with at a kaiako. Infants are able to develop close attachments with several people but not with many people which is why we value a “key teacher” approach to care and education. For a toddler they are developing and evolving a sense of self and to achieve independence from adults.

We value supporting tamariki to develop a sense of their own identity and the strong sense of self-worth necessary for them to become confident in relationships and as learners therefore our environment is set up to support infants to experience physical and emotional security with at least one other person within each setting

Our programme for infants will provide:

• One-to-one responsive interactions (those in which caregivers follow the child’s lead);
• Adults who is consistently responsible for, and available to, each infant;
• Higher staffing ratios than for older children;
• Sociable, loving, and physically responsive adults who can tune in to an infant’s needs;
• Individualised programmes that can adjust to the infant’s own rhythms;
• Predictable and calm environment that builds trust and anticipation;
• Partnership between parents and the other adults involved in caring for the infant.

Our programme of toddler will provide:

• A secure environment and a programme that provide both challenges and predictable happenings;
• Opportunities for independent exploration and movement;
• A flexible approach which can accommodate their spontaneity and whims at a pace that allows them to try to do things for themselves;
• Adults who encourage the toddlers’ cognitive skills and language development;
• Responsive and predictable adults who both understand and accept the toddler’s developmental swings.

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