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Early Childhood Education
Kura
Turou, turou. Oro mai, oro mai. Kia Orana
Welcome all our Kura families to 2024! We are so excited to have you on this journey this year. A warm welcome to all our new families who have joined us this year, we cannot wait to learn more about your children and their families. We focus on building relationships with your children that encourage trust and positive attitudes.
In preschool we follow the local curriculum that has been created by the Cook Island Ministry of Education and provides links to your child's learning and their learning environment.
We believe that positive and trusting relationships allows our team to understand and acknowledge each and every one of our children as they learn through play. Play is a big part of our daily routine along with mat times where we come together to learn songs, learn our school pure and share what is happening in our school.
Rythm of the Day
Children are here from 7:50am to 2pm.
They are free to play until 9am, when the pate is rung for roll call. The children are then seperated into two age groups - three year olds and four year olds, where they take part in planned educational activities.
Three year olds start their educational mat time at 9:45am and learn songs, read books, learn about colours, numbers, aka'aravei'anga.
Four year olds start their educational activities at 9:15am. We focus on their recognition of their names, writing, numbers 1-10, colours, alphabet, reo maori to help them prepare for transition into year one and later in the year, to Karavia.
Pure kai is done in their respective age groups and children come together for kai time at 10am. Children are encouraged to sit on the mat or at our outdoor dining tables.
From 10:30am they have more free play until 11:30am. We encourage our children to help each other in tidying up their learning environments and come together for our mat time where we share books and singing.
From 12pm to 12:30pm they have their kai time and are encouraged to sit with each other. If children are not hungry, they are encouraged to have quiet time. When all children have finished eating and have put their lunchboxes and drink bottles into their bags, they are free to play until 1:30pm. We help each other tidy up our learning environment for the day and come together for our last mat time for the day and say pure oki ki te kainga (home pure).
Api’i Tamariki Potiki
Within a safe and caring environment learners can explore their world, master the foundational skills for their learning journey and establish positive routines for life. Communication, oral language, social skill development and necessary motor skills are developed to ensure a child is school ready.
