Bright Beginnings Glendowie

During the COVID-19 lockdown period; teachers, tamariki and whanau were separated from each other into the safe confines of their home environment. Despite this, we have managed to keep in contact with each other to support our learning community through these unprecedented times.

Teachers have encouraged reciprocal connectedness and supported tamariki and their whanau to become emotionally strong and resilient. Our wonderful parents in turn provided us with valuable feedback and suggestions as well as sending us some lovely pictures and videos of their child/ren’s engagement from home.  Although we understand that virtual teaching cannot fully substitute the laughs, real-time learning and ‘aha’ moments of the classroom, we can confidently say that we have built trustful relationships with whanau and tamariki and have emerged stronger than ever before in these difficult times.

We wish to acknowledge the support we have received from parents / caregivers and whanau since we first became aware of COVID-19 in late January. We can all see the devastating impact that it has on communities across the world, yet New Zealand has come a long way! We are in this together so we can return to a safer and healthier New Zealand.

Kua takoto te manuka – The leaves of the Manuka tree have been laid down. It is now in our hands how we navigate aound this.

Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ait e iwi – With your basket and my basket, the people will live.

What’s happening:

Our children have been keenly observing and exploring how Healthy Bodies lead to Healthy Minds and how these two concepts are deeply related and complement each other. In the process, our children are also forming reciprocal relationships not only with each other but also with their environment. Keeping this in mind, this year we propose the value of ‘Relationship’ as the Umbrella concept at our Centre. We would be focussing on strong and meaningful relationships with our community and Whanau.

We have been curious about our children’s, Kaiako and whanau’s thoughts on how we are nurtured by relationships. We asked our parents the following questions:

What does having strong and meaningful relationships with each other mean to you as a family.

How do you encourage your children in developing warm and reciprocal relations with each other?

Healthy Heart Award

Bright Beginnings Early Learning Centre, Glendowie is the proud recipient of the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Heart Award which is valid for two years. It recognises our Centre’s ongoing commitment to promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity.

To add to the glory, our Centre has also won the Big Heart Day ‘Healthiest Kai’ competition. Our prize would be a visit from mascot, Hearty and we would soon be sharing pictures from the event.