Apanui School - He manu hou ahau he pi ka rere - I am a small bird poised for flight - Phone: 07 308 7687 Fax: 07 308 6916 Email: office@apanui.school.nz 92 McAlister Street Whakatane 3210

Learning Through Play at Apanui


Learning through Play is
  • Led by the child

  • About the process, not the product

  • Imaginative

  • Creative

  • About working together

  • Building upon what the child already knows and their experiences


Apanui School engages in Learning through Play because we want to develop

  • Resilient problem solvers

  • Excellent communicators with great social and emotional skills

  • Deep Thinkers

  • Children who are ready for a very different work force to what we currently know


What does Learning through Play look like?

  • Lots of discussion between students and enthusiastic noise

  • Thinking, reflecting and modifying

  • Creative use of equipment, including loose parts

  • Engaged children, driving their own learning and understanding

  • Teachers coaching children, observing the play and recording the journey


The Teacher’s role is to

  • Provide targeted learning for each child in all curriculum areas, with a specific focus on reading, writing and maths

  • Provide Invitations 

  • Provide Provocations

  • Have a strong knowledge of the NZ curriculum and to use this language with the children eg “Do you know that the container you are using holds 2 litres of water, in maths we call this volume”

  • Observe and coach the children during the Play

  • Assess each child’s progress using a variety of tools and report on this, both academically and socially

  • Share each child’s learning / development via Seesaw


The Parents role is to

  • Have a positive relationship with your child

  • Give lots of specific praise eg: “I like it when you helped with the dishes, thanks.”

  • Talk and read a lot to your child.

  • Ask open ended questions eg: “How could we fix this?”

  • Provide opportunities to develop social skills, resilience, to take risks and experience success.

  • Encourage play, thinking and problem solving

  • Engage with Seesaw by providing comments and talking to your child about their learning.