Stephanie - Team Leader, Qualified Registered Teacher

Kia ora,

I’m Steph and I have been a Qualified/Registered teacher since the beginning of 2013 and working here at The Garden since September 2022.

Throughout my career I have worked with children aged 0-5yrs but predominantly with toddlers 2-3yrs as I love a challenge! I have also been working in leadership and management roles since 2016, mostly in busy Auckland centres licenced for 150 children, so The Garden is a very nice change of pace for me!

My family and I moved to Katikati at the end of 2021 when my son was 7 months old – we were tired of the rat race in Auckland and wanted to be closer to my Mum and Dad. We love hiking, fishing and just being outdoors in general so we figured the Bay of Plenty would be a nice spot to settle with access to all of those things.

I look forward to getting to know you and being a part of your child’s learning journey here at The Garden.

**Corina - Qualified Registered Teacher**

Ko Corina tōku ingoa.
I had a fabulous childhood growing up in a large Dutch family with 6 siblings, on dairy farms in the Waikato area. Hence my love of the outdoors and getting dirty!
For the last 25 years I have lived in beautiful Omokoroa with my husband Ross. We have 2 adult children, Theo and Leah who both attended Omokoroa Playcentre and Omokoroa Point School.
I only discovered later in my life how much I love teaching young children when I had my own children and attended playcentre and Mainly Music with them. They went to school and I didn’t want to leave Playcentre so off I went to study for my early childhood degree at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute (BTI).
At my first teaching position in Katikati I was privileged to work with Kim for 7 years, before she came to The Garden as a founding teacher. So I am thrilled to be at the same centre as her again. It is also fabulous to be finally teaching in my local community at such a great centre after working in Tauranga at St Peters Childcare. I so do not miss the traffic!
I love to spend time with my family; attend my church, Bethlehem Baptist; explore Omokoroa; travel; visit wineries; and sample all different types of food.
As a teacher I love to be silly and have fun with your precious children, provide them with challenges, and catch their magical learning moments to share with you.
I am so looking forward to getting to know you all.

**Colleen - Qualified Registered Teacher**

**Ko Colleen tōku ingoa.**
**Kia Ora whānau,**
I am a qualified and registered Kaiako, with nearly 25 years of teaching experience after earning my Bachelor of Teaching from Waikato University. Prior to joining *The Garden*, I held a position as a Specialist Teacher in a Tauranga school.
On the personal side, I am originally from England and emigrated to Mt Maunganui with my family as a child. I am married and have two adult children.
Outside of work, you’ll mostly find me tending to our orchard in rural Whakamarama, where I love taking on new projects and learning along the way. Currently, I am focused on developing our vegetable garden and home orchard. In my leisure time, I enjoy being with family and friends, often engaging in water-based activities like boating and boogie boarding, or simply going for walks on one of the lovely walking tracks we have in our area.
Teaching is more than just a job to me—it’s about creating a nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels valued and their individuality shines. It’s about fostering not only academic skills but also the social, emotional, and cognitive growth that prepares them for the world.
I am loving getting to know your beautiful tamariki. I especially enjoy watching them explore their world with curiosity and joy. We share lots of laughs and chatter together along the way.

**Deena - Qualified Registered Teacher**

Kia ora e te whānau
Ko Deena tōku ingoa.
I am a qualified registered kaiako and completed my Bachelor of Teaching at The University of Waikato. I have been teaching for 11 years in full time positions and in my previous role prior to coming to The Garden I was the Team Leader and Associate Teacher for three student teachers.
I have a passion for supporting tamariki to follow and extend on their interests through play while they are developing their social/emotional skills, building relationships, strategies and dispositions (such as kindness, perseverance, resilience, problem solving to name a few) that they can use to support them on their lifelong learning journey.
It is important to me that tamariki feel heard, valued and know that they can count on me to support them to follow and extend their interests, wonderings and questions with lots of discoveries, fun and laughter along the way!
When I am not at The Garden you will most likely find me in a paddock riding horses or spending time with family and friends. Horses have been a large part of my life and I have taught lots of tamariki how to ride over the years. I have worked in a racing stable in Matamata as a stable hand and I am also a qualified vet nurse.
I am married to Lawrence and have two teenage children, our daughter Jade is 20 years old and our son Lachlan is 17 years old. We live on a little lifestyle block out Apata and have a few cows and chickens.
I am so excited to be back at The Garden and look forward to getting to know you all!

.

