[Parent, Bev, speaking to camera]

Bev Ngaporo: The holistic approach to the children that these women have is just amazing.

You know I sit here in awe of them sometimes, listening to what they do, or how they plan things, or an activity outside, the thoughts behind that activity what it’s trying to encourage and it just blows me away because they’re ever learning, ever evolving.

For a very small centre they look outside for ways that they can better themselves.

[Kaiako, Lisa, speaking to camera]

Lisa Thompson: We have such small numbers that we are able to be fully aware of where our children are progressing and how they’re progressing and that’s not only reflected in our portfolios and displays on the walls, but also within our conversations with each other and our families.

[Kaiako, Deeana, speaking to camera]

Deeana Niha: Sure, I think those relationships that we have with our families when we speak with them and converse and talk about those achievements, and that’s how we know as leaders that they’re succeeding.

It becomes evident through what their whānau say about them, what their whānau bring to the centre, and what we share with whānau. And as Lisa said, you know, it’s also reflected right throughout the planning processes and the models, and the portfolios, and the stories, and the conversations, and all of those things. I think as leaders, that’s something that really tells us that they’ve been successful.

[Kaiako, Lisa, speaking to camera]

Lisa Thompson: We invite our parents to write their aspiration down on a wee koru-shaped piece of card that’s transferred into their portfolios for us as teachers to refer back to, and ensure that we are incorporating into their stories and looking for those things as well.

[The koru cards parents write stuck to the wall and a photograph of tamariki wearing korowai with their parents' aspirations sewn onto it]

Lisa Thomspson: And then those shapes, those koru shapes with the aspirations, are sewn into our korowai which is used for our children that are graduating off to school, so they get to wear that cloak.

[Parent, Bev, speaking to camera]

Bev Ngaporo: With our dreams and our hopes for our children that we write, and it’s put on, it encourages us to make sure that those things happen as well, and the staff here are aware that that’s what we want for our children, the best of the best.

[Scan of photographs on the wall of tamariki wearing the korowai, cloak, with the koru card aspirations sewn on.]

Bev Ngaporo: The children use it as, in my opinion, they use it as something physical they can see and touch that they aspire to and it’s an acknowledgement of how they’ve grown and developed and are ready to make that transition.

[Kaiako, Deeana, speaking to camera]

Deeana Niha: It’s such an empowering experience for whānau, teachers, tamariki, everybody involved in our learning community when we actually have that adorning ceremony where our children get to wear that korowai.

[Kaiako, Lisa, speaking to camera]

Lisa Thompson: We do up a particular portfolio for our children that are transferring to school, that is a collection of stories about who that child is and that it would go with them when they have their very first school visit, that it stays there at the school, that the teacher uses it.

There’s an invitation at the beginning of that inviting the teacher to come and visit them here and that this is, you know, is a snapshot of who this person is.

My experience with my own son was one where those things I think just became so much more important.

[Photographs of Max playing outside, painting, and sitting in the sandpit]

Lisa Thompson: Max has cerebral palsy and he cannot walk and he doesn’t have any verbal language at all. He started here when he was two so that was one of those journeys that all of the teachers went on, including myself, on how do we work to adapt a curriculum for somebody that doesn’t have independent mobility and can’t communicate verbally? And I think from that, certainly we learnt a lot of sign language, we learnt to read body language fantastically, and to anticipate things, and we also learnt that really, it’s not all that hard.

[Kaiako, Lisa, speaking to camera]

Lisa Thompson: We had built up lots of knowledge about how to record Max’s stories, how to measure his achievements and the ways in which we showed that, and there was a whole variety of ways.

Photographs were really important for him but also being able to show his signing, that that was his voice.

Inclusion should be easily accessible for any child, whether it be in early childhood or primary school, if we’re working on the basis that we’re looking at children’s individual needs, and strengths, and adapting our curriculum that way, which is what we do.