Sunny Days is a licensed early childhood learning centre for tamariki aged 0-5 prioritising the mana and wairua of children, parents, and whānau. Our experienced and passionate kaiako offer excellent teacher-to-child ratios and continuous professional development, ensuring your child receives high-quality care and education.
Our philosophy
Kaiako understand that each child comes with their own mana, story and experiences. We provide a bi-cultural curriculum and celebrate the many cultures within our diverse community. Kaiako will nurture and support your child to grow and learn in their own unique way, becoming confident and capable learners.
Kaiako are guided by four focus learning areas:
- Whakawhanaungatanga
- With aroha, fun and joy, kaiako will develop, support, and strengthen relationships by working in partnership with whānau, through whānau aspirations, children’s ideas, and interests.
- Manaakitanga
- Kaiako will support tamariki to develop meaningful connections with our natural environment through gardening, harvesting and respecting Papatūānuku.
- Mana Reo
- Kaiako believe enriched communication and social skills are key for preparing tamariki for the wider world and beyond.
- Kaiako will use a wide range of strategies to teach tamariki to express their feelings, their ideas, and to have their needs met.
- Whakamana
- As ako, embracing our cultural connections through local knowledge is important to us.
- Kaiako will provide tamariki with many opportunities to problem solve and engage in deeper thinking, building a strong sense of identity, confidence, self-esteem, and resilience (empowerment).
Our Values
We are part of a not-for-profit service that is grounded in core values:
- Provide every child an opportunity for early childhood learning so all children can start school with an equal level of education.
- Value parent and whānau involvement, recognising parents as first teachers.
- Embrace our bicultural curriculum and the principles of Kotahitanga; Whakamana; Whānau Tangata and Ngā Hononga.
- Work in partnership with Māori and celebrate the cultural richness and diversity of our tamariki and their whānau.
- Provide environments that are nurturing, friendly, safe and secure.
- Provide holistic programmes that offer routines which are flexible; experiences which are varied and challenging; and opportunities for exploration and thinking.
- Recognise and support children as individuals and foster self-esteem.
- Reflect, report, document, assess, review and evaluate what we do to achieve best practices.
- Guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we work in partnership with Māori and celebrate the bicultural and multicultural identity of Aotearoa.
Relationships with parents/whānau are fundamental to your child’s learning and development; we acknowledge that you know your child best. We encourage and value your input and invite you to spend time with us to support both you and your child’s sense of belonging at Sunny Days.
Our approach is varied, responsive, and centred on each individual child, with their learning journey documented in personal profile books and regularly shared with whānau.
We welcome conversations about how we care for your tamariki — our full policies and procedures are available at the centre whenever you need them or contact us for more information.
Our history
Sunny Days is part of Weave Hawke’s Bay, a not-for-profit organisation with over 40 years of experience supporting local whānau. Our origins date back to 1983, evolving from a small playgroup to a fully licensed centre with a strong reputation that is licensed for 62 children.
Find out more
Explore our website for more information or contact us on 06 842 2101 to find out more.
