Nau mai haere mai

Nau mai haere mai a matou whanauwhanui,

Nga mihi motu tau hau.

Haere mai, haere mai, haere mai.

We all welcome you here today, our new whanau and those returning,

We acknowledge you and greet you.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

On Tuesday 14th February, we invited all our new whanau and existing whanau to come and join us for a shared kai to welcome Archie, Isla, Aris, McKenzie, Aya, Alfie, Adam, Wai Manu, Lachlan, Max, Juno, Sandinsa, Imogen, Charlize, Nathan, Piper and Ryley and their whanau to Mairtown Kindergarten. It was great to see the abundance of whanau who came along and a huge thank you for bringing in all the delicious kai, it was amazing.

11.45am rolled around quickly and we gathered all the excited tamariki for a whanau time before lunch and Kate got up and said a welcome in Maori, Zair followed with another warm welcome. For a few weeks leading up to the shared kai, tamariki had been learning a new waiata ‘Tena koutou’ with Christine at whanau times. We have had such fun with this waiata, it’s an echo song so Christine would lead us off and we would echo it back. Such a lovely waiata which was very fitting for this special occasion. The tamariki were professionals when it came to performing, standing up all tall and proud, singing their hearts out, they did a fantastic job.

 

He aha te mea nui I te Ao?

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

What is the most important thing on earth?

It is people, it is people, it is people.

 

"I liked singing the echo song" Milla.

"My Mum made brownies for lunch" Archie.

"Got to share all the yummy food with everybody" Dre Varn.

"Nice to welcome everyone to kindergarten" Zoey.

We all got to share a delicious kai together, it was nice to get to know some of the new, extended whanau and to see so many new faces here at Mairtown Kindergarten. It was great to see some of the whanau, that don’t come in much due to work etc, arrive and get a chance to look around the fun and exciting environment we have here.

Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi,

Engari he toa takitini.

Success is not that of one,

but the work of many.

Relationships and partnerships, based on trust, respect and open communication are central to our philosophy. Kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face conversation) is something that we value immensely. When these genuine, authentic and reciprocal relationships are established, Mairtown Kindergarten becomes a safe and secure place for children, whānau and teachers, and this secure environment supports children to explore, play freely and fosters their ability to be learners and leaders. We believe that everyone in our learning community is beautifully unique and has a wealth of knowledge, which we love to honour…(Mairtown Kindergarten Philosophy).

 Nau mai haere mai, welcome to Mairtown kindergarten.