Walk-a-thon
October 2010

Children, teachers, parents and whanau gathered at Takaro Kindergarten on Saturday October 30 to get active and share some food for the kindergarten's walk-a-thon.

There was face painting, a bouncy castle, sack races and lots of laughter as the weather held out and families enjoyed the day. 

A continuous spinning wheel raffle proved popular with prizes all donated by the local community. 

Takaro Kindergarten embodies the community based nature of Ruahine Kindergartens and it was great to see so many people out in support of this fantastic event.

Above: Takaro Kindergarten hits the streets as part of October's walk-a-thon 

Above: Children get active with a sack race at Takaro Kindergarten as part of the kindergarten's walk-a-thon. 

Above: Families spend some quality time at Takaro's walk-a-thon 

Bicultural learning

June 2010

Takaro Kindergarten has been indentified in ERO's May report, Success for Māori Children in Early Childhood Services: Good Practice, as a leader in the field of bicultural education.

After evaluating 576 early childhood services as part of regular reviews during term 4, 2008 and terms 1 and 2, 2009, ERO selected eight services for a further visit to gather more in-depth information about the practices underpinning their provision for Māori children and their whānau. 

Takaro Kindergarten was one of the eight early childhood centres selected and recognised for the way in which Maori perspectives are woven throughout all aspects of the kindergarten programme.

ERO described children and adults at Takaro Kindergarten as "using te re Maori comfortably and confidently as part of daily interaction."

Staff learn te reo and gain knowledge about the Maori world, as well as other cultures, and incorporate this knowledge into the kindergarten programme, as learning about differences enables them to easily accept everyone for who they are.

Parents, children and whanau are currently preparing for a fun-filled day of Matariki celebrations next Friday June 11.

Parental participation is authentically practiced and valued at Takaro. The kindergarten has recently been involved in an active research project, with Massey University's Dr Barbara Jordan, entitled "Diverse Families Shaping the Early Childhood Curricula".

During this research, families used video cameras to record significant events in their homes and share their funds of knowledge with the kindergarten community.

Head Teacher, Vilai Payne, says "we are always in a place where we are teachable."

"Everybody contributes in one way or another." she says.

During the information gathering process teachers were asked what might help other services to be more responsive to whānau and support Māori children.

Teachers at Takaro believe teachers must "know, accept and appreciate their own cultures before appreciating the cultures of others; be open to taking some risks; and value everyone's contributions because it's not what's on the wall but what's in your heart that counts."

Above: Children at Takaro sing a waiata for Matariki