Auckland Home Based Educator Conference 2025
Last Saturday, our Auckland Home Based Educators came together for a day of learning, appreciation, and celebration. Held at our Māngere office, where our first service started, it was a fitting way to bring everyone together at our ‘home’ and embody the spirit of kotahitanga.
Workshops and presentations on the day were informative, joyful, and inspiring. Important updates were shared by our admin team, and our Community Coordinator ran a refresher on marketing and first impressions. The biggest highlight was acknowledging some significant milestones for our long-standing Educators.
Our Operations Manager Kim, ran a workshop on working with infants and toddlers which was about physical, cognitive and socio-emotional growth and development for this age range. The importance of heuristic play was also highlighted, and each Educator was given a ‘starter’ heuristic basket to take home and add to.
Center Manager Carol and kaiako Nashida from our Ōtara Early Learning Centre ran a fun Pasifika workshop on Samoan language, practice, and customs which enriched our cultural knowledge. Armed with new ideas on how to use Pasifika practice in a home based setting, our Educators even got to try their hand at making Ula lole (lolly necklace), which they thoroughly enjoyed!
We had the pleasure of having our CEO Matt Reid and COO Heather Taylor join us from Wellington for the day. Matt shared inspiring words about the essence of Barnardos as an organisation, from our humble beginnings to what we are now, and the impact our mahi has within our local communities. This brought many of our Educators to tears; and a few shared how emotional they felt to be part of a wider organisation that is doing such important mahi for our tamariki and whānau.
Heather followed on by emphasising the importance of the wider work that we do, and did a meaningful activity that was a reflection on our Guiding Principles and what they personally mean to us. Our Educators felt touched to be thanked by Heather for choosing Barnardos, and choosing to stay with Barnardos. Each of us felt so proud of the part we have to play in continuing the legacy of Thomas Barnardo.
Our Educators got a tour of our Māngere Early Learning Centre which was a first for many, and they picked up lots of ideas they could implement within their own home environments. Each Educator also took home a set of fresh new books; a beautiful bilingual book donated by West Auckland author Frances Plumpton, and a variety of wonderful story books donated by Allen & Unwin publishing house.
We also had spot prizes for all the Educators throughout the day, and were kindly donated some special vouchers from My Food Bag, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Bunnings which went to some very lucky Educators.
The highlight of the day has to be the appreciation awards, as we had some big milestones to celebrate. 15 years for Educator Faith, 25 years for Suzy & Mary, 35 years for Aruna & Vickie, and 40 years for our amazing Raewyn, who is the longest standing Barnardos Home Based Educator in the country! What incredible milestones to celebrate.
To our Visiting Teacher’s (Tricia, Moira, and Karyn) and Auckland team (Kim, Beckie, Suzanne, and Hans) for their mahi behind the scenes on organising, setting-up, decorating, cooking a delicious kai, and making sure everything went as smoothly as it did.
