Toru Fetū Kindergarten, Porirua

Toru Fetū is the first purpose-built Pasifika centre in the world. Located in Cannons Creek, it nurtures three Pasifika languages - Cook Island Māori, Tuvalu and Niuean - and offers a service for children from six months to five years. The centre recieved the Prime Minister’s award for excellence because of its strong relationships with community.

Toru Fetū is an integrated service that helps families access Plunket, dental health, B4 School Check nurses, ear nurses as well as other services. We offer morning playgroups, and support positive transitions to primary school.

The mission at Toru Fetū Kindergarten is to be a place that nurtures a sense of pride, togetherness and belonging for all, while celebrating the language and culture of each Pasifika nation.

The kindergarten came about because of the vision of the Tuvalu, Niue and Cook Island communities in Porirua. Wellington Kindergartens (now Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens) supported the community vision after three playgroups wanted to extend what they offered to families, while keeping their language and culture alive.

Niue Aoga Tama Ikiiki, Cook Islands Te Punanga Reo Kuki Airani Porirua and Tuvale Akoga playgroups were all operating in Porirua East.

The Ministry of Education provided some of the funds for the building, and the kindergarten opened in 2010, with separate classrooms for each of the cultures, and a shared playground.  There’s also a large communal kitchen with free healthy lunches provided for all children attending Toru Fetū.

It offers a space for the whole community to get together for celebrations, cultural events, family events, seminars, displays or other activities. This helps families stay involved in their children’s education.

The idea of Toru Fetū was to increase the participation of Pasifika children in high quality early childhood education. This has been achieved with the close relationships of teachers and the families.

Toru Fetū space is also used for playgroups and for professional development.

In the video below kaiako Lana and Trinity talk about the importance of connection to community at Torū Fetu Kindergarten in Cannons Creek, Porirua.

 

Nuanua Kindergarten, Porirua

Nuanua Kindergarten, in the heart of Cannons Creek, nurtures the Samoan and Tokelauan languages and culture. Our teachers are fluent in these languages and use them throughout the learning experiences and activities.

Every morning children gather for Lotu (devotions), starting on a positive note with blessings that sets the tone for the day. This is also a time to welcome new children and families to the Nuanua village.  

Nuanua celebrates traditional cultural events including Samoan language week and Independence Day, Tokelauan Language week and other national days that relate to families and cultures.  We celebrate with music, dance and food.

All the teachers at Nuanua are 100 per cent qualified and registered, and all have first aid qualifications. The teaching team include teachers from Samoan, Tokelauan, Maori and Scots backgrounds.

The teachers are dedicated to providing high quality education for the children. The aspiration is for Nuanua 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.

 

Fanau Pasifika, Levin

Fanau Pasifika is the first Pasifika kindergarten in Horowhenua. Fanau Pasifika was initiated when the voice of the community was heard in 2012, in the former Cambridge Street Kindergarten.

Their programme offers unique learning opportunities for all children in our aiga (family) based environment, where children attend from under one to five years old.  

We provide opportunities for aiga and matua to be involved in our programme and we encourage them to learn alongside their fanau by staying and working with the teachers.

We begin our sessions each day with lotu (blessing).  

We have a weekly Falelalaga on Wednesdays from 10.00am until 11.00am, led by our matua and aiga with support from our faiaoga (teachers).

The topic for every Falelalaga is based around the children’s interests.  Va Feiloai ma le Faa’aa’aloalo  (warm relationships and respect) is our protocol that we live by at Fanau Pasifika every day. We also have regular kapa haka sessions and our kaiako is Anahera Winiata.

O le gagana Samoa, Tongan, English and Māori languages are all used in our kindergarten and all faiaoga are aware of what we do and seek support and help from our aiga, matua and our community.

We encourage healthy food and ask parents to help us with this by ensuring that chippies and other packaged snack foods are left at home. Water is available to the children throughout the session so we ask our matua not to send drinks along.

Traditional food is provided when we have special occasion in our kindergarten. Parents and aiga are asked to participate and contribute to these special events.

All faiaoga at Fanau Pasifika are 100% qualified.  Our team is a mixture of cultures, Samoan, Tongan and papalagi with beautiful Pasifika hearts.

Gonville Kindergarten, Whanganui

Gonville Kindergarten has been moving to strengthen their Pacific focus, as part of a two-year programme to work towards being a Pasifika hub.

Their community includes families from Niuean, Cook Island Māori, Tongan and Samoan backgrounds, while the kaiako include Samoan, Māori and Fijianas well as palagi backgrounds.

They support tamariki and families by providing a Pacific lens to teaching and learning. They have strong connections to Pacific communities and host a well-supported Samoan Language Week Programme.

 

Una Williams, Masterton

As a teaching team, Una Williams Kindergarten values strong relationships with parents/whānau/aiga, recognising the contribution this partnership brings to children’s learning and development. They strive to promote a sense of wonder and fun in a safe, positive and caring space.

As a kindergarten they acknowledge and respect our dual heritage through regular use of Te Reo Māori and respectful practices. They embrace cultural diversity, forging strong links to strengthen relationships within the community, including Pasifika.

A variety of nutritious food is available daily for children, some coming from the kindergarten garden. Breakfast, morning tea and cooking/baking experiences are offered and children are free to come to the kai table as they so choose.

 

Etu Ao Home-based Service

Etu Ao offers a strong educational programme within the culture and comfort of a home environment, based on the Pacific tradition of extended family caring for children.

Most of our home educators are informal carers for family or friends who have taken the next step by training as an educator.  Etu Ao educators work in partnership with qualified teachers to create positive learning environments and experiences for children.

Staff in our organisation speak Samoan, Cook Island Māori, Māori, Tokelauan and Niuean so you can email or ask that someone calls and speaks to you in one of these languages.

For families who have difficulties with transport to and from their Etu Ao provider, or kindergarten we offer a free transport service.