Ficino Preschool – Young Minds Matter

Thursday, 4 February 2021

When we think of the important journeys that we take in life, there is a growing understanding that these start from the moment we are born and continue throughout our lives. Parents of young children will have witnessed just how much, and how quickly, they grow, change and learn.  Much research has gone into the […]


Ficino Preschool ‘Ages and Stages’

Children go through noticeable periods of development as they grow – “Ages and Stages” is a term used to describe these developmental events.  Thinking is divided on how many stages we all go through as we grow from babies to young adults, but there is a shared understanding that there is significant development happening across […]


Ficino Preschool’s Covid Response

2020 will be remembered variously around the world as a surreal, scary or safe time, depending on your perspective.  In Aotearoa, it will be remembered as a time when life as we knew it stopped.  When we went into lock down in our family bubbles.  When we learnt how to use technology to stay in […]


Ficino Preschool welcomes the Road Runner!

Thursday, 21 December 2017

The unexpected arrival of a turtle at Ficino Preschool was very timely, both for the turtle itself and for the children!  Road Runner, as she has been aptly named was found outside the preschool on Esplanade Road. Little did she realise that she’d found a fantastic home for herself when she was slipped through the […]


Ficino Preschool turns one!

Ficino Preschool first opened its doors in September 2016.  A year seems to have flown by, and it is unimaginable to remember a time when we haven’t heard busy young voices playing outside, tending to their gardens, and engaging in a variety of projects and games. The Preschool students and teachers were lucky enough to […]


Feliz Navidad….  Merry Christmas from Ficino Preschool!

With one week to go before their Christmas holidays begin, Ficino Preschool students were very excited to welcome their families into their world for an afternoon of performances and food! They had obviously been practicing as they regaled the visitors with a variety of Christmas tunes.  The favorite by children and guests alike was the […]


Ficino Preschool’s Christmas visitor

Ficino Preschool children and staff welcomed a colourful, larger-than-life visitor carrying a red sack in December!  Santa Claus, I hear many of you asking?!  A good guess, however this visitor was a woman… Though she was minus the beard, belly and red suit she did have bucket-loads of jolliness!! Tanya Batt brought the magic of […]


A dragon at Ficino Preschool

Ficino Preschool’s small class roll and high teacher-child ratios allows us to provide individual attention and development for our students. Oliver, one of our four-year-olds embarked on an epic adventure earlier this year to build his own dragon!  His project began after he excitedly recounted watching the movie ‘How to train your dragon’.  6 months […]


Ficino Preschool – The wonders of nature

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Our students have had the opportunity to explore the wonder of nature this year.  In summer 2017, our outdoor space was home to the Ficino Preschool swan plants.  Children were enthralled with the lifecycle of the monarch butterfly, observing them though the egg, to “hungry caterpillar”, to chrysalis stage.  They were lucky enough to observe […]


Ficino Preschool Open Morning – 24 August!

Sunday, 14 August 2016

Ficino Preschool is opening for business shortly!  Before we do, we invite you to drop in and have a look around our bespoke building, meet our teachers and check out our amazing outdoor play spaces which include a running stream, a giant-sized sandpit and a mini musical “amphitheatre”!  There’ll also be some yummy treats from […]