Thu, Jul 4, 2024 2:00 PM
Matariki time of new beginnings
Back left: head teacher Amore Riki and Rachel Woodyear-Smith. Front, from left, are Bridge Street Kindergarten four-year-olds Hana O’Connor, Milana Veremyuk, Anton Schadewinkel, Timofey Gavrilov, Ollie Britten, Clara Thomas, and Frankie Little holding their Atua. Photo: Sara Hollyman.
Sara Hollyman
Many have celebrated Matariki in the past week, but for one Nelson kindergarten, it truly marked a new beginning.
What was formerly Bridge Street Early Learning Centre joined with Health Kids at the beginning of the year after their lease ended on Nelson Hospital grounds.
The two early childhoods merged to form Bridge Street Kindergarten – a Nelson Tasman Kindergarten.
The first Matariki celebration was held last week for whānau and friends with the centre’s children singing their hearts out, many performing in front of a crowd for the first time.
One of the highlights, according to teacher Rachel Woodyear-Smith, was welcoming back the Atua/Māori guardians after they were transferred from the former Health Kids site.
“These Atua were meticulously hand crafted by Stephen Baumberger and painted by his wife Brigitt,” Rachel says of the guardians crafted from the book In the Beginning.
“Our Atua play a pivotal role in providing a bi-cultural curriculum that reflects the aspirations of our whānau and local iwi.
“The tamariki talk about being like Tāwhiri-mātea as they fly through the air on our rope swing, or being a leader like Tāne-mahuta which hangs from our huge heritage weeping elm tree, which sits in the heart of our play space,” she says.
