Welcome to Pūkeko

The teachers in Pūkeko are Alicia Bell, Muriel Pehi, Michael Leung, Jane Baugh and Michelle Gordon (Team Leader).

Our team also includes some wonderful teacher aides and release teachers, who support our children with their learning. As a collaborative teaching team, we share responsibility for all of the students and their learning.

Learning Programme

When children start in Pūkeko, as New Entrant 5 year olds, they will begin in our Kōhanga (Nest), our focus is on settling them into school and making sure they are happy and comfortable. We do this by getting to know your child and building a genuine relationship with them. The teachers also work to support new children to learn the routines and to make friends.

If your child has already started school and is just beginning their journey at Wigram Primary School, we will have a conversation with you about whether they start in Kōhanga or join our more established Pūkeko team.

When we see children are happy at school and ready for learning, they will be placed in small groups for Literacy  and Mathematics instruction throughout the week. Placement in these groups reflects what students can already do and what they need to learn next. Your child will be mostly working in a group of children with similar learning goals. These groups are flexible as learning develops at different rates for each child.

Each term we have a learning concept to explore and learn about. We look at topics from the Science, Social Sciences, Health, Technology, PE and The Arts curriculum. We engage the children in experiences that spark their interest and then we encourage them to ask questions and extend their thinking.

HEART Zones are also an important part of the learning we do in Pūkeko. These are the play activities we create with the children, that they are able to choose from during certain times of the day. These activities support a smooth transition to school, as many of the activities will be familiar to the children from preschool/kindergarten settings (e.g. playdough, construction, arts and crafts, role play, dress-ups, etc). HEART  Zone activities provide an opportunity for children to develop collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, thinking, self-management and oral language skills and experiences. At HEART  Zones time we place emphasis on our School HEART Values of Hauora, Explore, Aspire, Respect and Taonga (Treasure) and these are what we reflect on, use to set goals, and to celebrate our successes.

Please always feel free to contact any of us with any questions or concerns that you may have.

We look forward to working with you and your children this year.