Play. Learn. Grow.
Play. Learn. Grow.
My daughter attends The Rumpus Room full time in the Nest. She loves it there – her settling in period after coming here from another daycare went so smoothly that it was very clear just what a nurturing environment the teachers have created. Vera is blossoming in the Nest and has special relationships with all the teachers. The Rumpus Room really pay attention to our daughter’s personality and interests to try and nurture them by providing activities, items or books. One morning we arrived to a teacher having set up a play tea party as Vera had just developed an interest in them as her favourite activity. The look on her face was priceless. They are also encouraging with Vera being bilingual and are trying to adopt a few Croatian phrases we use at home for her time at daycare. They take each child’s individual routines/needs on board and are very helpful when I ask for advice on things. They even provided a home made alternative to birthday treats for Vera as she doesn’t have sugar – that’s above and beyond what I expected. The communication from the teachers is amazing – I feel sure that even though I am not able to spend time during the week with Vera I am not missing out on her development information. The most important thing to me is the relationships Vera has with the teachers. To be able to not worry about her care while at work, knowing that she is having a busy, lovely time is the best form of feedback they can get. Seeing her run up to her teacher and give her a big hug in the morning really drives that home.
Lana
Our daughter has been attending The Rumpus Room since 2013 and since our very first interactions we were and continue to be extremely impressed and grateful for the excellent way in which this centre is run and how well they care for and grow our girl. It is hard to put into words what a fabulous centre this is but perhaps the fact that our recent house purchase decision was driven by the proximity to the centre is indicative. The teachers are incredible and continue to blow us away with their approach to learning, exploration, social skills, and most importantly independence. They are kind, patient, fun and yet always firm and consistent with the children so that boundaries are clear and the child feels safe and knows the rules. They are always approachable and available to answer our questions, proffer suggestions on our own child care raising queries and help ensure continuity in the centre and the home. We feel that they almost love our daughter as much as we do and have total confidence in their ability to care for and help us grow her. The ethic the centre is run by makes a lot of sense to us and we hugely appreciate their input and role in our daughter’s life. We also hugely value the inclusion of Maori in their everyday language with the children which has in turn taught us as parents.
Joanna
The challenge to find a new centre was largely focused around finding a centre that would encourage our son’s independence and help establish some self confidence. The teachers at his last centre did their best but the troubles with management meant that staff turnover was high. It seemed that every time he bonded with a teacher they would leave and he would be a little lost until he bonded with another teacher. It was always a slow sad process. It was impossible for us to know how we could achieve this and so began many conversations about whether he should be in a big centre where he would be forced to interact with lots of other children or a smaller centre (maybe even a home based carer) that could help reassure him and grow his confidence in a more intimate environment. When we started at The Rumpus Room we noticed a few things pretty quickly. The first was that Marsh never cried when he was dropped off in the morning. He always needs a few moments to acclimatise and someone to hold him up so that he can wave over the fence and that’s it. The changes to his personality quickly followed. He seemed more confident, happier in any environment, self assured, the list goes on and on. As Fal’e says, he is just so relaxed in The Nest it’s as if he has always been there. I am so appreciative of all the staff at The Rumpus Room. The teachers have been so wonderful at integrating Marsh into The Nest. You can see how truly engaged and passionate they are about what they do. I am continually impressed at the thought and care that they put into all of the learning experiences they create for the children.
