News & Events - Polyhigh Community Childcare Centre | Early Learning Centre Wellington NZ

The value of Rough and Tumble play

6, July, 2018/in Useful Information /by Jane Byrne

Rough and tumble play holds value for young children in relation to their physical, social and educational development. The physical benefits of energy release, exercise and practice of motor skills might seem obvious but there are significant benefits in other developmental areas as well. Rough and tumble play holds a social dynamic which aids in the development of social competency as children learn about themselves and others. Read more

Tuatara Newsletter May/June 2018

28, June, 2018/in Newsletter, Tuatara Group /by Jane Byrne

Kia Ora Whanau,

A warm welcome to our Tuatara families and to the new members of our group. This is our May-June Newsletter now posted in the community page of Storypark. We are almost halfway through the year. We have a lot of changes and transitions with new families joining our group and farewells that have happened over the past couple of months. Read more

Wellington Children’s Art Exhibition

19, June, 2018/in Activities /by Jane Byrne

Kia ora koutou. Polyhigh joined Wellington Children’s Art Exhibition (drawing their favourite thing about Wellington) last year. It is an honour that Thea and Anne’s artwork were chosen to fly to Japan and to be exhibited in Sakai City which is the sister city of Wellington. Kaiako Natalie and Mayumi made learning stories about this event. Please have a look.

Nga mihi,
Mayumi

Kiwi Room Newsletter April/May

15, May, 2018/in Newsletter, Preschool Group /by Jane Byrne

Kia Ora everyone,

It is hard to believe that we are nearly through to the middle of the year. There have been many changes in the Kiwi room. We have nearly a whole new group of children and all our older kiwis have transitioned to the Tuatara room.

Welcome
We would like to welcome our new families to the Kiwi room, Isla and her parents Rosie and Andrew, Harvey and his parents Aimee and Chris and big brother Harrison, also Harper and her parents Michelle and Rodney and big sister Thea, and Albert and his parents Natalie and Andrew. Read more

Visitors from Japan on Tuesday 1st May 2018

1, May, 2018/in Community Visits, Events /by Jane Byrne

Four visitors from Japan with an interpreter came to have a look at Polyhigh on Tuesday 1st May. The group included a kindergarten teacher, a psychologist and university professors in Japan.

The main purpose of their trip to New Zealand was to visit some Early Childhood Education services in New Zealand to observe how teachers’ implement our world leading early childhood bi-cultural curriculum Te Whāriki for children’s learning. Read more

Tui Newsletter – July 2017

4, August, 2017/in Newsletter, Tui Group /by Jane Byrne

Kia ora whānau

Thank you to those who attended the AGM and Fish ‘n’ Chip evening this month. We appreciate the support. The Tui room has had a busy time exploring ways to incorporate Enviroschools into both our programme planning as well as whole centre philosophy and as this is an ongoing journey, we look forward to keeping you up to date via Educa and our planning boards in the centre. Thank you to all whānau who completed the parent and transition to school surveys. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and valued.

Download the full newsletter here.

Kiwi Newsletter – May/June 2017

2, June, 2017/in Kiwi Group, Newsletter /by Jane Byrne

Kia Ora

It is hard to believe we are nearly half way through the year. Thank you for all your support during my accident, being off for nearly three months there was many new faces to get to know, and it is great to be back in the Centre.

Recently we farewelled Fearne Crane and Ardy Buxton who have moved to the Tuatara group. We look forward to visiting you when we have other children visiting in transition. It will also be Brook’s transition in two weeks.

Tui Newsletter – March-April 2017

18, April, 2017/in Newsletter, Tui Group /by Jane Byrne

Kia Ora Whānau

Kia Ora whanau, what an exciting start to 2017! Enviroschools,a focus on making Polyhigh more sustainable and a fantastic new outdoor space. We enjoyeda brief summer and we wish all our whānau a safe and happy Easter. Polyhigh will be closed for the following days:Good Friday 14th, Easter Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th forTeacher Only Day. Have a lovely Easter!

Up and Coming Events

TEACHER ONLY DAY TUESDAY 18 APRIL2017
WHANAU EVENING FRIDAY 31st MARCH 2017 6PM at POLYHIGH
WORKING BEE SATURDAY 13 MAY 9AM-12PM

Reminders

>Medication: If your child is taking medication please inform a teacher who will complete an administration form. Medication includes all prescriptions, antibiotics, creams, and inhalers. Please ensure you give the medication to a teacher and do not leave it in your child’s bag. Thank you to all who completed the behaviour strategy forms. The Tui teachers really appreciate your input and will go over the information at the next meeting. We look forward to developing some collaborative positive strategies for our tamariki.

Welcome

We would like to warmly welcome Davy Karon and Archer Townsend who transitioned into the Tui Group in February. Welcome to Anne Osborne and Eli Rasch who have recently transitioned and are settling in well.

Staff News

Sa will be staying in the Tui room in the capacity of a qualified/registered teacher. Leonte’ has been promoted into the Assistant Supervisor position and we wish her every success in her new position Melissa will be beginning her Graduate Diploma in Teaching (ECE) next month. Melissa will be studying extramurally through New Zealand Tertiary College Nat is now provisionally registered and will be completing her registration over the next two years.

Programme Planning: Enviroschools and our Environment

Enviroschools Hui
Polyhigh hosted the first Enviroschools cluster meeting, which will took place at Polyhigh on Monday 27th February. This provided an opportunity to meet with teachers from five other ECE centres to discuss and exchange ideas and practices related to sustainability and the environment within our centre setting. The meeting and ongoing programme will assist the teachers with the implementation and incorporation of sustainable practices into our daily routines.

Our Environment

We have noticed such a positive change in play interactions since we developed our outdoor environment. The children have been enjoying the new climbing frames and have been busy creating in the carpentry area. A project we will be working on in collaboration with Mackenzie’s Dad Callum is making a Go Cart! Many children are very excited about this and we look forward to visiting Callum in his workshop. We really appreciate the whānau support.

Pledge me Fundraiser
Thank you to Andrea Jewel (Otto and Thea’s Mum) who organised this absolutely amazing Pledge Me campaign to raise funds for our future sustainability projects. We really appreciate all the effort you put into such a thoughtful and successful fundraising project. We reached the target within about 3 days of it being up! Also thank you to all whānau who bought tickets. We really appreciate the support.

Rewana Bread Bug
Kia ora to Tawhiri’s whānau for providing us with another Rewana Bread Bug. This really has become a Polyhigh ritual and we are thankful that we can weekly make bread with the children. Thanks Jo! If anyone would like to take a portion of the bug to make Rewana Bread at home, please ask a teacher in the Tui room.

Our Swan Plants
Thank you to Olivia and Ben’s whānau for kindly bringing in some swan plants for our very hungry caterpillars. The Monarch Butterfly life cycle has been a great focus for many children over the summer months, which has been highly beneficial to our programme planning.

Haere ra Grace!
Lastly we would like to say farewell to Grace who will soon be leaving Polyhigh to embark on her next adventure at Primary School. We wish you all the best Grace. You will be greatly missed by all your teachers and friend.

Tui Newsletter – Nov 2016

2, December, 2016/in Preschool Group, Tui Group /by Jane Byrne

Kia ora whanau Kia ora whanau, thank you for taking time to read our newsletter. As a group, we have recognised the importance of providing a visual newsletter, which celebrates what we do at Polyhigh. Our newsletter not only aims to inform and remind, but to provide documentation of the children’s learning, development and our […]