NATURAL STEPS WHITFORD
Our beautiful centre has been designed to provide the best environment for children and families.
Easy to find and access, on the roads between Beachlands and Maraetai, all of East Auckland and Brookby and Clevedon.
Natural Steps Whitford Philosophy
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Relationships - Whanaungatanga
Relationships are at the heart of everything we believe in.
Through connecting with the world around them, tamariki can discover and nurture the essence of their own being. Collaborative partnerships within our community, aim to foster a shared language of love, kindness and respect, allowing us to know our families and nourish their cultural identity.
Through an environment rich in authentic relationships, tamariki are emotionally fulfilled and ready to delight in a journey of learning and self-discovery.
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Curiosity - Māhirahira
We believe curiosity is the driving force of learning.
Thoughtfully questioning individuals who are passionately curious, playfully resourceful and relentless in their quest for understanding, are who we believe will leave a positive footprint on the world.
Curiosity is fostered through an environment rich in opportunities, time and space, and nurtured by loving teachers. We are born with multiple intelligences, funds of knowledge, and multiple ways of expressing ourselves, and we believe in empowering tamariki to explore and embrace these through their learning journey.
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Nurture - Whangai
We believe in nourishing the earth, to in turn nourish our bodies.
We nurture nutritional health and physical well-being in our community by providing wholesome, nutritious meals and encouraging active, healthy lifestyles.
Wholesome meals are lovingly prepared for our growing tamariki. Through caring for our gardens, we embrace Mātauranga Māori by learning how to nourish our bodies, connect with the whenua, and act as kaitiaki of the environment, fostering respect for and responsibility towards Papatūānuku
OUR LEARNING PROGRAMME FOCUSES ON BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON RESPECT AND CARE
About us
The centre consists of a converted villa containing three beautiful and well resourced rooms for different age groups, a large outdoor space and an atelier. Our Sweet Peas room caters for infants, our Bluebells room for toddlers and our Cherry Blossoms room for preschoolers. We have beautiful large outdoor play areas that the children can explore, be creative, work together, exercise and get closer to nature and learn. Our atelier is a brilliant and quiet space for art projects.
Learning programme
The learning programme focuses on building relationships based on respect and care, and providing learning opportunities for each child's unique interests, disposition, strengths and key competencies.
Natural Steps Whitford Curriculum
As with our Centre Philosophy, our learning programme is underpinned by Te Whāriki Te Ara Whānui, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, and recognises the uniqueness of The Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi). We acknowledge that the Treaty is seen as a commitment to Māori and all other New Zealanders living together in the spirit of honourable relationships, with the promise to work together in partnership, participation and protection.
We draw inspirational influence from the work of Pennie Brownlee and from the teachings of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The natural environment is important to us; hence we have started our own sustainability journey and include these practices into our learning programme. This includes growing our own vegetable and herb gardens, fruit trees, worm farms, compost bins, and collecting rainwater. We view the environment as a crucial element in triggering curiosity. We take pride in our environments by thoughtfully considering the use of space, colour, light, learning resources and by creating beautiful invitations for tamariki to explore and navigate through their play. We provide an abundance of natural and authentic resources offering unlimited learning experiences for the tamariki.
Our beautiful villa houses three thoughtfully designed indoor learning spaces catering to different age groups and developmental levels of tamariki. These rooms are fondly named Sweet Peas, Bluebells and Cherry Blossoms, and each has their own adjoining outdoor play area. Our outside cottage houses our Atelier (Art space).
