Welcome to Fairy Springs Matariki Whanau Evening.
Linking to two of our Centre Priorities of Whanaungatanga and Culture and Identity this year we planned our Whanau Evening around "What does Matariki mean to us as a team"? We decided that celebrating this special New Zealand event meant coming together as whānau to share kai and korero.
This would provide a perfect opportunity also to strengthen the whānaungatanga we already have with our Centre whānau. Preparations before the big event included supporting our tamariki to develop and extend their current understanding of what Matariki meant, we were also lucky to have our librarian Whaea TA join us in the Centre one morning with a special programme based on Matariki, including a story telling session, music and dancing and a star decorating art activity. We had so much fun being involved in this session.
Of course, our evening meant we needed a special kai celebration too, so alongside the teachers, our tamariki helped to make the yummy soups we served, by grating the vegetables for it. The night was a success with over sixty of our whānau joining us, for kai, korero and our favourite disco dancing. Here at Fairy Springs, whānaungatanga and acknowledging the culture and identity of all our whānau is important to us, it supports everyone to have not only a sense of belonging within the Centre, but also through creating a home away from home to provide the best learning environment for our tamariki.