Sarah
Our 2 year and 9 month old Taylan was one of the original children when the centre opened two years ago, he is now in the over twos area and his 9 month old sister Laney now attends in the under twos area. Both do 3 days a week from 7.30am to 5.30pm. We feel absolutely thrilled with the service our family receives and have never in over two years had any negative experiences with TRR or the staff. Some key attributes that I think worth mentioning are: – The staff are extremely caring and professional. They all seem very well educated as far as early childhood education goes and really take the time and effort to get down to the children’s’ level, speak to them in ways they can understand and feel appreciated and loved. – The support for parents has been huge. For example when Laney started she was purely breast feeding and it was potentially very stressful having to pop in to feed her throughout the day. Within 3 days the under twos team had developed such a rapport with her that she was drinking out of a bottle and totally comfortable with them. – The variety of experiences offered to the children is amazing. I know both my children love arriving to a different set up each day, with different games and activities arranged, helping to challenge them and develop different skills. Compared to just constant free play I think this is invaluable. – The calm and caring environment. With so many kids one could expect occasional chaos or arguments, however I have observed that the team’s method of calmly observing, talking through and kindly enforcing boundaries means the kids know what to expect and there is absolutely minimal disruption. We have never experienced either of our kids being bitten or hit at the centre, and yet feel confident that if this was to happen it would be dealt with in a very satisfactory manner
Alyssa
Thanks so much to you, Fale, Kaplana and Elena for the wonderful 14mths Harry has had with you all in the Nest. You have been like a second family to us and it has meant so much to me to know that he has been so happy and so cared for and so tenderly looked after. He has picked up many good habits and is a very tidy boy at home. I really appreciate all the time and energy you have all put into looking him.
Lara
I am really happy with how quickly and easily our daughter settled into the nest. She loves all of the teachers and will go to anyone. She doesn’t mind who carries out any of the daily tasks with her which feels like she must be relaxed and comfortable in the environment. She always happily wanders off and finds something to do when I drop her off but she also knows the routine and knows when to head to the table for morning tea so it’s nice that a routine is in place and the kids know how the day will pan out. I love the communication, I love knowing how her day was and any new things she is up to and what she loves doing each day. This is really good as a working mum you miss so much of their day to day activities so it’s nice to be able to know what they are up too and I love that the teachers take the time to listen to us in the morning at drop off to talk about how her night was and anything new she is in to or up too. Very rarely does Madi cry when I leave her at drop off and I know if she does it will only last a couple of minutes as the teachers will comfort her and then distract her with something else to do. I know Madi misses the Nest whenever she is away and I miss coming in and chatting to all of the teachers too! Keep up the great work for what is such an important job.
Jelena
Our youngest daughter, Eva has attended the rumpus room full time from about a month after the rumpus room opened. We were attracted to the centre due to its proximity to home and had experienced the leadership and teaching of Carolyn Mansfield, Caroline Scalabrini and Fal’e Davy at a previous centre for Eva and our older daughter. Once they were appointed we made the decision to swap centres for Eva. Eva loves the rumpus room, she feels very comfortable in the space and has a sense of ownership as her centre. She has a special relationship with Caroline and Shelley, but is fond of and very attached to all the teachers and the “head” teacher Carolyn. The Rumpus Room have invested wisely in great teaching staff and beautiful high quality resources that I have never experienced before. I think the children are very fortunate to have the access to the high quality teachers and resources and I feel Eva is definitely benefiting from this. The space is well designed. She is a 4.5 yr old who is ready for school. The teachers are very aware of her needs and supporting her preparation for school (she has excellent writing, counting and letter recognition) and is encouraged in these areas. I especially love to hear te reo spoken every day and watching her learn nz sign language from Shelley. She is teaching us more te reo and some signs! The centre has catered well to her dietary requirements being dairy and gluten free, despite not having the benefit of a cook. Previous centres really struggled with this and we had to deal with the aftermath of this on a weekly basis. There has been no dietary mistakes at all. We enjoy and value reading and seeing what Eva is up to with her learning stories via the portal and the newsletter. I love how the rumpus room has become part of the Point Chev community in a short space of time, it feels like it has been there much longer than it has. I am impressed with the linkages into the community with the excursions to the library, shops, school production, zoo and parks and visits into the centre from the local hairdresser, new entrant teachers from the school and plunket. Cam, Beth and the teaching staff are innovative and encourage lots of parent feedback which they actively seek and have utilised. We as parents loved the night off with the 4yr old sleepover but appreciate the value for the children being recognised as big tamariki and their right of passage, the korowai and graduation ritual, the playboards outside and all the planned events that occur during the year that facilitate lots of social parental, child and teacher/owner interactions. We love the rumpus room and feel that it has really captured what we wanted for Eva, a home away from home while teaching her skills to become a confident girl. Amelia our older daughter often states she wishes she had gone to the rumpus room, so do we! We have recommended the rumpus room to many parents, some who have enrolled, some have not been able due to full roles. But I would not hesitate to continually recommend the centre.
Michelle and Simon