Term one evaluation linked to TSAP

Throughout term one there have been many changes and clarifications with Alyssa as our new head
teacher at Island Bay Kindergarten. A lot of these changes have revolved around Te Whare Tapa Whā,
specifically working around how we support Taha tinana – physical health.

Some of these changes have helped the team work consistently to support children’s health and
adhere to ministry regulations. This has been a great help for me to see clearly what expectations are
and what we need to be doing to best support tamariki and whānau that support their physical
being.

I have seen professional growth in myself as I better prioritise the care routines that ākonga require.
While we were working on focusing on younger children in our last SIE Alyssa came in with great
knowledge of routines and care that best suit ākonga and she has helped the team grow in this area
and aided us to develop our SIE focus which is now wrapped up into the TSAP.

Having these changes implemented are supporting us to work more effectively to support children’s
health and well-being. Sometimes in the past we may have been more focused on provocations and
extending children’s learning. Having this new focus has helped us to work more toward the care and
well-being of our tamariki.

Many of these changes have been great and beneficial to tamariki and whānau, they meet regulation
requirements - such as the clarification surrounding children who are on the toilet list being checked
every two hours. However, when There are some aspects of how we implement these changes that
need to be looked at and reviewed as a team in a way that is open and people feel safe to voice their
opinions.

While I appreciate there cannot always be flexibility, for example in regulation based changes. For all
kaiako feel listened to and supported in their pracice we need to have a degree of flexibility and
appreciation of each others differing views and beliefs ‘demonstrates an open mind to explore
diering views and reflect on own beliefs and values’ Tatatiako, p4.

We touched briefly on ‘pink’ and ‘red rules’ with Kath Cooper in a team building exercise recently,
the need for teaching teams to have adaptability and autonomy to cater to ākonga in diverse ways
that suit their needs is necessary and stands alongside my own philosophy. I however do not see this
happening at our Kindergarten sometimes with our robust new systems and rules, kaiako are often
worried they will be told off for not following or enforcing a lot of pink rules, sometimes against the
consent of the child which I find myself struggling with.

For the benefit of all Kaiako, ākonga and whānau; manaakitanga and harmony amongst the team is
so very crucial, everyone needs to feel valued and happy here with the priority being the needs and
requirements of our children. Our personal teaching philosophies are also especially important, and I
hope looking forward we can do more work that allows us to share our philosophies and what values
and beliefs we find importance in. After all we are all unique individuals who have our own ways of
being and doing – such as in how we interact and support children with our own teaching strategies
that have value.

This brings me back to thinking about my time working at whānau manaaki and what I have learnt
about how ākonga have multiple ways of being, thus adapting our practice and routines to cater for
these multiple ways of doing ‘Teachers should be careful of beliefs about treating all children the
same, and acknowledge that Māori children and their whānau do need to be treated differently’ -
ERO, 2012.