**Toni - Teacher Support**

Hi, my name is Toni. I have been doing the role of teacher support here at The Garden Early Childhood Centre since 2019. I live in Omokoroa with my beautiful family, my husband and our two children.
I enjoy exploring and learning a lot about our little community here in Omokoroa and look forward to meeting many more families who are existing and new to Omokoroa.

My job position consists of doing those special care moments where I can have quality one on one time, supporting your tamariki getting ready for bed and settling them to sleep or rest. I am in charge of toileting/nappies.
I also do the food preparation and support meal times, with other teachers joining me. And the childrens favourite activity to do with me BAKING,and chatting in the kitchen. 😁

I love working with children, it’s a great passion of mine and I’ve worked with children all of my working life, either as a Nanny or in ECC.
I work Monday-Thursday in the Tipu room and I help in Kakano when needed.

On my day off I help at school (OPS) doing reading recovery. Otherwise I’m often out walking, love to have a head down in a book when I have time. I am a chicken Mumma to🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔 🐔🐔. I love weekends away, being at the beach and being with my family.
Watch out I love to chat 💬, always happy to help in anyway.

**Helen - Qualified Registered Teacher**

E ngā whanau, tēnā koutou katoa,
Hi there. I’m Helen (Osborne) and here’s a little bit about myself.
I’m a fully qualified Early Childhood Education Teacher having gained a Graduate Diploma in this field of teaching.
I’ve had the great pleasure of working here at The Garden since July 2019 – not quite from its first day of opening, but not so very far off! I began here as a Kaiako based with our preschool tamariki and have hugely enjoyed my years in this position working with these amazingly creative and inspiring young minds. Then, more recently an opportunity arose for me to move across to our younger children and the timing felt right for me to embrace some new teaching experiences. It has indeed proved to be a wonderful teaching and learning opportunity – our infants are fabulously curious, busy and courageous little learners.
My early teaching experiences were largely based around the Surrey area in the UK where I grew up. These included teaching French to primary school children in after-school clubs, working in tertiary education to support adults with specific learning needs and then moving into primary school teaching for which I gained my primary school accreditation including qualified teacher status.
I moved to New Zealand in April 2009 and at this point made the switch from primary education to early childhood. I love what I do and often reflect on how fortunate I am to be able to contribute to our tamariki individual learning experiences and to share in their special moments of *awe and wonder*. I reckon as adults, we have a lot to *relearn* from our tamariki in terms recalling the joy of discovery and celebrating the simple things.
Household-wise, there’s myself, my husband (Trev), my daughter (Quinn), our dog, cat and our fish.
As for hobbies, I love my dog walking with Mr. Frodo – I know a good number of our Garden whanau will already have bumped into Frodo around Omokoroa. I have also, in more recent times, discovered an interest in boats, mainly of the rowing kind and have been learning to scull on the Wairoa river. I enjoy music, reading, the occasional bit of creative writing, exploring art and design, growing my knowledge about plants and I also enjoy going on travel adventures! I’m so lucky that I get to share a number of my hobbies and interests in one form or another within my teaching role.
Ngā mihi,
Helen

**Sue - Qualified Registered Teacher**

Hi, my name is Sue. I have been working in ECE for over 10 years, and I completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education here in NZ in 2021.

I am originally from the UK, where I met my husband Steve and had our three daughters.

We came to New Zealand for a holiday and instantly fell in love with the Bay of Plenty, prompting a move here two years later in 2015. We absolutely love living in Omokoroa and being a part of this lovely community.

Children are so inspirational and I feel very lucky to be following my passion; working with infants and toddlers in an amazing environment that understands the positive impact of a ‘home away from home’ setting and the benefits of connecting with the natural world around us.

Building strong relationships with families and ensuring a sense of belonging for our children is important to me as a teacher. I love seeing and sharing the most memorable milestones and watching the confidence of our youngest tamariki grow. Since having my own children, my passion for working with children has grown. Seeing how they develop and the people they become, knowing I have helped them on their journey, is why I love what I do.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family, going on walks, camping, and sitting on the beach, while the others swim. A huge part of my life outside of the Garden is being a football Mum and wife.

I love being part of this amazing team of teachers and getting to know all our wonderful families.

