Throughout December, our centre has been alive with festive excitement, joy, and meaningful learning. Tamariki enthusiastically immersed themselves in Christmas-themed arts and crafts, exploring a wide range of materials including glitter, paint, natural resources, and recycled items. These experiences encouraged creativity, fine motor development, and self-expression, with each child proudly creating decorations that reflected their own ideas and personalities. Our learning spaces were filled with colour and sparkle as tamariki shared their creations and talked about the process behind them.
Cookie decorating quickly became a much-loved activity, bringing plenty of laughter, colourful icing, sprinkles, and very sticky fingers. This experience supported turn-taking, patience, and social connection, while also creating moments of pure delight. Another highlight was decorating our Christmas tree, with tamariki working together to carefully choose where each decoration belonged. Watching the tree transform piece by piece fostered a strong sense of belonging and ownership within our centre.
Our centre’s vision and philosophy have truly been brought to life through the dedication and passion of our new team of kaiako, alongside the ongoing support of our whānau and wider community. Over the term, we have felt a renewed sense of purpose and energy. Strong relationships, reflective practice, and shared values have helped create a positive, nurturing learning environment where tamariki feel safe, confident, and supported to explore and learn.
We are incredibly grateful for the generosity, time, and care shown by our families. Donations of timber, soil, tools, plants, and kai, along with time spent digging, building, planting, and creating, have transformed our outdoor spaces into rich environments for hands-on learning. Supporting market days, filling the sandpit, building bug hotels, and nurturing sunflower seedlings alongside tamariki strengthened responsibility, curiosity, and respect for the natural world.
These shared efforts beautifully model kotahitanga (unity and togetherness) and manaakitanga (care, kindness, and hospitality), while strengthening connections between home, centre, and community. Seeing tamariki learn alongside their whānau and kaiako is a powerful reminder of the value of collaboration in early learning.
Looking ahead, we are excited to share that new and inspiring opportunities are planned for 2026. We look forward to introducing fresh projects, learning experiences, and community initiatives that will continue to strengthen our centre’s vision and support tamariki to grow as confident, capable learners. We are truly grateful to be on this journey with such a supportive and passionate whānau.