26 Somme Street, St Albans, Christchurch 8014
Located in the heart of St Albans, Christchurch, Pascals St Albans is a warm and welcoming early learning centre offering first-class education and care for pre-schoolers.
A home away from home for children of busy families, we offer three separate classrooms to cater for each age and stage, plus a natural outdoor area that challenges and stimulates young children. Our experienced and passionate teachers build confidence, independence, and resilience, through an intentionally planned and prepared learning environment.
Get a head start with your little one’s learning journey. Call us now at Pascals St Albans.
Pascals St Albans has three separate classrooms, enabling us to deliver safe, nurturing and age appropriate learning experiences for all our children. Our outside environment is split into two areas. In these areas we offer resources and equipment to support continued learning and development.
Kea Room
The Kea Room is our nursery. This is a specialised infant and toddler care room, catering for children up two years of age. The Kea room is a relaxed space where the youngest children start their preschool journey. We accommodate infants (aged from 6 weeks) and toddlers (up to 2 years ) with a maximum of 10 children at any one time. Being a small nursery we naturally provide a primary care type environment, your child may have up to three teachers that they will eventually establish strong connected relationships with.
In the Kea Room we try to stick as closely to each child’s individual routine as we can we very much follow each child’s lead. We believe that children need to be given time and space to explore and discover freely. Outside is a lovely space, full of nature and plenty of opportunities to practise developing physical skills. We value our small group size and are passionate about keeping our environment calm and relaxed.
Our Tui Room is for our 1.5 to 2.5 year olds. In this room we also use the primary caregiving approach and we concentrate on teaching and putting respectful practice into place. This room provides children with more space to be active and to explore and discover in their unique toddler way.
7:45 am: Centre opens, meet and greet parents and settle children in the Kea Room
8:30 am: Tui children move into the Tui Room for free play, mat time and stories
9:30 am: Morning tea
10:00 am: Free play (outside play, group play, planned activities)
11:00 am: Children settle down for mat time, which includes group time, stories and songs
11:30 am: Lunch
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Farewell to children going home, talk to parents
12:30 pm: Settle children for sleep/nap time
2:00 pm: Children wake up/reset the room
2:30 pm: Afternoon tea
3:00 pm: Free play
4:30 pm: Tidy up time
4:45 pm: Late snack
5:00 – 5:30 pm: Farewell time
5:30 pm: Centre closes
Piwakawaka Room
Our Piwakawaka Room is for our 2.5 to 4 year olds. Here you have a specific teacher assigned to your child where they continue to develop independence, language and social skills.
7:45 am: Welcoming children and interacting with families
9:15 am: Start clearing tables for morning tea
9.30 am: Kiwis go to their room/Mat time/Morning tea
9.50 am: Tables reset with planned activities
10:00 am: Nappies/activities inside (and outside, weather permitting)
11:30 am: Mat time/Lunch
12:00 pm: Tidy up and reset tables with planned activities
12:15 pm: Nappies
12:30 pm: Sleepers go to bed/inside and outside (weather permitting) activities for non-sleepers
2:30 pm: Afternoon tea
2:45 pm: Brown Kiwis join together with Piwakawaka Room children
2:50 pm: Nappies
3:00 pm: Interacting with children with activities inside
4:45 pm: Tidy up time
5:00 pm: Move to Tui Room
5:30 pm: Centre closes
Brown Kiwi Room
Our last room is the Brown Kiwi Room. This is for our 4 year olds to school leaving age. Here we concentrate on formal learning around the children's interests and preparing them for school in a fun 4-year-old way.
7:45 am: Children welcomed at the Piwakawaka Room/teachers interact with families/free play
9:30 am: Brown Kiwis move to their room for mat time followed by morning tea
10:00 am: Free play/table top activities that are linked to both individual and group planning
11:10 am: Kiwi Group Time – focus topic work
11:30 am: Lunch
12:00 pm: Free play/table top activities that are linked to both individual and group planning
2:00 pm: Group activity
2:30 pm: Afternoon tea
2:45 pm: Brown Kiwis join in with children from Piwakawaka Room
3:00 pm: Interacting with children with activities inside
4:45 pm: Tidy up time
5:00 pm: Move to Tui Room
5:30 pm: Centre closes
Our philosophy
At Pascals St Albans we are guided by Te Whāriki and the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner – because of this we provide a holistic approach to teaching and learning.
The key aspects of our approach are:
At Pascals St Albans we are a team whose values underpin the way in which we approach our work, we strive to be our best to create the best possible outcomes for children in our care.
AKO – We are reciprocal in the way we teach and learn.
NGAIOTANGA – We are professional and doing our best in every way.
KOTAHITANGA – We are working collaboratively and constructively as an effective and solution focused team
RANGATIRATANGA – We communicate goals, and expectations to improve quality for children and build capacity in our teaching team.
WHAKAPONO – We are open and honest with stakeholders in our communication around perspectives, ideas, and concerns.
MANAAKITANGA – We help to support and encourage each other in a safe environment.
KAITIAKITANGA – We take a collective responsibility for preserving the mana of our tamariki, and our environment.
Why choose us?
There are a host of reasons why families choose Pascals St Albans. Here are just a few of them:
I am eternally grateful for all Pascal’s does for Maple and I. Preschool has been a really stabilizing part of our lives, and we see the teachers and school a part of our extended family. It takes a village to raise our little people!
We feel lucky to have found Pascals for our daughter to attend. The teachers were always kind and compassionate and so welcoming every morning. There was always fun and engaging learning activities set up but also so many opportunities for free play too.
Finding a preschool that provided nutritious food was also really key for us as full-time working parents. We would recommend Pascals to any families with out hesitation.
You and the team do an amazing job. We love your work and the environment you give Matilda. Thanks Sarah And Stu
Huge support to all you Pascals teachers and staff. You show up every day with more patience than most of us will ever have: to wipe another nose, tie another shoe, to see beyond behaviour to what’s really going on, to encourage, to set appropriate boundaries – oh and to teach all at the same time to our world’s most important resources. Thankyou! Summer Downes
We have loved the time our daughter has spent at Pascals St Albans. The teachers and staff have been absolutely amazing over the last 3 years. Their dedication, creative ideas for day to day activities, communication to parents, upskilling and training throughout the year and teaching and knowledge they have passed onto my daughter has made her journey to school a very easy one! As a mum that works fulltime, I feel very lucky to have found such a caring day care to take care of my daughter, her teachers are truly brilliant at what they do and the love for what they do shines through. I highly recommend Pascals St Albans to all parents!!!
You all have one of the most important jobs in the world and each of you do a great job. Happy parent!
