Pongo pānui/July Newsletter 2025
Kia ora koutou
Wow, just like that, we've wrapped up Term 2 and are already halfway through 2025! Time truly does fly when you're having fun.
It’s been a month of highs and challenges, with lots of our staff and tamariki under the weather from the usual winter bugs. A massive thank you to everyone for your fantastic support in keeping children at home when they’re not feeling their best or for picking them up quickly when they start to decline. We know it can be tough at times with sick kids during the colder months, but your cooperation in ensuring they stay home until they’re 100% really helps keep our routine running smoothly.
This term has been absolutely amazing, and we've had some pretty special moments. Our Matariki celebrations were truly magical, and each year they just seem to get better and better! The team has been doing wonderful work strengthening our bicultural practices, and you can really see the growth in our celebrations each year. Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Matariki breakfast—it was an early start, but it was totally worth it! The look on the children’s faces when the garden lit up with fairy lights was priceless. We received some fantastic feedback from families as well, and this tradition is now a firm favourite at Moa.
And there’s more to celebrate! Not only did we receive the most amazing ERO report—something we’re incredibly proud of—but we also had solar panels installed on our roof this month! We’re thrilled to be taking a big step towards sustainability here at Moa, and it’s just another reason why this month has been one for the books.
Speaking of celebrations, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I walked into Moa! Just like that, my 10-year anniversary is upon us. It's pretty wild to look back at the journey—from when I first started here to where we are now. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in these celebrations with me—it means the world. I feel so incredibly proud to be a part of Moa, and I couldn’t do my job without this amazing community and the fabulous teaching team around me. It truly is a privilege.
A huge thank you to all the families who attended our Digital Parent Information Evening—what an incredible turnout! We had some great feedback from the event, and it was wonderful to see so many of you engaged and learning alongside us. We’re definitely looking at holding another session at some stage, especially once we're up and running at Story Park. If you weren’t able to make it or have any questions, please feel free to come and chat with me anytime—I’m always happy to help!
To all the families who have children turning five this year, with our large waitlist our system automatically moves children onto their next journey when they turn five. Please make sure we have your child’s last day date in our system. If you plan on keeping your child with us a little longer or have specific entry plans, no worries at all—just let us know so we can plan accordingly.
We had our AGM in May, and I’d like to take a moment to thank all our wonderful committee members who have stepped down this year. Your support has been invaluable. A warm welcome to the four new parents who have joined the governance committee—such an exciting time for Moa! As a not-for-profit, community-based preschool, having an active governance committee is vital to our success, and we couldn’t do it without your involvement.
I know many of our families love hitting the slopes for some skiing at this time of year. If you get any great shots or videos of your little ones in action, please send them our way! They absolutely love sharing those moments with their friends.
Lastly, please remember that my door is always open, whether you want to chat in person or send me an email.
You can reach me directly at:
Hayley.flanagan@moakids.org.nz if you prefer.
Nga mihi maioha,
Hayley
Reminders:
· Lunch boxes: You have most probably noticed the very full lunchbox shelf in the preschool. We would really appreciate it if all children’s lunch boxes, drink bottles and food containers could be named, as well as food that needs to go in the fridge. There is a permanent marker attached to the basket for the food that needs to be kept in the fridge.
· Nut Free Zone: Moa Kids is a “nut free” zone. Lately we have been noticing a lot of nut products coming in-cashews, almonds, peanut butter sandwiches etc. Please can you remember that we are a nut free zone when you are making your child’s lunch. We have had children start this year with high allergies to nuts.
· Lost Property: We have a large amount of lost property. Please come and have a look to see if the treasures and clothing belong to your family. The lost property is in the foyer. Please name all clothing that comes to preschool as this really helps us to return clothing and hats back to the correct person.
· Away sick: It is that time of the year where winter bugs are upon us. Moa families are always so good and keeping their children off when they are not 100%. This is a good reminder coming into winter to please email or call in the morning if your child is off sick.
· New person picking up: As part of our policy at Moa if anyone new is picking up your child and they have not been in before, even though they are on the pickup list and your children know them, we will ask them for ID on that first pick up, and match it to the name you have given. This is of course for safety. Please email through and keep us informed if there is going to be someone new coming in.
