What makes a Kidicorp teacher special?
02 May 2011
Paula-Mae, centre manager at Natural Learning is one of the amazing teachers who works for Kidicorp who takes community to heart. As centre manager of Natural Learning child care in Delta Ave, New Lynn she has introduced breakfasts for children who get dropped off early to ensure they have the nutrition they need to last through the learning day.
When one mum said, "its hard to get an appointment for the Doctor and take time off work," Paula-Mae arranged for local Doctor Gary Wu, from the Doctors, New Lynn to begin two weekly visits to the centre to support families with health and medical care for their children. Having the same Doctor look after the children is another bonus, you get consistency and a Doctor who really knows your children. It is hard when parents are having to see different Doctors who are not familiar with their child's health issues and this happens for many working parents when they need to use emergency or after hours medical clinics regularly. It also takes another financial pressure off families.
Paula-Mae treats all the children as an extension of her family and her centre certainly feels like a home away from home. Her centre is a warm multi-cultural environment with a number of different ethnicities in the teaching team offering cultural support as well as first languages.
She has been known to go the extra mile for her 'kids' and when a Child Youth and Family caregiver wanted to enrol a five year old who was in CYF's permanent care and not in school, despite their being no financial support for his childcare fees the parent company Kidicorp agreed to approve his care until subsidies were arranged.
A recent initiative was purchasing "Are you okay?' t-shirts as alternative centre uniforms, so the staff can show their proud support for Stopping Family Violence.
Says proud mum of Zoe pictured, "I had no idea when I enrolled Zoe in child care that this was the kind of learning she would get before school. I am sure that when she gets to school, even though the classes will be much bigger, what she already knows will help her at primary school. The teachers at Natural Learning sure make learning fun for all of the kids."
Adds Paula-Mae, I'm passionate about my kids, not one of my families is the same and I like to think our teaching team work closely with each family to make sure that each child gets the best support so that they get the most out of school and get a buzz out of learning."
