ABOUT OUR KINDERGARTEN
Marfell Kindergarten is located in West New Plymouth and has been supporting the hapori of Marfell since 1968. In 2015 the building was rebuilt into a purpose-built, modern kindergarten, meeting the needs of kindergarten tamariki now, and well into the future.
In 2015 the late Rev Albie Martin spent time in our kindergarten and gifted us the name Te Whare Oranga Marfell Kindergarten. This means The House of Well Being as this is what he saw, felt and heard. It was a generous gift, and we are very proud of the taonga he bestowed upon us.
WHAT MAKES OUR KINDERGARTEN SPECIAL
• Marfell Kindergarten is a community based kindergarten, providing quality early childhood education for tamariki. The principles of whānaungatanga and manākitanga underpin our philosophy, as we believe reciprocal relationships are the way to keep tamariki at the heart of the matter.
• Our learning priorities for tamariki are communication, social competence and identity (language, culture and identity), and supporting these is a feature in our programme.
• We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with whānau to support them in their role as whānau. We walk alongside and acknowledge that they know their tamaiti (child) the best, and we learn from them. We seek aspirations (for their tamaiti) from whānau and include them in the planning and assessment process.
• We celebrate diversity, and welcome all cultures to add to the richness of experience at our kindergarten.
• Te Whare Oranga Marfell Kindergarten is a hub in our hapori (community) and we work with local kura (schools) and outside supporting agencies, to ensure tamariki (children) and their whānau (family) feel this is a safe place to belong, and be present.
ABOUT OUR KINDERGARTEN ENVIRONMENT
• We are well resourced and thoughtful about the resources we purchase.
• We want our tamariki to see themselves reflected in our programme, to have resources that will extend and challenge them, and to have resources that provide opportunities to enhance self help and social skills.
• We work to follow the strengths and interests of tamariki and our resource base suggests this. We want tamariki to feel safe, explore, experiment, engage, be engaged with and have fun, seeing themselves as capable and competent learners.
• We are an Enviroschool and achieved our Bronze Award in 2022.
• We encourage tamariki to be kaitiaki of themselves, others and their environment.
WHĀNAU COMMENTS
“Very welcoming, feels like home” – Stevee
“Kaiako are wonderful, son loves it. Its a great place and he is learning heaps, more and more each day. I love the whole atmosphere, and highly recommend coming to Marfell Kindergarten” – Michaela
“Some things I love are the whole community vibe, not just about my child but the whole family context. My son has grown heaps and developed social skills. It fills up his bucket when he comes. Not being a local family we have really enjoyed and appreciated getting to know the neighbourhood tamariki” – Caitlin
“Staff are all great, always supportive of the kids and parents. You dont judge, I feel like I fit in, and its was apparent from the get go. You all embrace the individual child that they are, no matter what. Kids never cry going here, they are always happy to be here.” – Cheyanne