Reminders (cont’d)
· Show and tell: Each child who attends the preschool room has a show and tell day. This is the day where they can bring in something special to show their peers. We know lots of our friends like to bring in toys and often it is the same toy from the week before. We are not saying no toys, but if parents could get the children to have a think of something different each time, this will help their child when they get up to talk about their “show and tell”. Remember that you are most welcome to email in any photos of what they have been getting up to over the weekend. This goes down really well and the children normally have lots to say about it. Can you please remember to take home your child’s show and tell item. The basket seems very full.
· Nappies: Some parents choose to bring a bag of nappies in for their child and we let the families know when they are running low by writing on the daily role sheet. Please make sure when you see “please bring nappies” that you bring them in as soon as you can. We have emergency nappies if children run out, but these need to be replaced if used. We unfortunately are not in the position to be supplying nappies to children.
· Bread bags: Please bring in any used bread bags for the preschool. These are used for toileting and come in very handy.
· Going away on holiday: Please make sure you have emailed through these days. Moa gives each child three weeks a year holiday fees, which is 50% off the normal rate. We need to be emailed and informed to put this discount on.
Governance Committee
The next Governance Committee meeting will be Monday 21st July.
Preschool News
Wow, what a busy three months we’ve had at Moa! There have been many different learning experiences happening and lots of intentional teaching moments.
The tamariki have really enjoyed our Matariki project this term. We loved celebrating Matariki by focusing on one significant whetū each week leading up to the big day. This was followed by our special PJ Day and Matariki breakfast, which had an amazing turnout! The learning and involvement throughout this project has been extraordinary. We’ve had so many meaningful conversations, and the tamariki have developed a much deeper understanding of the different ngā whetū. Their knowledge has been extended and built upon in such rich ways.
The tamariki have been asking questions and even testing their whānau at home on their knowledge of the different whetū and what each one represents. For example: “Mum, it’s windy today—what’s the star of the wind again?” We’ve seen amazing artwork, experiences, and creations throughout the centre, and the tamariki have really grown through this learning. Don’t forget to check it all out! If you have any questions about Matariki, we’re more than happy to help.
Our Matariki PJ Day breakfast was a real highlight. The tamariki loved searching for a special taonga under the twinkling lights, singing waiata, and sharing delicious kai together. Matariki is such a beautiful way to come together and strengthen the important connections between home and preschool. Thank you to everyone who joined us.
We’ve also been on trips around the community, linked to our learning about the whetū. Sharleen and the kaiako took a group of tamariki to visit the Woolston Aviary, making connections to Tupu-ā-Rangi, the whetū of fruit trees and the birds that live within them.
Matariki has become well established within the centre, and we’re very proud of the incredible effort from our kaiako, whānau, and tamariki for embracing it and learning alongside us.
Te Wā Tuakana has also been in full swing this Matariki season. We began with a planning session where the tamariki shared all their ideas and discussed each star. The kaiako then wrote these ideas on the wall as our plan for Matariki. Our Wā Tuakana tamariki have shown amazing leadership, and the interest and enthusiasm have been fantastic.
When we plan our projects, we do so with the interests of groups of tamariki in mind—based on what they’re doing and engaging with in the classroom. We then hold a leadership hui with our four-year-olds and extend the learning by capturing their voices. Once the hui has finished, they celebrate with a hot chocolate. This has been a wonderful way to spark and extend learning. These ideas are then shared with all tamariki, and we co-construct a plan from there. We’re really looking forward to seeing what the next project will be—once we observe the children’s current interests, we’ll plan accordingly over the next month.
A big shout-out to our kaiako and their leadership, as well as the committee and whānau, for supporting the kaiako in their learning and development through using iPads. You may have noticed the amazing videos and special moments being shared on our community page. The kaiako are growing in their digital skills, and tamariki learning is being captured and extended beautifully. If you have any questions about this learning, please feel free to chat with us.
You’re always welcome to come into Moa and share any skills you have that could be a learning opportunity for the tamariki—we value whānau input and would love to build stronger connections.
