We had an exciting week at Hillsborough Kindergarten celebrating Father’s Day with a special afternoon tea.  Dads were gifted with special ties made by their tamariki.  Dads,  Uncles and Brothers all came to share kai and have a play outside in the garden and playground as we were blessed with a lovely sunny afternoon.  This was an opportunity for whānau to meet each other building our whānau tangata – family and community connections and mana whenua – sense of belonging here at Hillsborough Kindergarten.  Our tamariki thoroughly enjoyed proudly showing their Dads and whānau around Kindy.

Also this week we welcomed living eggs.  On day one we were all eagerly watching and waiting for our little chicks to hatch from our eggs.  On day two, three had arrived overnight and we enjoyed watching three more hatch before our eyes. By the end of the week we had nine beautiful baby chickens.  Both tamariki and whānau were eager to observe the baby chicks, whose presence has been filling us with joy and delight this week. The chickens arrival has provoked discussion about chickens and other birds, as our tamariki observe many birds in our garden.  We have listened to different bird calls, both live and online, read chicken and bird stories and the tamariki have been inspired to paint and draw their own chickens. This valuable scientific learning experience supports our tamariki to grow their kete of knowledge about the natural world.

We would also like to share our recent display of whānau aspirations as part of our Internal Review focussing on local curriculum.  Parent aspirations for their tamariki were collated from forms completed upon joining Kindergarten.  The nine most popular were displayed as a tree in our entrance area.  Whānau were then asked to choose their top three that mattered most to them and leaves were added to the branches to visually illustrate our whānau’s most valued hopes and dreams for their tamariki – this whānau voice will underpin our philosophy review, future planning and practice moving forward. At Hillsborough Kindergarten we aim to work collaboratively with our whānau to achieve the best learning outcomes for our tamariki