Meet the Minischool TEAM

Minischool meet the staff team.

With all of our new beginnings at Minischool I would like to share a favourite quote from Walt Disney who was part of my magical childhood.

“We keep moving forward opening new doors and doing new things because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading down new paths”-Walt Disney.

By opening up a new pathway I thought it would be great to have a fresh start and introduce the team at Minischool.

 

Minischool began as Montessori Kinderhaus by a group of parents looking for an alternative to any early education offered on the island. Montessori teacher Rauni Lange ran this from 2010 until 2012 when it changed hands and became Minischool Educational preschool. Our aim is to provide early learning in a fun, fresh and inspirational way in a homelike setting.

Preschool and early education is lifelong learning and is the basis of all education.

About us. There is me… Hi my name is Cristina. I had my first trip to Norfolk Island as a 6 week old baby and have loved it ever since. I have lived here full time for the past 8 years. I received a diploma in children’s services nearly 20 years ago. Since then I have been a full-time nanny in between working in Long day care centres, Preschools, Preschool prep & out of school hours centres within primary school grounds both in NSW and in Qld as assistant director and preschool group leader. My preschools have been through the Australian accreditation system. I deferred my bachelor of learning management at CQU when I took on this business full time in 2012. Mum to 3 young children, one is on the Autism spectrum and has taught me so much extra patience, love and understanding towards every ability. I love researching new ideas and themes to encourage the children to learn in a fun way that suits their needs so they can be the best little people that they can be. I recently completed the active afterschool coaching course and am looking forward to using it when we begin Minischools afterschool care at the beginning of term 3. Coming to work each day is an absolute pleasure. Surely it shouldn’t be called work when we have this much fun.

And meet my team. This is Mandy, my rock.

Mandy has an impressive background. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Diploma of Education in primary teaching, and a Bachelor of Special Education.

Mandy worked in special ed in a school support unit, as a social educator for adults with disabilities, 13 years as an early school support teacher in K-2 working with children with mild intellectual disabilities. When Mandy came to Norfolk Island she fell in love with the preschool age group and studied a certificate 3 in children’s services while on island. She loves that dress ups and laughter is just one of the pleasures of going to work each day.

We welcome to the team Jen who has a diploma of children’s services and a bachelor of teaching. We look forward to spending more time together soon.

 

This is Lauren whom the children adore.

Lauren has been a helper at the primary school for years and is known to join in our day time pyjama parties just for fun and loves to pop into our new location to surprise us and give the children lots of cuddles.

And high school student Eloise (photo to come) who will help the Mooshies (Minischool out of school hours children) with the walking bus from school down the footpath to minischool when the weather is fine. We are sure there will be plenty of fun adventures ahead.

It is the end of week 2 at our new and very loved home called ‘Shangrila’ on the corner of Shortridge road and Queen Elizabeth avenue.

The move has been 6 months in the making and we are very grateful to each and every individual and family who helped out through every move.

Thanks to Peter and Natalie for allowing us to love your corner as much as you do. Cheers for a long and happy association.

Thanks to Eve and Robyn for sharing Aunty Jan’s house on Potts farm with us in between our moves. This is an excellent location & great 4 bedroom house that is for sale and worth having a look at. We hope it sells for you soon.

Thanks to Michelle Nicholson at Norfolk Island Central school and to Suzanne Hardy. We love that we are now such a short walking distance from the school, and can walk together to enjoy the library each week. Look out for us next week. We will be the Kings, Queens and Knights on Queen Elizabeth avenue walking up the hill to storm the castle library.

Thanks to Christian Bailey agencies for your help in moving all of our equipment and our cubbyhouse which was gifted to us by Ma from Vegemite Village.

Thanks to All Star painters who painted & Crosscut constructions who repaired Ma’s cubbyhouse so we can treasure it for years to come.

Thanks to the Norfolk Island Police for cooking our BBQ for our end of moving working bee. With over 90% of our families helping to move, there were plenty of mouths to feed.

Thanks to each and every parent of Minischool who contributed in any way possible to make our transition into our new home a smooth and shiny one. Also thanks for our school warming gifts, we look forward to putting many of them to use in the kitchen & into the garden shortly.

Afterschool care enrolment forms will be available from Minischool straight after Bounty day. Or call 51862 to reserve a copy for your 5-12 year old.

Minischool updates & photos can be found on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/minischoolpreschool   and our blog http://norfolkislandpreschool.blogspot.com