Educational Programme

At First Class Education and Care our educational programme is based on the Te Whariki curriculum, using Kei Tau o te Pae (Assessment for Learning, Early Childhood Exemplars as the basis for all our learning and planning stories.

Our programme uses retrospective planning stories for recording the child initiated learning that occurs daily.

We offer wide opportunities for children to express themselves through play.

We invite you to look at the next pages showing you through photos and text of how we achieve our goals.

Te Whariki Curriculum

Te Whariki is the national early childhood curriculum document. It is founded on the following aspirations for children: "to grow up as 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 contribution to society."

The curriculum is made up of principles, strands and goals.

Principles

Empowerment - Whakamana

The early childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow.

Holistic Development - Kotahitanga

The early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow.

Family and Community - Whanau Tangata

The wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum.

Relationships - Nga Hononga

Children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things.

Our goal under this curriculum is to encourage your child to spread their wings and fly.  To share learning experiences with their peers that encourages them to persist through difficulty, take responsibility, and feel positive about the resulting learning.

Learning Stories

Learning stories are the main form of assessment that we use to document children's learning here at First Class.  This approach to assessment was developed from extensive research carried out by Professor Margaret Carr from Waikato University on learning narratives.  Learning stories are used widely throughout early childhood centres in New Zealand and this method of assessment is endorsed by the Ministry of Education.  The learning stories process is also closely linked to the New Zealand early childhood curriculum document, Te Whariki.

As teachers we notice what children are doing and recognize the learning that is happening for the child as they do these things.  While not all the learning we recognize will be documented, some of it will.

The way we do this is to write a learning story.

A learning story is a story about a child's learning.

Learning stories are written on a credit based model, where the focus is on what children "can do" rather than what the children "can't do".  As learning stories are written, the strengths and interests of the child become even more evident.  There are usually three parts to a learning story.

• The actual story about the child's learning.
• An analysis that highlights the learning that is happening for the child.
• What next? The opportunities and possibilities for the child to develop their strengths and interests further.

Learning stories can have multiple perspectives:

• The teacher's voice
• The child's voice
• And the parent's/whanau's voice

When analyzing what learning is happening for the children, we do not only look at the child's physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual development.  We place a large focus on the child's learning dispositions:

• Taking an interest
• Being involved
• Persisting with difficulty
• Expressing an idea or a feeling
• Taking responsibility

Below is an example of a group learning story

Planning Stories

So What Are Planning Stories?

Planning stories are a new way of documenting planning - a planning story is a story about all the learning stories.

A planning story is written retrospectively (All together, looking back) capturing:

• Rapid planning that happens throughout the day as teachers respond intuitively to children's thinking and ideas (often the unexpected.)
• Forward planning as teachers respond collaboratively to what they notice (the planned).
• Documentation that is indicative of the planning that happens in the setting (ie a story of many).

Planning stories:

• Tell the story of how the focus came about - start at the beginning
• Involve the learning stories and photos that tell a story - there may be a combination of teacher's, children's and parent's stories.
• Reflect on the provocation and thinking that may have taken place.
• Involve teacher's evaluations and reflections, parent's comments, children's comments, teacher's comments on pedagogy, links to Te Whariki and links to theory and research.

Below are three sample pages taken from a nursery planning story. 

Questions That We Regularly Ask Ourselves

Transition to School Policy

Using the Te Whariki Curriculum for children moving from First Class to the early years of school they are likely to have achieved the following guidelines.

Purpose:

To support staff, children, and whanau as they move from First Class towards school.

Guidelines: 

WELL-BEING

Have established self care skills Minimum supervision for meals and snacks Have some understanding of keeping themselves safe and be able to articulate some questions and concerns Have a range of strategies for getting help for themselves and others

BELONGING 

Have some knowledge about the wider community and environment, including knowledge of local schools Be confident making some new friends as well as working and playing with children they know Understand basic concepts about rules, rights and fairness, and the necessity for such rules Understand the values of reliability, honesty and courtesy.

CONTRIBUTION

Have feelings that are positive and able to respect differences in their peers Be confident about their interest, strengths, knowledge, abilities and experiences which have been built on in the centre learning programme. Be familiar with working co-operatively Recognize others needs and feelings as well as being able to express their own. Be able to complete tasks when necessary but understand that one can revisit uncompleted tasks.

EXPLORATION

Staff Will:

• offer assistance to parents who are unable to take their children for school visits
• have consistent links with new entrant teachers in the local schools
• have information available for parents on local schools

So Join Us...