Marcia Knight
Centre Manager

Wilton

Our Childspace Wilton centre offers both part and full time spaces for 34 children from ages 2-5 years.

We are located at 213 Wilton Road, right next to the surrey street park. Our centre has a strong culture of tuakana-teina (learning from peers) which we foster by having children 2-5 years in one large learning space. Alongside this each child has a primary caregiver who builds a trusting and nurturing relationship with the children and their families.

The teaching team at Wilton create a learning programme that fosters self directed play and the teachers provide a selection of learning experiences based on observations of childrens current interests.

We base our practise around virtues and how children can be empowered to model to and support their peers throughout each day. Our team are also inspired by the work of Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber which ensures that the basis of our practise with children is respect.

Being located right next to the surrey street park provides an alternative space for children to explore. We spend most late afternoons at the park providng plenty of space for running games, rough and tumble, imaginative play and gross motor development.

We offer an innovative programming system which celebrates individual children’s interests and strengths in their journey of learning and development. Each child has a profile book which their primary caregiver adds to with stories about their interests and development. We also use an online system called Educa which means that parents have a choice if they would like to be able to access stories and photos of their children through an online system, a great way to stay in touch!

 Our centre has 'parent conversations' twice each year. These are a special time where parents are invited to come and meet with their childs primary teacher. Parents share stories about their child and the teachers respond with a written summary of the childs individual learning and development in the centre over the previous 6 months. This is not to replace day to day interaction with families but to provide a focussed time to share.

Parents are also welcome to attend workshops provided by the teaching team at Wilton, our early childhood institute or by an outside speaker. These workshops provide new knowledge for familes and support parents in areas that are of current interest. So far we have had workshops such as, food & nutrition, self regulation, child behaviour, fathering, ukulele and much more!

Our Wilton team plan many fun events for the families in our centre, we have fathers and mothers day breakfasts, special birthday celebrations, sleep overs and often include engaging outside performers and puppet shows as part of our annual programme.

Parent reflection:

" I have always found the teachers at Childspace warm and generous with their time when it comes to discussing family values or anything that is important to us".

" We love the activites that the centre provide, we think the programme and daily care is very good".