Community Connections: How Our West Auckland Daycare Centres Foster a Sense of Belonging

A sense of belonging is an important part of the developmental process for children, and is an extremely important thing for daycare centres to prioritise. It also helps to make the transition from home to daycare easier for young children, and gives families the peace of mind that their young ones will be well cared for when out of the house. 

Our West Auckland daycare centres have a strong focus on belonging, as this is one of the strands of Te Whāriki. Te Whāriki is the national curriculum for early childhood education, and helps to guide the development of early minds in Aotearoa. 

Te Whāriki guidelines on belonging

The national curriculum guideline on belonging states that children in early childcare education settings need to be in safe and secure centres where each child is treated with respect and knows that their diversity and unique contribution to the culture of the classroom is recognised and acknowledged. 

Having their community be recognised as a part of their new world in the classroom, and feeling comfortable with interacting with an established part of their community while creating new connections helps to give your child the confidence needed to thrive at school. 

By helping to make the classroom an extension of the child’s wider world this also means they can transition from their home into their classroom without experiencing distress. Being able to establish a sense of belonging in children helps to promote confidence, and gives them the ability and security to begin to explore their new world. 

Because children learn through play, and through the exploration of their environment, feeling comfortable in the place where they are expected to make connections with new people and learn new skills is extremely important for development. 

Because of this, it’s really important to consider choosing a daycare with a focus on creating a sense of belonging when looking at options for your child in your local neighbourhood. 

How Kiddywinkles incorporates belonging and fosters community

Here at Kiddywinkles we have always strived to build a community around our tamariki, and create a sense of belonging for our children. We do this in several ways, including using our natural environment, and choosing to incorporate curriculum elements from different cultures. 

We have implemented a curriculum based around the Maramataka (traditional Māori Lunar calendar). The tamariki are able to interact with this curriculum and are guided by our educators to contribute to their own learning by being involved with this responsive curriculum. 

This helps our Māori tamariki and whānau to be more involved with their culture at daycare, and helps to introduce the Māori culture to learners who are not already exposed to it at home. Our inclusive environment supports children from many cultural backgrounds and we celebrate their heritage.

We believe it’s important to use our natural environment to help create a sense of belonging in our children. We have a purpose-built garden in our daycare centres for our tamariki to get out and enjoy. These gardens and play areas help to build not only physical knowledge and understanding their movements, but also fosters a sense of belonging in their environment. 

Our gardens allow the children the opportunity to be present and involved in the propagation of their own food, from the very beginning of planting to the harvesting and preparation of vegetables. 

Providing children with a physical space to interact in such as a garden helps to foster a sense of belonging in children and allows them the chance to explore the pride that can come from creating food. 

Having respect for the natural environment is also an important component of Māori culture. We can use the garden, and our surrounding natural environment to teach our tamariki these elements of Māori culture. 

Fostering a sense of belonging in the young children entrusted to our care is extremely important to the Kiddywinkles team. In addition to the adjustments made at institution-level to foster belonging, we also have dedicated and caring staff who make it their top priority to create a welcoming and inclusive space for every child in their care. 

Our staff are well trained, with the majority of our staff having a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. We also have classrooms separated into under twos, two year olds, three year olds, and four year olds in order to create an appropriate learning environment for each level of development. 

For more information on how Kiddywinkles can create a sense of belonging and community right for your child, come in and have a chat with us. We welcome visits from prospective parents and would love to show you around our centres and answer any questions you might have. 

We also have a series of parent testimonials available on our website. These testimonials are full of parents praising the community and sense of belonging that has been fostered not only for their child, but for their whole whānau.