Quick reminder: Please remember to pack gumboots and warm clothes for outdoor play as we head into winter.
Ngā mihi – thank you, whānau!
Shay
Nursery News
Can you believe we’re already halfway through the year? Time flies! It’s been a wonderful few months in the nursery as we welcomed new tamariki who have settled in amazingly. We’ve been building new relationships with new families, and Lily, Hayes, and Arthur have fully settled into the nursery room. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you all, and we can’t wait to help your little ones on their new learning journeys.
This term, we’ll be saying goodbye to many of our older tamariki as they turn two in August. Some of them may have already started or will be starting their transition over the next couple of weeks. Our little mother hen, Molly, is our first to say goodbye as she’s turning two this week. She’s had the best transition, now spending time with her older sister and loving the new space. Every time she goes over, the older children want to join her, so hopefully, their transitions will be just as smooth.
Goldie, Indi, and Sunny will be our next three as their birthdays are all within a few weeks of each other. Because of this, they’ll have some time where their transitions will overlap, and they’ll get to enjoy this process together. It’s such an exciting time for our older tamariki, and we can’t wait to celebrate their birthdays in the nursery room too.
This leads me to our current review of revamping how we celebrate a second birthday within the nursery. I’d like to express my gratitude to the parents who responded to my email a few weeks ago. We received such wonderful and positive feedback about our wishes. We believe it would be a great ending to the children’s time in the nursery as we get to celebrate all their achievements together.
Over the next few weeks, the nursery team will gather to discuss the upcoming changes. While we haven’t progressed far yet, we promise to have something special in store for our next tamariki transitioning to preschool next month. We appreciate your patience, and we’re all excited about this change.
As some of you may know, we currently have a student, Abby D’Almeida, in the nursery for the next five weeks. She started last week and has been trying to introduce herself to parents as they enter. However, it can be challenging to reach everyone. To introduce her to you all, I’d like to share some information about her.
Abby has been taking the time over the past few days to get to know each tamariki and build a trusting relationship with them. She’s a fantastic woman with five children herself, so she already has great knowledge of children. You can find a brief introduction about her on the nursery whiteboard as you enter the room. If you have a spare minute or two, feel free to read it and get to know her better.
Matariki is such a special time of year for us, and it’s incredible that we get to celebrate it as a centre. It was my first Matariki in the nursery, so it was slightly different for me this year, but it was just as enjoyable to explore. We broke down the Matariki into one star a day for the nursery, which was perfect. The children were able to engage in the wonderful experiences provided and learn more about this culture. The iPads have allowed us to create more content for this learning, making it easier to showcase. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the programme and are looking forward to doing it all again next year.
During this time, we also had our first bus trip with the big six-seater pram. It was a highlight for the children who came along, but unfortunately the pram didn’t fit on the bus. However, we’re determined to find a solution. We’ll put on our thinking caps and brainstorm ideas until we can make a bus trip work in the future.
We’re excited to see what the next term brings! Thank you for reading.
Learning Term 2 Te Waā Tuakana
Matariki as the overall project this term
· Te Reo Māori, waiata, karakia, place names
· Project work: Matariki
· Stations
· Learning new Karakia for Kai
· School visits
Corn and cheese roll-ups
With winter upon us and having lots of soup, why not make these corn and cheese rolls to dip in that yummy soup 😊
Ingredients
8 slices of any type of bread
Grated cheddar cheese (2 tbs per slice of bread)
8 tbs corn kernels (canned, drained)
20 gm melted butter
To serve - sweet chilli sauce
Method:
1. Cut the crusts of each slice of bread. I make bread crumbs with the crusts.
2. Flatten each slice of bread with a rolling pin.
3. Place 2 tbs grated cheese and 1 tbs corn kernels on each flattened piece of bread.
4. Roll each slice of bread and squeeze ends to seal them.
5. Using a hotplate accessory on a BBQ, preheat and set it to med/high.
6. Place each roll up on the BBQ and brush with melted butter. Turn them frequently and toast all sides, until golden brown for about 4 to 5 minutes.
· Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce.
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