Meet the Mairtown Team!

 Benjamin Disraeli once said “Change is inevitable. Change is constant” 

2020 saw more changes than one would ever expect in a lifetime. We know that there is no way to escape change. Instead, you must learn to adapt to the change that comes towards you. We are so thankful to our whānau who have been so supportive over this period to us, and to one another. The giving, the sharing, the support and the kindness between families is so heart warming and makes us so proud to be a part of the Mairtown Kindergarten community.  

Introducing you to the 2021 Mairtown teaching team! Left to right: Emma Q, Emily, Hanna, Emma G, Anne, Sarah.

In November 2020 we welcomed our wonderful new head teacher, Emma Quigg into our teaching team and our kindergarten community. 

Emma is a very friendly, engaging and welcoming person with amazing organisation skills and a passion for teaching. She is bubbly, kind, motivated and loves a laugh! Emma enjoys getting down to the children’s level and enjoying a freshly baked doughnut with a cuppa made in the family corner. She has a good sense of humour and is just a wonderful person to be around.

On her first official day at Mairtown our community come together to welcome Emma with a mihi whakatau.

“A mihi whakatau is a welcome that can provide a sound basis for any kindergarten event whereby people are greeted in a less formal manner than that of a Pōwhiri… Mihi whakatau is traditionally used for welcoming, introductions, openings and general purpose which take place off the marae.  The mihi whakatau is a process which will protect Māori cultural practices while promoting an environment of inclusiveness.” (Roimata Macfarlane, 2016)

 

Emily joined us in November 2020 as a 2nd year student studying towards her Bachelor of Teaching (ECE). Emily is a ray of sunshine. Whether the request is to do head stands or have a sword fight in the jungle she’s there, and always with a warm smile. Emily loves the great outdoors making weekly trips to the beautiful beach, waterfalls or rivers that Northland has to offer. Emily takes on a leadership role with the youth at her church which takes her on many adventures around New Zealand. Emily has just made the transition from being a lunch cover teacher to now being a .5 teacher which has her working 20 hours per week… Yay more Emily time!

“There are no strangers here, just friends who haven’t met.” (Roald Dahl)

 

Sarah & Roimata our wonderful friend and Māori adviser.

 

Sarah has been with Mairtown Kindergarten for 12 years now! Sarah began as the Admin whizz as well the Nature program co-ordinator. In July 2019 Sarah completed her Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) and made the move from admin to teacher! Sarah is calm and intentional in her teaching with the tamariki. She has a strong connection with te ao Māori and a love for the natural environment which she weaves though her daily interactions with the tamariki. Sarah is driven and focussed and always strives for the best for the Mairtown community.

 

Mairtown Kindergarten has been a part of Anne’s life since her first child began attending the kindergarten in 2002. She joined the Mairtown staff as a permanent teacher in 2020, after previously spending time here as an education support worker, student teacher volunteer and relieving teacher. So she was basically part of the furniture already! As a teacher, Anne loves hearing the voice of the child, understanding their motivations and strengths and supporting them to discover and develop their love of learning. Anne is a passionate advocate for our tamariki and a beautiful soul to be around.

   

Emma’s first child started Mairtown in 2015 and her last left for school in 2020. When her youngest started the transition to BIG school she knew she had to find a way to stay at Mairtown as it had become a second home to her. Emma took on the admin role as Sarah began her teaching career and she’s been dominating the office ever since! Emma was made for this job, she is bubbly, efficient, quick and witty! If she isn’t laughing she’s working on her pot plants, embroidery hoops and sometimes may actually be caught working… Emma is amazing at what she does and we are forever grateful for the time and energy she puts into her mahi.

 

Nonna Peg is our absolutely amazing Nature program coordinator who journeys into Mair park with our 10 little explorers every Friday 8.30am-12 midday. Nonna Peg brings with her so much knowledge on every aspect of the ngahere. She relishes in those little moments with the tamariki making sure nothing is ever rushed. Nonna Peg is such a taonga to us and we know how lucky we are to have her join us each week.

 

Kia ora ko Hanna toku ingoa. I started at Mairtown Kindergarten in May 2019 after my whānau moved up from Pukekohe. Being a part of Mairtown has been one of the most amazing experiences. The amount of aroha, manaaki and support that is shared around the kindergarten community is just heart warming. As a teacher I am 50% old soul, 50% child. I love to just hang out with the tamariki, talk about what’s on top for them, be silly, be creative, be a friend and best of all, be in nature, talking about the how’s and why’s of what we do to care for papatūānuku.

