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How do children learn best?

Children learn best in an environment where:

• they feel comfortable and secure.

• they are encouraged to enjoy their successes and know that it’s OK to make mistakes.

• hands-on experiences can teach them many educational and life-long skills.

• through play, they learn it is safe to try new things and through practice develop skills and confidence. Play also helps children develop concentration and perseverance. These skills and dispositions not only assist children in their next stage - school - but are also invaluable throughout life.

Kindergartens seek to provide this kind of environment.

At Kindergarten children learn to share, co-operate and work both within a group and individually. They learn to be independent and to ask for help when needed.

What do children learn at Kindergarten ?

Each Kindergarten has a planned curriculum that builds as best it can on the individual child’s strengths and interests. The curriculum is based on Te Whaariki (The national early childhood curriculum) and includes:

• Science and Nature
• Art and Craft
• Reading
• Dramatic Play
• Literacy
• Music & Movement
• The World Around Us
• Bi-culturalism
• Maths
• Special Events
• Physical Development
• Outdoor Environment
• ICT … and much more.

All these subjects are experienced in structured and non-structured ways.

By engaging in these experiences children are:

• learning by trial and error • exploring and discovering • problem solving
• making decisions and choices • being creative and using their imagination
• experiencing situations that have meaning to them.