At Māngere West Kindergarten we welcome all families. We’re open from 8.30am – 3.30pm Monday to Friday and provide free care and education for children aged 2-5 years old.

Part of the community – We have been part of the community for 60 years and have an experienced, qualified teaching team who have been together for 10 years. We’re creative, great communicators, friendly, dedicated, enthusiastic and go above and beyond for our tamariki and whanau!

Learning through play – Our learning programme focuses on the children’s interests and strengths and we have high quality engaging resources our tamariki love to learn with. Our wide range of puzzles including cultural, nature, machinery, and games help children with their fine motor and problem solving skills. Children express themselves visually through arts and crafts and our array of musical instruments encourage dance and expression. Our family corner encourages children to role play family life which is great for their communication and socialisation skills and connects home and kindy life.

We love to dress up – We have a wide range of dress-ups, from superheroes to princesses, fearless fire fighters to courageous police! We also have lots of cultural costumes with Indian, Chinese, Polynesian and Māori to name but a few. Dressing up gives children the chance to express who they are while having lots of fun. Children play out their feelings and thoughts. It provides children with the opportunity to strengthen friendships, negotiate and problem solve as well as learning very important self help skills.

Family first – We value and recognise parents as first teachers. We invite our parents and whanau into the kindergarten to be a part of their children’s learning. From helping us know their children’s strengths and interests, to contributing to our online portfolios Storypark and our learning programme. We believe in honesty, being open and we are here to help our families should they need it. Everyday conversations are important with whanau to build strong long lasting relationships.

Ready for school – Being neighbours with Viscount Primary School means our families become familiar with the next step in their children’s education. We build strong relationships with the teaching team at the school and our aim is to work alongside them to prepare children for ‘big school’.

Independence – As part of our programme we encourage children to develop their self-help skills – from learning to dress themselves, to toileting independently and developing their confidence to ask for help.  We work alongside children and parents with literacy (recognising and learning the letters in their names), numeracy (counting), art (colour recognition) and confidence (risk taking).

If parents require additional support for their children we have the relationships and resources to engage with other agencies to ensure their children have the best possible start to their educational journey.

We welcome you to come and visit us at Māngere West Kindergarten. We’d love to show you what we can offer you and your child.