COI Wycliffe Nga Tamariki Kindergarten: The Flight of Our Kite

This report describes a Centre of Innovation research project carried out at Wycliffe Nga Tamariki Kindergarten between April 2003 and June 2006. The setting for this study was selected as one of the first six Centres of Innovation. The Kindergarten's defining characteristic was the way in which it worked to embrace families from the local Samoan Upu Amata within its community of learners. The use of information and communication technology to enhance communication between the Samoan families and the Kindergarten was another significant feature. In this way Wycliffe Nga Tamariki Kindergarten illustrated the achievability of some key aims from the government's ten year strategic plan for early childhood education, Pathways to the Future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki (Ministry of Education, 2002).