Within Iqra Educare there are three pillars that guide our teaching and learning. As a Pre-School set in Hamilton, New Zealand we are first and foremost based upon Te Wháriki, the national early childhood curriculum. We also hold the belief children are full of curiosity and creativity; they are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with facts and figures. Thirdly, we are an Islamic values based preschool where our values and Principles guide us in developing an environment that promotes peace and tranquility, a sense of tolerance, respect and justice.

Our approach to learning and teaching focuses on nurturing relationships amongst children, teachers, parents, community, and the environment, building on the foundation that each child is unique, has an in-built desire to connect with others and engage in meaningful learning.

Our highly qualified teachers engage children’s sense of wonder and curiosity, encouraging them to explore, question, discover and acquire authentic, lifelong skills and capabilities.

We strongly believe in an emergent curriculum where we build experiences and activities based around the children’s interests. We plan as a team to create  a project experience, where from the moment the interest is noticed we are planning and going in tangent with children’s interest.

Our programme is developed from children’s strengths and interests, starting from the child but noticed and responded to by the teachers.  Part of being aPre-School  that is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood, we believe that:

  • the children’s creativity, activity and thinking is valued and captured in documentation of learning,
  • projects are developed from children’s interests or teacher’s passions,
  • a variety of arts are used to represent the children’s  learning,
  • parent’s ideas and knowledge are needed and used in the programme,
  • teachers give attention to every piece of the environment making it a place of discovery, as it is considered the “third teacher” assisting in the child’s learning.