Programme

The ​Phoenix Preschool guiding curriculum document is “Te Whāriki” (MOE 1996). It is made up of 5 strands: Wellbeing - Belonging - Contribution - Communication - Exploration. Within these strands are goals and learning outcomes that support children to achieve and develop skills, knowledge and attitudes in the Early Childhood Centre environment. At Phoenix we have core curriculum experiences that are set up each day to support learning and development of the children in groups or individually, to meet the learning outcomes and goals in the early childhood curriculum document, alongside experienced and knowledgeable teaching staff.

Those core curriculum areas are:

Language and Literacy/Arts and Drama

• Fantasy/dress ups
• Books
• Music & Movement
• Puppets

 Exploratory/Science/Enquiry

• Physically active play
• Water play
• Sand play
• Science/Nature, including gardening & sustainability

Creativity/Arts

• Collage
• Painting
• Clay
• Playdough

Construction/Numeracy

• Carpentry
• Junk (boxes/planks, open ended props)
• Blocks
• Manipulative play (puzzles, train tracks, etc)

Literacy

• Multi-sensory phonics programme

 
The daily programme at Phoenix in our te rūma Pūkeko Room (over 3's) is as follows (this timetable is flexible and is subject to change)

8.00am - 9.00am             Centre opens; welcome and settling in; inside and outside play, choices from core curriculum experiences
9.30am - 10.00am            Pukeko Explorers (4yo) and Pukeko Adventurers (2-3yo) group times
9.45am - 10.30am            Morning kai time
11.00am - 11.30am             Learning-based play from core curriculum experiences
11.45am                               Tidy up time
11.55am                               Mat time, karakia kai, transition to handwashing and lunch
12.00pm - 12.30pm          2 & 3 year old lunch inside and 4 year old pikiniki-nui (picnic style) lunch
12.30pm - 2.30pm           Learning-based play from core curriculum experiences
2.45pm                               Tidy up time
3.00pm - 3.30pm             Afternoon kai time
3.15pm - 4.30pm              Farewell, centre closes 4.30pm

The daily programme at Phoenix in our te rūma Kiwi (under 3's) is as follows (this timetable is responsive to the needs of each individual - sleep times, bottles, care routines)

8.00 - 9.00am                   Centre opens; welcome and settling in
9.15am                                Morning tea
9.45am                               Learning-based play from core curriculum experiences
11.15am                                Karakia kai, lunch time
11.30am                               Learning-based play from core curriculum experiences
2.15pm                                Afternoon tea
3.00 - 4.30pm                   Farewell, centre closes 4.30pm

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Centre Curriculum and Programme

Our programme reflects the principles, strands, goals and learning outcomes of the Early Childhood Education curriculum document Te Whāriki.  This celebrates the uniqueness of each child and the interests and dynamics of the group and social work. We all aspire that children will become:
"Competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contributed to society" (Te Whāriki, P5)

Group Planning​

When it is noted that there are a number of children with similar interests or significant learning trends a group plan will be made.  Activities will be organised around this topic and resources will be made available to extend the children’s understanding, this may also include excursions to the wider community or arranging for appropriate visitors to come into the centre.  See the Educa link for more information and note the link to ‘Centre Goals’.

Individual Planning

All children have an individual plan - we work in partnership with whānau to develop these plans based on the child's interests and the child and whānau goals and aspirations. Kaiako will design the plan focusing on specific learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, identifying next steps and teaching strategies to support the child. Learning stories document the progress in these goals and are shared with you at home via Educa.