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The Sathya Sai Pre- School - Rongomai is situated in Otara, a town in South Auckland. It opened February of 1997 and is a co-educational day school with three fulltime and one part-time teacher. Forty-eight students, from predominantly Pacific Island and Maori cultures, attend. 24 come in the in the morning and afternoon sessions. Instruction is in the English medium.The school is located within the Rongomai Primary School campus. Otara is within the Government designated SEMO (Strengthening Education in Mangere and Otara) area. This is a special needs area in the greater Auckland Region. The school proudly bears the name ”Sathya Sai Pre School ”, which appears on all its correspondence and promotion material. It has developed a reputation for providing excellent pre-school education of the highest standard. There is a growing demand for its services. All teaching is based on the New Zealand Pre-school curriculum, delivered through the Sathya Sai Human Values Programme, with an emphasis on positive reinforcement. It is a delight to see the children, many of who have English only as a second language, increase in self-confidence and ability through the interactive ‘fun’ based activities, in which the teachers - really see and hear the children - and the teaching environment is suffused with Love. Here are some excerpts from a letter from a parent in support of our application for a new building:
The School’s goal is to procure a larger building and to build a preschool/primary school on its own land so as to be able to cater for the growing demand, and to be able to extend the ‘values based’ teaching through the children’s primary school education. A longer-term view is to establish a secondary school. The present school has one classroom, with decks and an adventure playground built by members of the Sathya Sai Youth Group. Two computers, with suitable programmes, are available to the children, so that they grow up familiar with the technology of this age. Teachers at the school have the required qualifications for Pre-school Education in New Zealand. They are also educated in the Sathya Sai Education Programme, and acquire skills and knowledge on the ways to integrate values into the curriculum. The Principal teacher, who holds a Diploma in Early Childhood Education, is also a qualified Montessori teacher, and was the first person in New Zealand to learn and teach the Sathya Sai Human Values Programme, some twenty years ago. The school aims to act as a pilot school, illustrating the value of the Sathya Sai Education and Human Values Programme, and thereby introducing the techniques and philosophy to other pre-schools throughout the country. |
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