ENROLMENT
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Meet some of the teachers at our Albany childcare centre who want your child to be happy, cared for and to grow socially, mentally, and physically.
Centre Director - Learning Tree (based at Apollo)
Lynne is a seasoned educational professional with 27 years in Primary Education through to Deputy Principal level and entered ECE in 2008. Lynne is the Centre Director for all Learning Tree Centres.
Lynne set up and managed Lollipops state of the art Highbrook Centre with 150 children, and also established their centre at Half Moon Bay with 100 children before coming to Albany to start Learning Tree Childcare at beginning of 2012. My profession has always been in Education. I am very passionate about learning and providing children with experiences that will teach them skills in order to become competent, life long learners. I truly believe that children need to be respected and cared for with the same degree of respect that ideally we would give to adults. Hence, I have a passion for the RIE, Reggio and Pikler philosophy and feel that providing quality care and nurture for young children is extremely important. As an educator, I am committed to empowering and supporting children and their families in the transition to school process. I believe children need to experience new challenges, co-operative ventures and have the opportunity to be part of longer term projects.
I now have the fantastic role of leading an amazing team across our 3 Learning Tree sites.
Hello my name is Rita Chang and I am the Centre Manager at Learning Tree. I am fully registered and fully qualified with a diverse range of teaching experience in all 0-5 year ages and leadership roles.
I have being in the Early Childhood profession for over 15 years and I still love it. While my roles may have changed over my teaching career, my passion for providing excellence in quality teaching and practice has always remained constant. It excites me to work with teachers who are committed to working with children and committed to making a positive impact in children’s first years of their life. My core values are based on respect for oneself as a professional teacher, respect for children, families and each other as a learning community and respect for our environment. I am inspired by Reggio and Montessori but am eclectic in knowledge building and developing. I firmly believe children deserve to be respected and validated for who they are and I work with our team of teachers to ensure we are delivering on this. In my down time I enjoy spending time with family and friends, travelling, fishing, playing tennis and reading.
Kia ora I’m Levon. I am the Team Leader of our Under Two Little Bunnies and Walkers room. I’m orginially from South Africa. I moved to New Zealand in 2003 and fell in love living in this diverse multi-cultural country.
I have been working in this Centre since 2011 and I graduated with a Diploma in ECE. Early childhood education has always been a part of my life. I took great interest in caring for my sister when she was born 8 years younger, and that led me to my path of becoming an Early Childhood Teacher. I enjoy swimming, watching movies and I appreciate a good book. I also love spending time with family and friends. I strive to provide the children with a learning environment based on the aspirations that children grow up as competent, confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging, secure in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.
Hi! I’m Sam and I work with the toddlers in the Busy Beaver’s room.
I joined Learning Tree in 2012 with my two daughter Kaylan and Chloe. Now Kaylan is starting school and Chloe is moving up to the High Flyers room. I love boating and scuba diving, and spending time with my family at the beach and on the water. I hold a Bachelor of Arts, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education. My personal teaching philosophy is inspired by Reggio Emilia and Montessori. I believe that children are competent and capable and should be supported to investigate their interests in order to develop the skills and dispositions necessary to become confident lifelong learners. I believe that collaboration between teachers and parents/whanau is integral to developing children’s positive self-image and sense of belonging. In the Busy Beavers room we provide a safe and nurturing environment for children to learn and grow in, while developing positive social skills focussing on trust, respect and empathy.
Ni hao, I’m Sherry. I am a qualified teacher with a Bachelor of Teaching. I am working towards my full registration and teach in the Busy Beavers’ room.
I come from China and have been living in New Zealand for over six years. I love singing, reading, and travel. I have been working in early childhood education since 2009. I can speak fluent Mandarin and English, which help support Chinese families in my care. I believe that every individual child should be given the opportunity to have a healthy, secure and caring environment in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically and socially. All children should be encouraged to learn at their own individual pace too flourish and reach their full potential. I am passionate about working with children and look forward to knowing you and your child.
Kia ora, my name is Danelle and I currently work in our Scholars room in Preschool. I have a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education. I am originally from Christchurch but moved up to Auckland to make a life up here for myself and where I completed my degree.
My experience as a teacher, so far is greatly enriched by curriculum planning and articulating learning objectives. The contribution from children has been vital to the process of growth I have undergone since I began teaching, especially when linking to planning and assessment. I believe in observing and responding to each individual child’s needs is important. By joining in as part of their play validates and respects children’s play as knowledge and learning. Listening to them and using deep and thoughtful reflection helps me empower them. I bring a lot of energy to my class and feel as though I am perceived as a teacher who will always listen to a child and respects and honors their words. Outside of work a strong interest of mine is painting canvases and drawing in my spare time, and from here I use my own knowledge to support children to discover and create their own masterpieces.
Guten Tag. My name is Uli and I am from Germany. After gaining my diploma in Sports Teaching in Stuttgart, I decided to come to New Zealand in 2005 to further increase my experience in working with children. I have a Bachelor of Teaching Early Childhood and am fully registered, currently working in the Explorers room in Preschool.
I am married to a New Zealander and together we have a daughter, who was born early 2014. She is keeping us very busy and seeing her grow and develop reminds me of my aspiration for children, which is to support every child in their journey of developing to their full potential. I like to spend my spare time with my family exploring the outdoors, going for bush walks or to the beach. I also enjoy cooking and baking, as well as crafts.