12 Arun Street, Oamaru
Telephone/Fax 03 434 8343
This is a busy and happy kindergarten with a strong teaching team of 3 (1 part-time). Our rolls are 40 children attending morning session and 30 children attending our afternoon session. We work closely together to provide a stimulating programme with a strong focus on empowering children to make independent choices to enable them to become confident and competent learners. We have many families visiting our afternoon session as we incorporate our playgroup session so children can get used to the full range of activities and learning opportunities.
Edna McCulloch Kindergarten is situated on a 1568 sqm terraced section with a northerly aspect on the South Hill of Oamaru. We overlook the sea and township. We have a good indoor/outdoor flow for our children to access all areas of the kindergarten.
Geographically the kindergarten serves all urban areas of Oamaru and extends into the rural community south from Hampden, west to Duntroon, and north to Glenavy.
We have a very large waiting list, full rolls and we feed into many of the schools around the region.
SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS:
We have consistent liaison with our closest school, Fenwick School. We interact on a regular basis with visits and on special occasions.
We have a very strong parent base at kindergarten; we have a high degree of parents involving themselves in visiting the kindergarten or helping in ways such as Library, assisting in observations of children, maintaining the kindergarten and other parent help activities. We have established a corner specific to parents due to the high number who enjoy remaining at kindergarten for part of the session. This area contains our portfolios and parents can read and discuss these with their children in comfort.
We have established a strong network with other centres and assist other Early Childhood Centres to maintain this through our involvement on the Advisory Council to Dunedin College of Education and our local and District Council NZEI Committees. At times we also have representation on other committees as they have need. We also have strong liaison with parent groups such as Plunket.
Technology is a focus in our kindergarten with children using many tools for their projects. Children have consistent use of the computer and with the aid of teachers we use a combination of the digital camera, photocopier, scanner and computer to construct record and publish their work.
Our kindergarten ahs been involved in supporting the other two kindergartens in beginning their computer journey.
We use the extended teaching hours to enable children to be involved in project work. They can plan time to work, and then see the completion of their project. We have a third teacher on two mornings per week which enables us to support children on a one-to-one basis. We have a regular number of visitors to kindergarten who use the afternoon session transition into our session. This enables us to build a relationship with both the parent and the child, for the parent/whanau to see our programme in action, to join in relevant discussions with teachers and see good interactions with children being modelled by teachers.
We have developed areas to allow independent selection of resources eg sand, water and the swings out side: art area, computer programmes and games inside.