The Cubby Way

The Cubby is our beautiful home, built for whānau.

Part of our My Treehut whānau, ready for the littlest members of your family to come, grow, blossom and love.

Follow the tree lined path up onto our spacious covered deck where cubbies await to store a bag full of changes of clothes for the day. Drop yesterdays cloth nappy into the bucket to be sorted by your kaiako, and step through the doors into our whānau room where the smells of home welcome you. You will hear the sound of laughter, may see a road taped to the floor, or a picnic for dolls and see the beauty of the Cubby garden inviting you to come and explore. You zoom a car around the track, head out to play catch, then watch your tamaiti jump fearlessly from the obstacle course – a new trick! They give you a quick cuddle goodbye, and they are off with a kaiako to check how the veges are growing in our garden. You sign your tamaiti in on the tablet to your left, and you are both ready for a great day.

Our youngest learners need consistency and predictability to be able to develop relationships and a sense of belonging so that they can be confident to grow and explore.

Our kaiako eat with our tamariki and take their breaks throughout the day around the needs of their important little friends. This wonderful team is based on communication. This provides space for true relationships to form and for the team to grow and support one another.

We have an amazing cloth nappy scheme, which helps us to reduce waste, and your tamaiti will be in a cloth nappy through their day. We have the perfect size toilet for those taking the next step! You are welcome to send a disposable nappy with your tamaiti, to wear when heading home, or you can opt into our scheme, where your tamaiti will go home in a clean nappy, and a nappy will be provided for you to take home for them to wear in the next morning they are at The Cubby.

Parents

At The Cubby we truly value whānau and we want to know what your home experiences are, what you get up to with your tamaiti at home, what inspires your whānau – whether this is pets, places, activities or people. We love to hear about what you have been doing out and about, as well as your daily journey. These exchanges provide the basis of a strong reciprocal relationship. We want you to feel at home at The Cubby and we look forward to sharing the day your tamaiti has had. Our 1-4 kaiako to tamariki ratio means everyone is seen, and everyone is heard.

Kai

Lunch and daily baking is brought down the pathway from My Treehut  by a kaiako and often our My Treehut tuakana, then served by kaiako at The Cubby. The Cubby team prepare fresh fruit and vegetable snacks throughout the day, with baking, crackers and cheese, or maybe a sandwich. Tamariki at The Cubby are active and exploring in so many ways – all of which is hungry work!

The kaiako eat lunch with the tamariki. This provides a calm, relaxed mealtime, kaiako chat with the tamariki about their day so far, and plans for the afternoon while assisting tamariki as needed – like a whānau.

A well stocked fruit bowl is available for parents to grab a piece of fruit and a cuppa in a takeaway reusable cup to take on their way in or out of The Cubby at either end of the day. Ask us if we have baking leftover!

Discovery Folders

Learning is documented in Discovery Folders.  This is a beautiful book that your tamaiti can read, contribute to and share at home. These are accessible to all throughout the day, helping tamariki make connection with their learning. Your Discovery Folder is also available online on Storypark. This electronic form is a wonderful way for you to share with whānau what your child has been up to.You can invite as many people to your profile as you like! You are also able to contribute to learning stories for your tamaiti. We love to hear whānau voice and see this as an important part of the learning journey your tamaiti is on.

Communication

We use Storypark for our most frequent communication. When your tamaiti begins we will send you a link to their Storypark profile. Each time a new story is posted to Storypark, you will receive an email notification. We will post Community notices to Storypark, this may be about what has been happening at The Cubby, an upcoming event or anything else we need to share. We can also send you a private message through Storypark, including images.

We use Facebook for more general sharing, though this is never images of full faces. We will not tag tamariki. You are welcome to tag your own tamaiti but please don’t tag anyone else’s. You are able to opt out of any image sharing as you wish, this is discussed at your initial induction. We respect everyone’s right to privacy.