**Jo -** **Qualified Registered Teacher**

Kia ora koutou, ko Jo tōku ingoa.
I have been part of the infant and toddler team here at The Garden since 2019 and became a registered early childhood kaiako in 2021. I love being part of a wonderful team of like-minded kaiako and our wider ‘Garden whānau’. Our philosophy fits perfectly with my values of kindness, respect, and fairness, and my belief that tamariki learn best when they are surrounded by a beautiful, homely and natural environment, where they feel safe, loved and nurtured, and have the freedom to explore, play, and follow their natural curiosities, in their own individual ways.
I consider it a privilege to be entrusted with the care and education of our youngest tamariki, and prioritise their safety and wellbeing, as well as their developing independence and emotional intelligence. The rate of learning and development at this age still amazes me so much, and I feel so lucky to be able to play a role in fostering this and see so many important moments of discovery. I believe that natural environments can provide some of the richest learning opportunities for our tamariki and encourage both an interest in, and respect for nature through my teaching practice.
I grew up on a farm in the King Country, which gave me many valuable learning opportunities, and my love for animals and nature. After spending most of my twenties working as a healthcare assistant, in Hamilton, and overseas while travelling, I pursued a career in Nursing. After a short time working as a Registered Nurse, I became an Aunty and soon realised that working with young children seemed like a much better idea for me, which I have done since 2013. During this time, I have been living in Whakamārama, where I feel right at home surrounded by farmland and animals, including my pet sheep called Daisy who lives just over the fence at the neighbours.
When I’m not at The Garden I enjoy spending time with family and friends, including my four nephews, experimenting with growing plants, going for beach walks and looking for treasures, eating out at local cafe’s and restaurants, or getting my ‘healthcare’ fix watching my favourite health related programmes on television.
Ngā mihi.

**Shona - Teacher Support**

Hi, I’m Shona, I live in Omokoroa with my partner Alex and our 2 children, Harper is 9 and attends Omokoroa Point School, Aston is 3, and he’s here at The Garden.
You will often see us out and about walking our dogs or attending local events.
I feel very privileged to be working as the teacher support in the infants room, alongside the most amazing teachers.
I have come into this role after previously working as a preschool chef, which I did enjoy, but I am loving the slower pace that The Garden provides for us to really connect and care for these beautiful children.
I look forward to getting to know all of your families and most of all spending my days learning and exploring with the children here at The Garden.

Johanna - Teacher Support (Reliever)

Kia ora, I’m Johanna one of the support teachers at The Garden. I have been working in early childhood over the past 5 years, and also worked as a nanny in Australia and Ireland. During this time I worked with children aged 0-5, but enjoy working with infants and toddlers the most as I love the caring and nurturing side of it. Originally I come from Germany and only intended to come to New Zealand as an overseas experience, but then met my partner and moved here for good. We love fishing, surfing, gardening and taking our dog for walks. I am looking forward to being part of your child’s home away from home here at The Garden.

**Kerry - Qualified Registered Teacher (Reliever)**

Kia ora koutou,
My name is Kerry Godden and professionally I am a fully qualified Early Childhood Education Kaiako/Teacher. I have a Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Early Years 0 to 8 Degree obtained through Massey University. I have been an ECE Kaiako/Teacher since 2006 and have held roles including Kaiako/Teacher, ECE Assistant Supervisor and Centre Team Leader. I have worked in a mixed age centre from birth to five years, a two to five years centre and a one to two years centre.
Now, I work with Kaiako/Teachers at The Garden and I really do love my role here.
A little bit about my personal life and interests include moving to Omokoroa from Taupo last October 2023 with my elderly mother Maureen. My son Ryan is 27 and still lives in Taupo as a landscaper and schist installer. My partner Graeme lives in Auckland and is an airline pilot. My hobbies and interests include shopping online, sewing, gardening, jogging, walking and especially motorbike riding. I thoroughly enjoy learning and teaching your precious little ones at The Garden and look forward to getting to know The Garden’s whanau and families more.

**Kim - Qualified Registered Teacher (Reliever)**

Hello, I'm Kim.
I am a qualified full-time reliever here at 'The Garden', working between the infants side and preschool side. I have worked with young children for many years and when the youngest of my six children was 6 months old, I trained for my Diploma in Early Childhood Education, becoming qualified in 2004. I have worked long term for a few centres over the years, the longest being 12 years. I now live in Omokoroa and have the pleasure of working with families in and around Omokoroa in this lovely family owned centre. I was one of the original teachers when The Garden first opened in 2017. After a few years I decided to spread my wings to gain some new experiences but I have flown back to the nest as the saying goes and am lucky enough to be once again working at The Garden.
I am passionate about providing a warm, caring and loving learning environment where children are nurtured to reach their full potential.

“Infancy is a vulnerable stage of development, therefore, it is not enough that babies receive good care, the care must be excellent" Magda Gerber