Northland kindergarten spreading warmth and kindness in the community

Blankets for families health and wellbeing at Raumanga Kindy, Maani Pou Te Rata, Tracy Maher (teacher) and Kirsten Holtz (head teacher). Photo / Northern Advocate

A Northland kindergarten is "spreading warmth" in the community and taking on a blanket initiative for the physical and mental wellbeing of the tamariki.

Raumanga Kindergarten in Whangarei is urging the community to donate spare or unwanted blankets to support families getting through the cold winter months.

Head teacher Kirsten Holtz said numbers of children attending have dropped significantly over the last few months and a survey from whānau revealed a lot of the children were sick.

"We wanted to know how we can support our families to overcome some of the barriers," Holtz said.

"More than anything, we wanted to start an initiative and support our families to be healthy.

"We want them here because we believe kindergarten offers quality education. We have fully qualified teachers and it costs nothing to come here.

"If they are not coming, they are missing out on a lot. Being at school is good for the kids' emotional and physical wellbeing.

"The families who aren't well and cannot send their kids to kindy, we are sending them art packs as often as we can."

Holtz said if the students were absent for long periods - through no fault of their own - the centre would lose funding and kids would lose the place.

Teacher Tracy Maher put out the word last Friday and the kindergarten received around 30 blankets and some curtains over the weekend.

"We put them out on Monday and they were gone within half an hour," said Maher.

She said it would be awesome if they got enough blankets, not only for the Raumanga community but for wider Northland.

"Imagine if we could give some to other kindergartens in other communities who need them."

Maher said the focus was on the wellness of families because "healthy families and healthy kids are important for a community to thrive".

Her kindergarten has partnered with KidsCan and Northpower to learn more about cough medication, body rubs and how to find cheaper electricity providers.