So this is the old/new Mairtown teaching team! If you haven’t come down to say kia ora yet, come on down. The jug is always hot and there is ALWAYS kai in the kitchen!

Nga mihi nui,

Hanna Bramley

Christmas Tree Walk 2020

 

We have been lucky at Mairtown Kindergarten over the years, to have had some wonderful teachers and teaching teams that have paved the way for some lovely traditions we now have at Mairtown.  One of these is our now annual Christmas Tree Walk. 

In our current climate of change, and that of 2020, we are appreciative that we have been able to continue this tradition this year. 

“Traditions are the memories of those before us, breathed to life when we carry them on.”

― Kennedy Ryan, the Rebel King.

In continuation of this beautiful tradition, we use materials that are naturally sourced to make our Christmas decorations, supporting our kindergarten kaupapa .  This year, harakeke manu were woven with the support of tamariki, who helped split the harakeke and weave the small manu.  Once finished, tamariki decorated the manu with beautiful gold and silver paint and a little glitter.  Manu, in particular the tui, play a large part in Mairtown traditions, aside from being part of our kindergarten logo, tamariki receive a “Tui” when they leave Mairtown Kindergarten – these are all “unique” and different, as were the beautiful manu created for the Christmas tree.

In addition, the tamariki have been learning Christmas carols for the past few weeks.  Every whānau time tamariki have been practicing their singing and actions for a performance that they will give to the community of volunteers at the church.

A positive and happy environment that is set by kaiako reflects on tamariki and their sense of belonging in the centre. "Belonging is nurtured through social interaction with kaiako and other children and by respecting the achievements and aspirations of each child’s family and community (Ministry of Education. P.31, 2017).

Today, we were able to go and see our beautiful magical Christmas tree, alongside many others that have been created by different community groups.  Lots of excited Mairtown tamariki walked together from kindergarten to see our tree in the church.  

 

The women from the church, who provided us with some lovely refreshments and shared a Christmas story with us all, warmly welcomed us.  We then sang together our Christmas carols to show our thanks to them all.

We were so happy that lots of our amazing whānau were in support and were able to join us for this trip.  We appreciate as always the wonderful support we receive for these special occasions. “Whānau can be involved in themed activities for the occasion to encourage community mindedness to acknowledge a kinship with one and all." The expectation is that each ECE service will use Te Whāriki as a basis for weaving with children, parents and whānau its own local curriculum of valued learning, taking into consideration also the aspirations and learning priorities of hapū, iwi and community" (Ministry of Education, p. 8, 2017).

“The magical dust of Christmas glittered on the cheeks of humanity ever so briefly, reminding us of what is worth having and what we were intended to be,” - Max Lucado

What was it you most enjoyed about the Christmas Tree Walk?

The Christmas trees! – Sienna-Rose

The  fairies and I saw strawberries – Marlee

The lights and I saw some sheep! – Hazel,

Me too, on the tree they were decorations – Sienna-Rose.

The Christmas trees – Indi

Looking at the Christmas trees, they beautiful – Joshua.

The Christmas trees with the fluffy pompoms. – Maci

The Christmas trees – Lennox.

"Rituals play an important role in society. Rituals remind us of what is important and provide a sense of stability and continuity in our lives" 

(Cathy Stucker, 2009)

Christmas time with our tamariki is a magical experience, as they encounter all of its wonders.  I feel lucky that we are able to continue this tradition, and we are able to share it with our new tamariki, whānau and teaching team.  From all the team at Mairtown Kindergarten, we wish everyone a magical and safe Christmas.

Ngā mihi nui

Sarah

Nau mai, haere mai ki te pātaka kai o Mairtown!

Late last year the kaiako at Mairtown kindergarten started to talk about the idea of starting up a pātaka kai that we could be kaitiaki of. The Pātaka Kai/Open Street Pantry Movement is a resident led, grassroots, crowd sourced solution to immediate and local need, rescuing food and encouraging the co-sharing between neighbours to strengthen communities.  Whether a need for food or a need to give, this movement facilitates neighbours helping neighbours, building community. 

