The Nursery

PikoPiko

NURSERY:  0 – 18 MONTHS

 

Before your baby starts at Halswell Quarry Preschool we offer an optional home visit so we can really understand their needs and at home routines.
Our priority is to ensure your baby is comfortable, secure and most importantly, safe.

We will support your little one’s first few days in The Nursery with great sensitivity and we will encourage you to spend time in the Nursery, establishing a relationship and sharing information.

Daily routines are essential components of our curriculum. We approach these in an unhurried way, offering each child our time and full attention. A sense of security and safety is established through a sense of predictability and familiarity.

Each child will be supported by a primary care giving teacher that will take personal responsibility for you and your child’s care, needs and aspirations during your journey in the Nursery.

Our Nursery is a special place, cosy, natural and beautiful. Important elements we provide in our Nursery are;

– Patient and loving teachers
– Designated natural outdoor area, with existing blossoming cherry tree and real grass. (no plastic grass here!)
– Sensory rich play and exploration equipment.
– Quiet and cosy sleep room with choice of real cots or low beds.
– Underfloor heated soft woollen carpet to soften falls and tumbles.
– Views and connections to the entrance of Halswell Quarry Preschool and other areas to enrich daily personal interactions.

 

The Toddlers & The Preschool

Kowhai 18 months – 3 years | Nikau 3-5 years

Preschoolers and Toddlers each have their own spacious learning rooms and natural outdoor play areas. Separating these age groups gives teachers more individual attention with your child. This ensures that all tamariki are nurtured and supported in their own unique learning journey.

Across these age groups, days have a familiar rhythm and pattern to them, creating safe foundations from which children can explore.

Both our indoor and outdoor environments are regularly reimagined, always with the goal of supporting inquiry learning and creating opportunities for discovery, wonder, challenge, participation, exploration and so much more. A connection to outdoors spaces flow off each area providing natural area for physical and risky play.

Our teachers are passionate and committed, who thrive on discovering what makes your child truly unique and then tailoring a learning journey that delights and interests them. Each child has a key teacher who supports this.

No matter what the cycle of inquiry is, many models of expression can be found and used such as painting, drawing, storytelling, 3D sculpture, dramatic play, music, poetry, writing, map making, and more. These are what founder Loris Malaguzzi described as The Hundred Languages of Children.

Documentation is a key part of paintings, sculptures, photographs of work, written transcripts of conversations and stories.  Documentation gives children something to refer back to when they are working on an inquiry or inquires and gives parents a window into the learning process.

Discovery Room

We have specifically designed a break-away Discovery Room for optional small group activities and learning.

This unique space will be well resourced and have multiple uses. Including, but not limited to;

 

  • Natural world learning; animals, insects, marine life, plants, environment and sustainability. Which will connect with our outdoor experiences.
  • Geography and cultural experiences
  • Arts, and small projects
  • Health and wellbeing classes to support an environment that balances the busier larger group play with a calmer and restful small group experience. This will include practicing basic yoga and mindfulness.
  • Technology. To reduce young children’s screen-time (use of TV’s, iPads etc)  Screen-time will be only available in our Discovery Room, and won’t be part of our main curriculum.

 

This space will also be the centre of our Transition to School programme for children leaving preschool and preparing to move to primary.

We aim to establish strong relationships for our tamariki transitioning to local primary schools, especially Halswell Primary just 150m away. This will be achieved by walking to school visits and sharing assessment information, such as documented learning portfolios, which empowers children and enhances their identities as learners.

We will also have school children visiting Halwell Quarry Preschool each day for Before and After School Care, which increases familiarity with primary age children.

 

Find Out About Our Before & After-School Care

Halswell Quarry Preschool is open Monday - Friday 7.30am - 6.00pm

2 Irvines Track, Halswell, Christchurch 8025