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Happy Diwali!
Building a strong sense of identity and culture at BestStart Parkside involves embracing the diverse backgrounds of all children, fostering a respect for diverse cultures, and creating an environment that supports cultural exploration, pride, and belonging.
Through thoughtful curriculum planning, meaningful family involvement, and reflective teaching practices, kaiako at BestStart Parkside play key roles in nurturing children’s sense of identity and connection to the world around them. Through celebrations of various Language Weeks and festivals, we create culturally responsive environments, which reflects the diverse identities of the children in our setting. This includes not just Māori culture, but also Pasifika, Indian, Asian, and other ethnic communities. Our Inclusive Celebrations such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, or Christmas, while also integrating Māori holidays like Matariki or Waitangi Day, acknowledges each child's cultural background through inclusive celebrations that respect their traditions and values. Parent participation and support is essential to make our celebrations successful.
During the Diwali celebration, this year children were provided learning opportunities to discuss about the Indian culture, using various mediums like storybooks, videos, and discussions that helped children understand diversity, empathy, and inclusion around the Diwali festival. Children very happily wore Indian outfits, we made Indian sweets, henna tattoo was applied, all fostering literacy and numeracy skills, including being creative and using their skills in cooking and making arts and crafts to reflect authentic Indian artforms.