August 2016 - Portobelo Preschools

Portobelo Kaiapoi News August 2016
We had some exciting news recently - Our rating of ‘Well Placed’ in our
recent ERO review at our Preschool in Wesley Street. Our whole
Kaiapoi team is really pleased to gain this positive recognition of the
last three years of consistent work as we strive to create great learning
opportunities for your children.
A massive thanks to our families and whānau, who offer us
constructive feedback, words of appreciation, daily encouragement,
and allow us to work alongside you to provide key learning
opportunities and experiences.
We love what we do and enjoy sharing this recognition with you 
To read our ERO report, have a look on our website http://www.bestpreschools.co.nz or in
our parent communication folder at our Wesley Street Preschool
Sustainable practice
We recently had Lesley Ottey (Eco Educate) come in to help us
do a ‘waste audit’ in our centres. This is the start of planning to
reduce our waste, make better use of our current systems, and
think about possible new ways to reduce, repurpose, reuse or
redistribute our waste in a more sustainable way.
One aspect we have started to think about is the amount of
rubbish generated from our kai times. Many of our local schools
are now waste free and encourage minimal (or no)
wrappers/gladwrap etc in children’s lunchboxes. We are going
to investigate this further over the next couple of months and will
keep you up to date with things that we hope to trial, as we work
together to support our future generations about what it means
to be kaitiaki of their environment.
Kaitiakitanga -
This value of guardianship promotes respect and knowledge
about our environment, what lives in it, and how we can have an impact on caring for
it.
Get into nature this Conservation Week
10–18 September
Research tells us that spending time in nature improves physical and mental health
and wellbeing, for children and adults. Children who are connected to nature will
want to enjoy it and save it, now and in the future.
Get your family into nature this Conservation Week and experience the benefits for
yourself. Check-out the link below to see what events or activities you could involve
your family in this conservation week.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/news/events/conservation-week
Keep an eye on our notice boards and facebook page to see what we get up to at
Portobelo Kaiapoi for conservation week 
Our learning in the Nursery
Remember to keep an eye on the white board in the entrance way
to see photos and information highlighting our learning together 
Challenging themselves is still a big interest for the infants in the
infant room and to extend on this interest we have introduced the
large blocks to the room. These have created a walkway with
steps to master. The children have really enjoyed this physical
challenge, repeating it over and over in their quest to succeed
and reach the top. Having the blocks in the room has provided
the children with a fun way to release their physical energy in an
appropriate way as they gain increasing control and awareness
of their bodies.
Books, songs, finger-plays and puppets are a popular activity for
children in both the infant and the toddler rooms. We have a
steady stream of requests to read favourite books and sing songs
together. The infant room children especially enjoy “Incy Wincy
Spider” and “Twinkle Twinkle”, and the toddler room children love
our new books about Kuwi the kiwi, any dinosaur books, as well as
te reo sing-along books and CDs. Singing and reading together is
a great way to grow children’s sense of belonging in a group,
and listening to stories supports listening skills, early literacy, a
sense of well-being, relaxation and enjoyment for all .
Our project on Autumn ended with a celebration thanks to a very
generous donation of apples from our whanau in our shared fruit
bowl. We used this to create a wide range of delicious dishes
including apple and zucchini muffins, fresh juice and apple
crumble. Cooking is the ultimate science experiment for young
children! Everyone really enjoyed taking part in the food
preparation: mixing the ingredients, cutting the fruit, watching the
ingredients change in form and texture, and tasting the end
results. The children were very proud of what they had made,
and happily sharing the end product also provided learning
opportunities about healthy nutrition and seasonal food.
Our new project is based on the children’s interest in building and
construction, and we are all very excited to see where this will
lead. We have already looked at houses and house plans and
some of the children were inspired to draw their own houses. The
children have also made some great vehicles using boxes, paint
and bottle tops and we are hoping to make a box town together.
Keep an eye on the whiteboard in the foyer as well as the project
wall in the toddler room to see all the exciting things the children
have done. To continue to provide the children with a variety of
open-ended ways to be creative together, we would love
donations of boxes if you have any to share with us.
Remember we are always available to chat about your child’s learning.
If drop-off or pick-up times are tricky for you, we are happy to work out
a time that suits. How else could we better highlight learning for you?
Let us know if you have any ideas. - The Nursery Team 
Our learning in the Preschool
Remember to keep an eye on the white board in the entranceway
to see photos and information highlighting our learning together
The children and teachers enjoyed a fun filled week during the school
holidays with special activities. We base these activities on the
children’s current interests and our knowledge of what our children
enjoy at preschool. We had a teddy bear’s picnic, a wheels day,
crazy hair day, construction day and pyjama day. We received lots of
great feedback from our families that the children really enjoyed these
days so we plan to include another special week next school holidays
for both the preschool and the nursery.......watch this space!
Our recent project on flight and planes came to a celebratory end
with an excursion to a local airfield in Swannanoa, where we were
greeted by Des. He showed our tamariki how engines work to lift and
propel planes. We were nearly blown away by the strong wind
created when he spun the plane’s propeller! Everyone got the
opportunity to sit in the aeroplanes and have their photos taken. This
was an amazing experience for us all - thanks Des! And of course, the
trip on the bus itself also generated lots of excited chatter and fun.
We continue our current project on ‘people in our community’, where
the ready-for-school group have been involved in some inquiry based
learning by brainstorming what they currently know about people in
our community. We started off by thinking about what their parents
did for a job/occupation and their current knowledge of what this job
involves. The tamariki were able to share their knowledge confidently
as they listened to one another and took turns speaking and sharing
their ideas. Some children had no idea what their parents did at work,
and had some funny thoughts around this. We have planned for some
guest speakers from the ambulance service and fire brigade to come
to preschool in the next few weeks to talk about their role in the
community.
Another side to this project involves meeting those who live close to us.
A small group of children walked to the Annaliese rest home, where
armed with props we performed some songs for the residents. The
children showed themselves to be very confident and competent
performers, and as we shared some biscuits we took for morning tea,
they introduced themselves and chatted to their ‘new old’ friends.
We are planning on making this excursion a regular part of our
Portobelo centre life, so more of our children can be involved in our
local community in this way.
We have also been talking about the Olympic games, culminating in
our own version Portobelo style! The children have been taking turns,
waiting, supporting our friends and accepting that there is sometimes
only one winner. Thanks to those families who came along to share in
our closing medals ceremony.
Remember we are always available to chat about your child’s learning. If
drop-off or pick-up times are tricky for you, we are happy to work out a
time that suits. How else could we better highlight learning for you? Let us
know if you have any ideas. - The Wesley Team 
Healthy hearts and bodies
In late August some of our teachers will be attending a
professional development session in Kaiapoi run by the
Heart Foundation.
At this session teachers will explore:
WELCOMES & FAREWELLS

