Whangaparaoa Baptist Community Kindergarten

We are a community-based centre and, as part of the special nature of our kindergarten, we acknowledge God as our creator and teach the children that each one of them is a unique individual, created and loved by God and His son Jesus Christ. We recognise the importance of the family in the development and wellbeing of the child and seek to support, encourage and affirm them in their role.

To accomplish this we carry an extra educator so that we are able to welcome children and parents individually and spend time listening to parents' concerns as well as allowing more interaction with the children.

We also employ a family visitor, who is a connection link between family/whanau and the centre, who seeks to support families during difficult times and also direct them to other help agencies.

Our centre is based on relationship and the staff have a relational view of the child, which is reflected in our learning stories and the interactions within our centre.

We follow an emergent curriculum depending on the children's interests. We value play and encourage children to explore and experience learning by providing them with a wide range of resources and activities. Children are able to plan their own learning experiences with the support of educators.

Staff attend conferences annually as a team and complete courses locally for professional development according to areas of interest or recognised need. Because of the special nature of our centre, stories from the Bible are linked to our interests along with songs, DVDs, CDs and tapes. Children are aware of how much God loves them and we pray and offer thanksgiving to God daily.

We believe that we reflect our philosophy in our practice and that is why we have a happy, settled atmosphere in our centre, where parents feel relaxed and welcome.

We have recently received an excellent Education Review Office report, which can be viewed on www.ero.govt.nz.