Our Facilities | ACG Penguins School ELS

FACILITIES

Indoor Spaces

Our indoor spaces all flow from a central hallway and reception area, complete with our custom designed aquarium.

Our entrance hall is where our parent/whanau notice boards are located, and this is where you will find information about centre events, and pamphlets about community orientated activities for children. This is also where you will find our parent policies, centre philosophy, values and strategic plan which is guiding the growth and development of our centre over the coming years.

Infant Rooms

Our infant area is comfortable and homely with 2 rooms catering for a maximum of 20 children in total. Our infants have access to their own outdoor spaces, which encourage free movement and exploration. Our teachers in this area specialise in infant care, and are happy to answer any questions about the philosophy that underpins our day to day interactions with our infants. To read about this in more detail please click here.

Toddler Rooms

Our Toddler area provides space and opportunity for energetic exploration, and also has quiet areas to retreat to, such as our little house on the hill. As with all our playgrounds, we provide natural grassy areas for children to enjoy, along with features such as macrocarpa decking, bridges and stepping stones. Moveable equipment is also utilised to ensure the children are continuing to develop a range of essential physical skills.

We recognise our toddler’s efforts to assert themselves as individuals, and therefore we choose to staff our toddler room well above the required Ministry of Education ratio’s. This age group is typically where emerging independent skills, good toileting practices, and working co-operatively alongside other children, tend to begin being established. We also recognise the significant transition from our infant area, and the importance of having teachers available to spend time one on one with children.

Preschool Rooms

In our Pre-School areas, the children have access to devices such as cameras and iPad’s to enable them to experience and become familiar with technology and its many uses. We use the internet to enable children to access information about things they are keen to investigate. In these rooms we also focus on supporting and developing learning dispositions, such as perseverance, which are incredibly important given that the process of mastering a skill such as writing can take numerous years!

1 and a half acre site

Playground features in these areas include swings, slides, bike trails, water features and our pirate ship.

All rooms in the centre have access to our centre orchard, which the children harvest and re-plant alongside their teachers. We are also committed to recycling and the children are educated about how to separate waste accordingly.

Food is prepared onsite in our main kitchen and we provide healthy and nutritious meals and snacks on a daily basis. You will find the daily menu located on our Health and Nutrition board in reception.