Getting here
Using the shuttle? Check the confirmed stops and timetable, and make sure your place has been allocated.
Where the day takes us
A little structure.
A lot of freedom.
There’s a rhythm to our days, but not everything is planned. Children have time to follow their curiosity, linger over a discovery and see where the day takes them.
Tuesday or Thursday · Term 4 4
A typical summer day.Terms 2 & 3 usually begin 30 minutes earlier.
Arrival & hui
The day begins as everyone arrives and comes together. We start with karakia and waiata, then roll call, a safety kōrero and a kōrero about what’s planned for the day. Morning tea is enjoyed together before children head off to their Discovery Basics groups.
Discovery Basics
Children break into their Tui, Kea and Moa Discovery Basics groups after hui. Half an hour, sometimes longer if it’s going well, is spent on a themed, hands-on activity connected to that afternoon’s Specialist Workshop, bringing literacy, numeracy and science together.
Time to follow an idea
Free play and exploration across the paddock, the trees and the riverbank. Building, gardening, making, playing. Children return to whatever they started last week: a shelter, a length of cordage, a knitting project.
Around 12:30, we pause for kai. The timing is flexible, but everyone has at least 15 minutes to sit down, eat and drink together before heading back out to play and explore.
Specialist Workshop
The day’s organised, hands-on skill. It might be thirty minutes with everyone together, or longer in small, staggered groups with individual guidance. There is room for games and further exploration around it.
Afternoon hui
Everything used gets tidied and returned first. Then stories from the day, reflection, waiata and sometimes a few minutes of stillness before heading home.
Home time
At home time, children head off with their agreed collector or on the shuttle. We’ll confirm all collection and transport details with families before their first day.
Ngā mahi · Specialist workshops
Practical skills. Real projects.
Practical skills that build on each other. Workshops follow a three-year cycle and the seasons, with time to practise, experiment and return to a project.
- Weaving & raranga
- Pottery
- Growing food
- Carving & tool care
- Food preservation
- Basket making
- First aid
- Reading the landscape
- Sewing & mending
- Harvesting
The year. 2026
Following the seasons.
Making room to pause.
The usual shape is eight weeks in Terms 1 and 4, and six weeks in Terms 2 and 3. Check the calendar for each year’s arrangements.
Term 1 · 8 weeks
Long summer days
10:30am – 4:00pm
Tue 10 Feb – 31 MarThu 12 Feb – 2 Apr
Term 2 · 6 weeks
The cooler months
10:00am – 3:30pm
Tue 21 Apr – 26 MayThu 23 Apr – 28 May
Term 3 · No sessions
Not running in 2026
Term 3 is not running in 2026.
Term 4 · 8 weeks
Everything growing
10:30am – 4:00pm
Tue 13 Oct – 1 DecThu 15 Oct – 3 Dec