Our Philosophy
At Gulf Harbour Preschool, our philosophy is rooted in respect, relationships, and a deep belief in the potential of every child. We create a warm, inclusive environment where children feel safe, valued, and inspired to explore, question, and discover.
Our Image of the Child
We believe that all children are competent, curious learners; capable of complex thinking, interested in their world and full of potential. They are natural researchers who question what they see: thinking, hypothesizing, making predictions, experimenting and expressing their discoveries in a variety of ways.
Every individual child at our centre will be encouraged to grow and learn in their own way, at their own pace, being supported and nurtured by our caring team of teachers and a strong peer group.
Our Families
We treasure our relationships with parents, whānau and the community, believing strongly in the value of meaningful, regular interactions to support children’s wellbeing and inspire their learning.
Whanaungatanga/relationships are an integral part of our teaching strategy at Gulf Harbour Preschool, as we foster links between home and preschool. Parents are encouraged to participate in our learning program by sharing in their children’s interests and researching with their child at home, reinforcing the learning from Preschool.
We value the important role parents play as they encourage their children to contribute books and other resources, and personally share with us their own expertise and experiences.
Our Environment
Our learning environment is richly resourced and plays an important role in inspiring children to explore, wonder and create, with provocations purposefully set up for children to engage in complex learning experiences.
Children’s wellbeing is our goal and is evident in our settled, secure children who have formed strong friendships which frequently become life-long relationships. We are fortunate to have children at Preschool who hail from all over the world, and it is exciting to celebrate their customs and language.
Te Reo me nga tikanga Māori is embedded into our programme and our interactions with children, and our teachers are committed to honouring Te Tiriti ō Waitangi. We believe in weaving our bicultural heritage into a multicultural programme to support all learners. Te taiao/the environment is respected and utilised in our roles as kaitiakitanga/teachers and guardians.
Our Learning Journey
Our goal is to create a life-long love of learning in each child. We believe in acknowledging children’s wonder and curiosity and providing them with opportunities to explore at their own pace.
Learning opportunities are a response to children’s interests, with inquiry-based learning occurring through intentional and free play activities. Through exploration of intentional materials children are encouraged to construct their own knowledge and understanding.Literacy and numeracy is embedded into everything we do, exposing children to emergent concepts as well as focused learning experiences. Peer learning and tuakana/teina concepts are encouraged as our mixed-age group of children support each other’s learning.
We provide a variety of activities to maintain children interests and to appeal to different learning styles, as we strive to achieve tino rangatiratanga/self-determination for all children.
The Arts
We value the role that the arts play for providing children with endless opportunities to express themselves and their learning. We perceive art to be a fun-filled process of engagement/auahatanga that is creative, reflective, deliberate and that deepens and extends children’s learning.
Children communicate and represent their understandings, emotions, discoveries and interests through encounters with a range of media, materials and art techniques.
Our specially designed taupuni mahi toi/art studio allows for creative exploration all day long, with a skilled teacher present to facilitate meaningful art experiences. We love performing arts/toi whakaari and our annual Christmas show is the highlight of the year, representing our learning through poem, drama, song and dance.
The Role of The Teacher
“Teachers affect eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops.” - Henry Adams, 1907.
Our teachers are partners in children’s learning, exploring side by side as they scaffold children through the process of questioning, hypothesizing, predicting, experimenting and representing their discoveries.
We believe in the value of having more teachers than required to ensure that our children are involved in meaningful shared experiences and one-on-one learning. As part of our inquiry process, teachers are provoking children’s thinking as they question and research together.
Our teachers are qualified, skilled and committed to ongoing professional inquiry to ensure their practice is always improving.
Documentation
“Through documentation, children become even more curious, interested, and confident as they contemplate the meaning of what they have achieved" - Loris Malaguzzi, 1993.
We value and respect children’s work and this is made evident through thoughtful displays throughout our centre. Teachers work one-on-one with children to communicate and document their learning.
Our children’s portfolios provide a rich overview of their learning journey, featuring their teacher’s observations, photographs, stories, reflection and planning for learning as well as voices of the child and their family.
We feel that documentation makes our children’s learning visible and provides opportunity for them to revisit their work.
Gulf Harbour Preschool was the single best investment we made in our son’s first five years of his life. We had no need to have him in care but chose to due to the learning available, the ownership, the calibre of the teachers and curriculum. It was the start of a journey of learning excellence and our time at GHP was hugely influential in shaping our decision making for the ongoing education of our son. Our three years here far exceeded our expectations, and we unreservedly recommend GHP should you wish to give your child an exceptional start in life.
"My son absolutely loves going each day."
"What’s truly special is how the team nurtures his love of learning. He’s grown so much in confidence and independence since starting, and it's clear the environment is both inspiring and thoughtfully guided.
The staff go above and beyond to support each child’s interests, and I really value how connected and included we feel as parents. We feel so lucky to be part of the Gulf Harbour Preschool whānau."
"I absolutely love Gulf Harbour pre school for many reasons."
"The staff are so friendly, welcoming and look after our children so well. The happy, fun and educational atmosphere is what sets the pre school apart from any other."
"If you are after the most wonderful start and early learning experience for your child - you can’t go past GHP!"
"Can’t recommend them enough. Marianne and Lynda, along with their exceptional team of teachers truly invest into each child.
My husband I were amazed at what our son would come home and share he had learnt. An incredible learning environment .. so grateful!"