At Y Kids we have two rooms that cater for the needs of our Under Three's. These are the Ruru and Kakapo rooms.
Our Ruru room is set up for our 0 - 2 year olds while our kakapo room meets the needs of our 2 - 3 year olds. Both spaces show a strong RIE and Pikler influence which is reflected in our philosophies and programme. Our curriculum is driven by the seven guiding principles of Pikler which are:
- We believe in providing opportunities for uninterrupted play & time for self initiated play.
- We believe in building trusting relationships with the children in our care. (using tools like sensitive observation, primary care-giving & the care moments during childrens routine.
- We invite children to participate in everything we do with the children.
- We believe in providing consistent, stable & predictive routines.
- We believe in free movement, which is allowing children to get in and out of positions themselves.
- We believe in supporting children to solve problems & challenges independently.
- We acknowledge & empathise when the children express distress.
We implement a primary caregiving system which we believe provides the best opportunity for children to develop secure attachments within the centre and later in life. This system is designed to allow consistency for children during routines & care moments, these care moments are settling, sleeping, bottles and eating.
Each teaching team has three consistent teachers and each of these teachers has a small group of children. We believe that our primary caregiving system ensures a strong, reciprocal & respectful relationship is developed between children, parents/caregivers and teachers alike.
Our programme provides opportunities for children to explore curriculum areas in their own way and in their own time. We use resources and teaching strategies to extend children's learning and encourage children to make their own choices and lead their own learning. We document children's learning in their own individual profile books which are kept in the classrooms and are available for children to take home and add to. Our commitment to our national curriculum Te Whariki and the RIE and Pikler philosophies is reflected in our environment and in the way we work with children.