At the Nursery we welcome Isla,
Serenity, George D and their
families.
At the Preschool we welcome Jed,
Riley V and their families who have
transitioned over from the Nursery.
Big congratulations to ….
Anna, Phil, Will and Charlie on the
arrival of Grace.



Common barriers and issues regarding health in an
early learning environment
The role of living policies
The lunch box
Working with whānau to implement changes
These opportunities are a great way to network with our
local community, to continue to build on our kete of
knowledge surrounding nutrition and physical activity,
and how to build this into our daily experiences with
children and their families.
Upcoming public holidays
Labour Day
Monday 24th October:
Show Day
Friday 11th November
All Portobelo centres are closed on public holidays
How to contact us For booking changes, please ring Jo S (Centre Leader) on 3279113.
You can also email Jo at [email protected].
For any account queries please call or email our accounts manager - Jo M at our head
office in Avonhead ph3439952 (9.30-2.30 everyday) or email her at
[email protected]
We now have a cell phone for both Otaki and Wesley families to contact us on. You can use this
number to text through messages, and the team may use it to text you from time to time with
messages specific to your child. The number is 0273439943. When you get a moment, please text
this number with a “Hi!” message, your name, and your child’s full name from your cell phone so we
can save your number. Please note: for messages that are urgent, a phone call to our centre
phones is still the best way to get in touch with us in a hurry. We are still exploring how we will use this
cell phone to meet both the needs of families and busy teachers – so bear with us as we trial using it
over the next few months.
Ū ki te ako, tū tangata ai āpōpō
Excel in teaching so our learners will excel in the future
Nursery team - Jo, Michelle, Nikki, Martine, Sharon, Kerry, Erica, Rebecca and Stacey.
Preschool Team – Jo, Nicki G, Rebecca, Leslie, Rachel, Kim and Erica.
A Note from the Principal Leader
As you already know, at Portobelo we hold regular
workshops for our teaching teams with a specific focus each
time to support the teaching and learning in our centres.
Recently we have been focusing on building children’s social
competence – that is, helping our tamariki learn how to ‘be
friends and make friends’. We have looked at this topic from
several different angles, including children’s brain
development, the importance of building positive
relationships with each and every child as the foundation for
positive guidance, and widening our range of teaching
strategies to ensure that if one approach isn’t working in a
particular context, we have a number of alternatives to try.
We have also spent time thinking about environments, and how they influence children’s learning. Have you
noticed that when you walk into a space, you instantly get a feeling before anyone even speaks? Sometimes
you feel immediately at home, as there are familiar things around you, and you instinctively relax.
Sometimes you see, hear or smell something new, and you feel curious and keen to investigate. Sometimes
it feels chaotic or crowded, and you begin to feel on edge or overwhelmed. This is what early childhood
teachers refer to when we speak of our centre environments as ‘the third teacher’, because these messages
from the environment are strongly influencing the teaching and learning that our tamariki experience.
The most successful environments in an early childhood setting are those that entice children to engage, as if
saying, ‘Come here and do this!’ This is why teaching teams pay careful attention to how indoor and outdoor
spaces are presented each day. All our team members have now developed their own goals to work on in
relation to this – such as building our ‘homely’ feel, ensuring
there are spaces that appeal to children moving between the
Nursery and the Preschool, and keeping that sense of excitement
and challenge alive for our older children. And at a management
level, we support this work with annual strategic plans for each
centre environment.
If there are particular aspects of our environments that appeal to
your child, or you can see an opportunity for us to do more, we
would love to hear about it! Please have a chat with any of the
teaching team, your Team Leader or Centre Leader.
From the Directors
ERO: You will be aware that we recently hosted ERO reviewers in our Kaiapoi Preschool for their 3yearly review. The report of their findings is now available online, and you can also find a copy in
our Parent Information Folder. There’s lots to celebrate and be proud of! In particular, ERO
highlighted our relationships with children and families. The reviewers could also see how well our
environments support learning, and they had many positive comments about our assessment and
individual planning, as reflected in the children’s learning journals.
Although the ERO report is just a snapshot of a few moments in the life of Portobelo Kaiapoi
Preschool, they could see what we are achieving here. Overall the reviewers told us we should be
thrilled with what we are achieving. Which we are! And I hope you will be too!
So well done, and thank you to all our management, leaders and teaching teams. Everyone works
hard to make Portobelo a great place to work, play and be!