SIT Childcare has opened a redeveloped outdoor learning area at its Invercargill centre, adding about 60 square metres of play space as the centre marks 30 years on the corner of Eye and Ness streets.
The upgrade includes new fencing, a non-slip rubber safety surface, a blue bike lane, flower tubs, a bark sensory path and sensory tiles, along with all-weather curtains so the space can be used all year round.
Child-height windows built into the new fence have quickly become a favourite, letting the youngest children watch emergency vehicles and trains go past.
Centre manager Nikki Ross said the finished area was safe and engaging, and gave the children a space that supported their learning throughout the year rather than only in the warmer months.
"The children absolutely love it," she said.
Head teacher Kelly Murch said the all-weather curtains helped children keep exploring outdoors in a variety of conditions.
Three decades on the same corner
The centre is part of the Southern Institute of Technology, whose main campus is on Tay Street, and recently celebrated 30 years at its Eye and Ness streets site.
SIT Childcare says its teacher-to-child ratios are better than the minimums set in early childhood regulations: one teacher for every four children under two, about one to seven for children aged two to three and a half, and one to eight for children aged three and a half and over.
The regulated minimums for centre-based services are one teacher to five children under the age of two, and one teacher to ten children aged two and over.
The centre has spaces available for new enrolments.
Outdoor learning in a southern climate
Early childhood services in New Zealand must provide outdoor play space, and Te Whāriki, the national early childhood curriculum, treats exploration of the environment as one of its core strands.
In Invercargill, where wind and rain can arrive in any season, keeping outdoor areas usable through winter is a practical challenge for every centre. The all-weather curtains are SIT Childcare's answer, allowing the new area to stay open on days when uncovered play spaces would be out of action.
The bike lane and sensory path give children different ways to move about and to touch, see and hear their surroundings, while the flower tubs bring planting and seasonal change into the space. The sensory tiles and bark path are the kind of features early childhood teachers use to encourage children to explore textures and sounds.
The upgrade is a modest project alongside the city's big civic builds, but it extends what the children can do outside at a time of year when Southland's weather is at its most changeable.
