Term 1 Week 12

Last week of a VERY busy term ...

Kindergartens South (KS) Annual General Meeting (AGM)

A BIG tks to everyone who was able to come along to the Ascot Park Hotel last Wed night to attend KS AGM.  A great way to appreciate the 'working's of our Association & then to have the opportunity to listen to Dr Tabitha Luecker (Brainwave Trust).  Dr Luecker is passionate about the impact Brain development has on both attachment & engagement of, not only young children, but also in utero. Dr Luecker has also spoken @ Kindergratens South 'Whanau Nights' so it may be a wonderful opportunity to invite Dr Luecker along to 'Our Place'.  The Annual Report is proudly displayed @ our 'Sign-in' desk & worth a read - first page in, is a VERY impressive pic of our Winton Kindy Waka!

Taiao Tuhura

This week was our last for the term ... and as always FULL of ecological surprises!  Some fallen blue gum bark provided the PERFECT artefact in creating some Easter Bunny signs ... & almost as our signs were posted - Easter Eggs appeared.  From finding rabbit holes to finding Easter Eggs -  PERFECT day!

Let our Kindy Easter celebrations begin ...

Our Easter baskets & signage, by many of our 'budding' artists began last week & was completed & displayed on Wed - let's WELCOME Easter Bunny & share in some Easter cheer!

Our Easter banquet table is both mystical & enticing!

From everyone @ Winton Kindy .... a BIG tks to Easter Bunny - you are indeed a star!

A little bit of Kindess ...

We received a lovely tribute from Vet South who kindly cared for our 'forever friend' Rupert.  Your kindness & care of our special Kindy mascot was truly appreciated.  He is still sooooo missed ):

Also our Naililili Cathedral School (Suva - Fiji) 'Care Package' is on its way. Hopefully we'll be able to track it all the way to Suva  - next term.

Student Volunteer Army (SVA) - Limehills School

Happy Birthday Josh Cairns ... Thur 11 Apr.  Tks SVA for making ALL the kids 'feel awesome'' each Thursday avro & we hope you also had an awesome Thursday Birthday Day Josh.  See you all next Term!

NZ Education Gazette

We welcomed Phil Keating (Lead Writer - NZ Education Gazette - click on this  link for more details:  NZ Education Gazette) to Kindy today.  Another accolade in sharing with our wider community our Reggio Inspired programme through a Bicultural lens. Phil hails from Auckland (along with Ariel - personal photographer) & we spent the morning sharing our mahi - especially our Taki Waka Project. Tks for 'popping in' Phil - along with our Waka we have also shared 'our beautiful' part of Aotearoa!

End of Term

Tks to everyone who has been able to help with our Easter Celebrations & our End-of-Term tidy up - truly truly appreciated!!!

Happy Easter everyone ... may it be filled with Easter cheer & chocolate!

See you all next term - Mon 29 Apr 2019.

The Teaching Team

Term 1 Week 11

Care for Our People
This week we received a thank you card from all the nurses in the Orthopedic Ward - Christchurch Hospital, in response to receiving our care package. During our morning hui/meeting we counted "20" messages, expressing their heartfelt appreciation & gratitude, leaving us feeling proud as can be!



Rest In Peace Rupert
Following Rupert's farewell ceremony, nga tamariki have been artistically expressing their love & shared memories with Rupert. Charlie McPherson made a great character judgement of Rupert by stating, "Rupert was so funny, he always thought he was like us, a kid!"  We will miss Rupert not joining us for our group meetings/hui, where he would sit alongside nga tamariki, sneaking a wee pat & sometimes a lick! Rupert's unique character was reflected in many conversations & drawings this week.  Thanks Zain & Jack Kubala for Rupert's lovely flowers.


Winton Rotary Club
Kaiako  had a busy Monday evening attending the Winton Rotary Club meeting as guest speakers. After dinner, club members joined us at kindy, where we had the opportunity to showcase our kindy.  Judy & Christina presented the amazing mahi/work that happens at Winton Kindy & some of our achievements.  Club members also helped celebrate Winton's kindys 60th birthday, reminiscing on their own experiences at Winton Kindy, either as a parent or child...or both!

Taiao Tuhura - Forest Kindy
"What was your favourite part of Forest Kindy?" "MUD!!" everyone said! We had SO many mud stories shared with us back at kindy.  There wasn't just mud on the Monster Track but also a mud pool! After climbing, slip & sliding through the mud Ebony's Dad, Luke, helped nga tamariki slip & slide over the grass, cleaning off all the excess mud - great fun!


Easter Preparations 
With Easter approaching nga tamariki are hoping the Easter bunny will visit kindy, with chocolate Easter eggs of course!  But what will we hold our Easter eggs in? Easter baskets! With an eco perspective nga tamariki recycled beautiful old music notes to paper mache their very own Easter baskets. Fingers crossed they will be filled with chocolate eggs next week!


Healthy Bodies - Healthy Minds
Thanks Hayley McIIwick, kindy food co-ordinator, for putting together food suggestions for our kitchen helpers! This week Natalie Langford and assistant, Quinn Langford, made corn fritters.  Kate Johnston prepared yogurt with added blueberries, both healthy & delicious! 


Gumboot Friday - I Am Hope
I Am Hope is the youth and community focused support group run by The Key to Life Charitable Trust, started by Mike King. For the last three years Key To Life have been promoting positive attitudinal societal change in schools and communities up and down the country, and funding private care and counselling for young people stuck-in-the-mud on waiting lists. We know that in order to feel good, you need to be healthy in mind, body & spirit, which is what we continuously promote at kindy.  Get behind this great appeal and do your part in helping raise 2 million dollars to provide free counselling for New Zealand children. 
Find out how to donate by clicking on the link: Gumboot Friday - Donate


Education Excellence Awards
Today (Friday) Christina has completed an application for the Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards 2019 - 30 pages worth!! A lot of time & effort has been carefully compiling the "excellent" teaching & learning that happens at Winton Kindy. Let's hope we have an excellent response!

Have a fantastic weekend!

The Teaching Team