Over the past 6 months we have been referring whanau to School Start First Impressions, privately funded initiative of Addenbrooke Foundation. They are so incredible and have helped many whanau by providing 5kitbox's with everything they need to celebrate their fifth birthday and alo be prepared for their first year at school. On Friday we were abl...

We recently celebrated Matariki at our Centre and our room had the privilege of performing the Kapa Haka for the whanau. The tamariki were very excited to dress up in their Kapa Haka outfits and performed like little stars! First we did the morning performance and later again in the afternoon. All the whanau were so impressed with their performance...

Wow! What a great week we're having in our class with Whaea Hera with her guitar. Since we are celebrating Matraiki, every day we are singing and introducing Maori songs and words. Our children get very excited when Whaea Hera sits on the chair playing guitar and singing along. Children look very comfortable and are excited to join our talented tea...

This area of development involves learning to interact with other people and to understand and control your own emotions. Infants start to develop relationships with the people around them right from birth, but the process of learning to communicate, share, and interact with others takes many years to develop. Developing the ability to control your...

Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It rises in mid-winter – late May or early June. For many Māori, it heralds the start of a new year. As part of our celebrations of Matariki our children have been exploring the story of Ranginui and Papatūānuku.We then decided to create our own night sky with the seven...

Matariki pai whanau, it heralds the start of the Maori New Year. Our tamariki have been busy learning about Matariki and the 7 sisters through stories and waiata. It is a time we reflect on our past year and set goals, sharing and learning together. Our Hi 5 Iti Kahurangi transition to school group visited Papakura Art Gallery to learn weaving. The...

We celebrated our new graduates journey to Primary School for Term 3. It was one of our saddest days filled with laughter and happiness and it was great to listen to our whanau as they got up to have a korero about their child's time at the centre. "Thank you so my much for everything you have done for all my children, they are so brainy and they h...

A couple of Mums from He Huarahi Tamariki got together with Justin the teacher at Kids Count Tawa – The Griffin School to organise some family time at the centre on Tuesday 28th February. The theme was 'Trolls party day'. The children, parents and teachers all did their best to look like trolls, the children had their hair sprayed all different col...

I recently went to visit one of our graduate children's mothers who had been in our parenting groups to see how her son was settling into primary and in general say hello and how are you. What a great way to lift each other up – first the customary hug that grows out of our groups as we all become sister's of the heart and then of course the custom...

As part of our transition to school program this year we are taking all our 4-year-old children to the Clendon Recreation Centre on a Tuesday for gymnastic lessons.  The children have been really enjoying taking part, and are all every excited and enthusiastic for Tuesdays to roll around each week.  Through the program the children are de...

Welcome Back to 2017 Bula, Kia ora, Namaste, Talofa Lava Welcome to 2017, we have lots of exciting learning experiences and events planned for this year and I am delighted that so many families are already back and many new whanau have joined us to explore these special moments with us.  Last month we had 21 children graduated from Kids Count ...

On Wednesday 27th January we were very proud to see 13 of our 5 year olds graduating from Kids Count, as they begin their journey at “Big School”. With all their friends and whanau watching on, each child, many who have been with us since they were babies, was called up by whaea Atamaria, our senior teacher in the 4 year old room.  Atamaria de...