Minnows daycare centre strives to be sensitive to the needs of the whole child (physical, emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, and developmental) in how we care for all the children. We aim to be consistently responsive to their individual needs and requirements. We endeavour to demonstrate sincere warmth, caring and respect in order first to build a trust so that each child feels secure and then to encourage and provide scaffolding that enhance each child to grow as a competent and confident learner with positive self-esteem and able to contribute constructively to the world they live in.
We acknowledge parents as being the first educators of their children and the importance of working together for a positive learning outcome for their children.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of Aotearoa and integral to our lives as New Zealanders. It is essential that we incorporate aspects of Te Reo and Tikanga Maori into our daily programme and develop concepts of well-being that assist all of us to learn and grow together.
We believe that our philosophy and pedagogical principles should be based on Te Whāriki (The New Zealand curriculum document for Early Childhood Education). We are committed to Te Whāriki and we will implement the principles, strands and goals in the learning experiences of children through their open-ended daily play experiences and the interactions they have with other children and adults.
We provide a safe environment and resources to facilitate the holistic way children learn. We will ensure the environment offers a variety of possibilities for exploration and social interactions with adults and other children.
We have faith in children becoming independent, competent and confident lifelong learners, and to be responsible and respectful individuals. We will empower children under our care by providing opportunities to grow and act on their own ideas by showing interest, sourcing supportive resources and respecting them as individuals. We guide our tamariki to treat the natural environment and all creatures with aroha and respect.
In order to help children to develop an awareness of inclusion of diverse beliefs and cultures, we create culturally responsive educational experiences and maintain effective, responsive and reciprocal relationships with parents and whanau.
Through ongoing self-review and professional development, we will continually improve our teaching practices to meet the changing needs of our tamariki, parents, whānau and community.