Those who wish to contribute may do so at their own discretion when convenient.  Kai has a role of nourishing whanau tinana and wairua, while reducing stress and promoting the values of koha and manaaki.  This is a way of celebrating as a culture, as an iwi, as a people.  It's about that whole sense of manaakitanga.  This is a judgement free movement.  This is not a new idea, our ancestors have done this in many shapes & forms in the past.

In May we purchased a beautiful upcycled pātaka kai from the amazing team at the ReSort Store in Whangārei. Once it was back at kindergarten it was time to get it ready for the road side. A little waterproofing and a beautiful sign and it was ready to go. 

Our pātaka was opened as part of Harvest Day, a very special annual celebration during Matiriki where whānau are able to share their abundance of what they have at home and in their māra, alongside heartfelt and positive affirmations for the receiver. 

In the beginning the pātaka was a little scarce of kai, due to covid-19 our māra kai was empty and we had only just begun planting kākano/seed for the next season. We were very lucky to be given a box of “Little Gardens” by New World. Once they had grown to a decent size they were placed with the pātaka for whānau to take home and grow.

Amalia, Izzy & Jye - 3 of our top gardeners and kaitiaki of our māra kai.

In October we connected with the fabulous team at Whakaora Kai Taitokerau / Food Rescue Northland. These stars have diverted 110.9 tonne of food from Taitokerau landfill in the last 12 months. This reduces both carbon emissions and toxic leaching into water sources. Its as simple as signing up and ordering kai as it becomes available. There was a lot of korero with the tamariki about food waste at this time.

"It's so people like adults, your Mum or your aunties or if your neighbours want some they can have some. So other people can take it home. It's not good to waste food because you can share it in the pātaka kai" 

- Izzy 

"We have one so people can get some food without having to buy groceries if they don't have money. The food comes from the neighbours and all of the people in the country."  

- Harper

"To leave food for people who don't have enough food. It's for sharing kai. People who have too much kai them put it in the pātaka kai. If you had lots of apples you could share it to the pātaka kai because if you leave them they will disintegrate. When you share it feels great because it make my heart happy, and there hearts are happy too." 

- Ethan

"It feels nice to share because some people don't have food, doesn't have houses and  food and some people have to steal for food., but if we share they don't have to." 

- William 

"It's for sharing food in. Our kids take the food and eat it for dinner. I've got apples I can bring them in last week cos if they get old they will get mouldy. It makes me feel good when I share my food cos I like it." 

- Paul

"It's for food, it goes outside so the Grandmas and Poppas can make kai for everyone. I like to share because they, everyone are hungry. It will be in the rubbish if we don't share our kai"

- Kaia

Practicing sustainability empowers children to construct knowledge, explore values and develop an appreciation of the environment and its relationship to their world. This lays the foundations for an environmentally responsible adulthood. Children should be at the centre of our sustainable goals, we must educate the next generation to ensure sustainable development.

Helena delivering eggs to our neighbour who kindly gifted us fresh putiputi from his garden. 

Harper and Izzy offering seedlings to our lovely neighbour.

With the help from Whakaora Kai Taitokerau the pātaka was overflowing with goodies but it seemed that people were hesitant to take what they needed. The idea is - Take what you need and leave what you can.  There is no criteria, there is no koha tin or money exchanged for anything. Go have a look, if you need something, please help yourself.  If you can leave something, know that your community thanks you.

“Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi

With your basket and my basket we will sustain the people”

Joshua and Joash putting their home baking in the pātaka kai.

As summer comes there will be an abundance of veggies and hopefully home baking for Christmas. Thank you to our whānau who have already taken the time to bake with aroha and share the love with our community. What a beautiful way to show our tamariki what Christmas is about.  

Members of our community using the Pātaka Kai.

 

If people do want to get involved with their local pātaka, I encourage them to add a couple of extra things in their shopping trolley every now and then or bring in veggies from their māra kai. We all know the Christmas season is hard, and this is a great way of giving back to your community.

Sharing with others, without expecting anything in return is a beautiful thing to teach. No matter how small an act of kindness is, it can have a huge impact on others lives. Watching the faces of our tamariki when they stock up the pātaka, and then seeing people from the community taking food is so very heart warming. 

We thank our community for the bottom of our hearts for supporting this wonderful kaupapa.

 

Me mahi tahi tātou mo te oranga o te katoa

We should work together for the wellbeing of everyone

Nga mihi nui

- Hanna