About Little Pioneers...
We value the community for the child and we are focused on fostering relationships with parents, children, whanau, school and community. We understand the value this can have for a child developing a sense of belonging at school and having the confidence to move towards school.
We focus on teaching children strong foundations to go to school and feel ‘suitable’ to learn. We work hard to plan a programme that caters for our individual children and the different needs, strengths, dispositions and learning styles, as no child is the same as the next.
We understand the skills that children need to be equipped with to feel success at school and cater to this with realistic expectations of our children. We value the importance of independence and being able to manage themselves, their belongings and their environment. We support children and their families to share this value and understand the importance of this for children.
Our teaching team is familiar with the primary curriculum, so we are confident to best use our own curriculum Te Whariki to carry on through to the primary years. From this knowledge we understand the importance of oral language and being exposed to a literacy rich environment. We are very focused on developing oral language to provide the skills to take into their school environment. Our programme caters for literacy, physical development, numeracy, social, wellbeing and independence to be nurtured and developed.
We provide opportunities for children to enquire and investigate and develop their own working theories about the world. We will always believe play is the highest form of research and this is very obvious in our children’s day.
Our goal is to make it fun to learn and we learn to have fun! So all our children are excited to learn and by the time they head to school they have a thirst for lifelong learning and are ready to take on the new concepts of school
About Little Pioneers
We believe children’s natural thirst for knowledge should be encouraged and supported in a fun, safe an engaging environment. This environment is extended through quality relationships, interactions and teaching between the child, teachers, parents, whanau and community.
How do we support transition to school?
- We support a sense of belonging for your child
- We encourage children’s relationships and the development of social competence skills
- We scaffold children’s literacy and numeracy learning to provide a solid foundation for going to school.
- We inspire children to be confident and self-competent to have the skills to go off to school
- We facilitate an environment that extends children’s fine and gross motor skills whist being aware of the importance of physical development play and its part in academic learning.
- We plan our programme for individual children’s needs, strengths, dispositions and learning.
- We promote learning through all areas of play.
- We extend children’s natural curiosity and support them to critique their own learning, take risks, problem solving and making logical guesses based on their own working theories.
- We have a close working relationship with Bombay School and our children becoming familiar with things such as urinals, water fountains and larger boundaries.
- Understanding and linking Te Whariki (the early childhood curriculum) and The New Zealand Curriculum (for schools).
- We use assessment based on children’s interests and ways of learning and we aim to share our knowledge with local schools as part of their transition.
- We know the child's culture, background, interests, strengths, dispositions and use this to tailor their learning.
- We strive for strong relationships with the children and their parents and whanau
