Anne Singh has been with Auckland Council’s Kauri Kids early childhood education (ECE) for nearly five years, with 2016 being her debut as head teacher in Howick.
As well as playing a key role in educating and caring for the local children, she works with many different committees and groups to give the children in her centre a rich learning experience.
“I always look for ways to build future citizens of New Zealand,” she says.
“If we look after the small details, the big things will fall into place.”
Anne is aiming high for Howick, hoping to develop the centre into the best ECE centre in Auckland. This year, she oversaw many important projects, including a successful Educational Review Office report, the re-fit of their playground and health and safety initiatives.
"Health, safety and wellness is my passion"
“Health, safety and wellness is my passion and it is great to see it come to life at our early childhood learning centre. It is all for the children’s benefit,” she says.
Anne’s approach to early childhood development is to add elements of fun and use many different contexts to create opportunities for learning, such as collaborating with the Recreation Team at Howick Leisure Centre to provide Kiwi Sports and building a partnership with the Healthy Heart Foundation and Get Set Go in support of physical literacy.
Forging strong links with the community
Anne and her team are now working on strengthening their links to the community by organising special visits from the local library, making connections with local schools to support the transition to school process as well as planning swimming lessons for the children in the near future.
“We cater for each child’s own interests and stages. When we used to programme plan in groups, we found that some children didn’t want to learn about a particular topic so we now plan for them individually," she explains.
Letting the kids decide what works
Although she interacts with children, parents, families and staff, Anne has one principle which holds true for each child.
“By asking questions and letting them choose, we gain their respect and buy-in and ultimately give them a sense of belonging."
Find out more
To find out more about the great work that Kauri Kids Howick does, call 09 535 7507 or fill out an enquiry form.
