Our Services
Services included in fees
Superior staff to children ratios (up to double the regulated requirement, refer our staff policy)
High proportion of qualified teachers
Purpose-built, architecturally designed childcare centres side-by-side on sunny flat sections
Central Johnsonville location with easy transport links
On-site short term parking for drop-offs and pick-ups
Regular excursions within walking distance of the centre (refer Excursions Policy) and Nature Explore trips further afield
Fully flexible access from 7.30am to 6pm (or from 8.30am to 3.30pm if enrolled short days)
Nutritious cooked lunches, and morning and afternoon snacks, including plenty of fruit and vegetables. Food can be tailored to meet individual needs, for example for babies starting solids or children with allergies.
Access to water or milk/formula at all times for all children (parents are welcome to supply their own preferred brand of formula or expressed breast milk for storage in our fridge).
Environmentally friendly policies - we encourage you to opt-in to our washable nappies scheme and we will wash them for you! Or we will supply nappies free of charge for all children at Te Purapura (no need to supply your own!). Further information about the use of washable nappies can be found on the"Cloth Nappies" page.
Changes of clothing kept at the centre washed for you.
Individual sleeping sacks provided for all children, washed regularly.
Sunscreen supplied by us, but if possible apply at home every morning except in winter.
Groups
Daisies caters for the care and education of 60 children Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 6.00pm. There are three groups in Te Purapura and two in Te Pihinga. Having smaller multiple groups allows us to implement and plan our investigation based curriculum to its fullest potential:
Te Purapura
Koromiko: babies and toddlers aged about 15 months - or the age they demonstrate that they are ready to transition to the next group. Where possible, children of a similar age transition to the older group with their Key Teacher, and in consultation with families;
Nīkau & Rātā: mobile toddlers and young children over the age of about 15 months.
Te Pihinga
Rimu & Whanake: toddlers and young children up to about the age of 5 (or 6) years.
Note that we encourage children to stay at Daisies until they are ready for school, which may be right up until their 6th birthday.
Teachers
Each child has a Key Teacher who assumes overall responsibility for the well-being, learning and development of the child, does most of the intimate care-giving for the child and is the main point of contact for the family. A "secondary" key teacher is also assigned for each child; who looks out for a designated child when his or her Key Teacher is absent. Secondary key teachers for Koromiko children may be in Nīkau/Rātā as this helps provide continuity for Koromiko children as they transition into those groups.
Children do not interact solely with their assigned Key Teacher in set groups. Rather, the Key Teacher's role is to get to know these children and their families very well and ensure she carefully observes and documents those children's learning. The Key Teacher (also called primary caregiver) system is based on pediatric research (Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber) that showed that infants and toddlers' sense of security is markedly enhanced when the baby or child has 'their' special person at a centre. It also enhances respectful relationships.
Typically,
Teachers have key groups of five to six children.
Key and/or secondary teachers remain consistent for each child during their time within Te Purapura and similarly within Te Pihinga.
As children leave (e.g., start school) and new ones start at Daisies, or teachers change jobs, Key/Secondary Teachers may occasionally need to be re-assigned.
Ratios
The ratios of Key Teachers to children do not translate to hour-by-hour teaching ratios, since not all teachers are interacting with children at all times. This is because teachers work at most 8 hours per day (while Daisies is open 10.5 hours each day) and because teachers need breaks. For the majority of the day, we have 6-7 teachers working with the children in Te Purapura and 4-5 teachers working with the children in Te Pihinga which broadly relates to ratios of 1:3 or 1:4 for children under the age of 2 years, and 1:6 or 1:7 for children over 2.
The regulated minimum ratio for education and care centres set by Government is 1:5 for children under 2 years, and 1:10 for children aged 2 to 5 years. In addition, Government regulations require a minimum of 50% of qualified and registered teaching staff (for the maximum specified ratios). Over 80% of our teachers are qualified and registered early childhood teachers, and often we will have 100% qualified teachers teaching.
Our teachers are deployed in a number of ways during the week - for example, to allow small groups to go on excursions with a very high ratio, other teachers may remain behind on a lower ratio during the excursion period. Each teacher has four hours non-contact time per week to undertake other professional tasks such as reflecting on their Key children interests and compiling Learning Journals (in StoryPark), planning learning programmes, updating displays and keeping the Daisies environment pleasing, documenting investigations.
An experienced head teacher is employed as the professional leader of each staff team so that a high-quality care and education programme is maintained. At least one other teacher in each house is also designated as an educational leader to work with the head teacher in leading teachers in implementing the curriculum.
Casual relieving staff are employed on an as-needed basis.
Teacher-only days
Daisies is closed on two days each year for kaiako to engage in professional learning and development, typically near Wellington Anniversary Day and in Spring (term 3).
Holiday Closures
Daisies is closed for statutory holidays, and over the Christmas-New Year period to provide a much needed break for our teachers and for the children too. In general, we will be closed for five working days plus statutory holidays from 3pm on the day before Christmas Eve until the second working day after New Year. Hours may be slightly shorter for the first few days back in the new year. The actual close-down period may be adjusted slightly depending on which day of the week Christmas Day falls. Fees remain payable for this period so Automatic Payments should not be amended.