Celebrating Christine

Yesterday we had a surprise celebration to congratulate Christine on her exemplary completion of the teachers registration process.

Christine graduated from Auckland University in July 2010 and over the past two years has been working through the requirements of a provisionally registered teacher. This process requires lots of written self reflection and providing examples of your teaching practice. As you can imagine from the incredible blog posts which you have the pleasure to read, Christine's pedagogy and reflective practice are of the highest standard. She is now a fully registered teacher.

At whānau time we announced to Christine that we had prepared a surprise for her.

"How come I didn't know about this?" Christine questioned the children, and Leah responded "We're not telling, cause it's a surprise for you!"

Christine was then honoured with flowers and adorned with purple silk and three lolly leis from Helena, Pesiki and Joel.

Samuel gave Christine a book of drawings and thoughts on behalf of many of the children and some of our families. Inside were some heartfelt words including:

"Christine is the bestest teacher cause I do art
with her and I play with her" - Rinah 

"Christine is nice" - Eve

"I like playing hide and seek with her in the bush" - Kaleb


"Christine, Thank you for making every child at Kindy feel special and loved and unique. You always take time to listen to 1,000,000 different stories from all the kids and I know you genuinely enjoy it! Thank you."

"Congrats Christine, what an awesome achievement, You are a fantastic teacher and part of a fantastic team. We are so privledged to have you in our girls lives. Many thanks".

"So totally happy for you Christine!!! You absolutely deserve to reap the rewards of all your hard work and dedication! You are a special person with a special gift, and thank you for sharing it with my son".

The gifts were quickly followed by some lovely hugs.

Then it was time to enjoy a celebration treat, ice cream and strawberries!

Earlier in the day one parent reflected on her relationship with Christine, "I can't believe that she has only been teaching for two years, she is so wise!" We couldn't agree more, Christine is a rare gem and we are so honoured to have her in our Kindergarten community.

Kim, Zair, Donna and Sarah