The Garden

Kim Hooper - Fully Qualified Registered Teacher

Hi, my name is Kim Hooper. I am delighted to be a pioneer of this fabulous new centre"The Garden". I come with 30 years of experience in ECE, having held my registration for the past 10 years.

 I am a mother of six beautiful adult children and Nana to twelve wonderful grand-children. I live in Omokoroa with my husband Craig. We have two lovely Maltese Shih Tzu dogs to help with the empty nest syndrome with no children at home now. I enjoy walking our dogs in this beautiful community of ours.

I am very excited being part of a centre that embraces a philosophy close to my own core values of a culture of kindness, respect, where children's learning is lead by their hearts alongside a natural, beautifully resourced environment

 I am looking forward to getting to know all our new families who will be the heart of our centre.

Alison Steenson - Fully Qualified Registered Primary Teacher

Hi, my name is Alison Steenson and I am thrilled to be a teacher at The Garden and to work alongside my new colleagues.

In 2014 I graduated with a Bachelor of Primary teaching with honours. Since then I have lived and taught in the UAE, in a little city just outside Dubai. I moved back to NZ and did six months in a primary school and realised that it wasn't quite the age group I was looking for. For the past year I have been working in Early Childhood and absolutely love it! 

I live locally in Whakamarama  with my beautiful dog Max. He is a Red Staffordshire and I enjoy getting him out and about, visiting all the amazing local walks we have to offer.

I am very excited to be part on an amazing team and a centre that supports my growing philosophy. I look forward to meeting and getting to know current and new families here at The Garden.

Meg Gallagher - Fully Qualified Registered Teacher

Hi, my name is Meg Gallagher. I am a qualified and registered Early Childhood Teacher having completed a Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) in 2017.

 I have lived in Omokoroa for the past eight years with my partner and our 3 gorgeous children. Before this we lived in the shaky Christchurch and the wider North Canterbury. All three of your children were lucky enough to attend the local Primary/Intermediate School and grew up being actively part of the wonderful community of Omokoroa.

I have spent the past seven years working with young children in a wide variety of roles including Home Based Care Educator, Teacher Support in Early Childhood settings, Teacher Aide at Omokoroa Point School in the junior department and Teacher within a Montessori Early Childhood Centre.

Over this time I have been able to reflect and build a wider understanding of my teaching philosophy and I am now very lucky to be working with the amazing team of teachers at The Garden, who provide support and challenge me to continue to grow and learn as a teacher.

I truly believe that it takes the support and commitment of a community to raise a child and at the heart of a learning community is the strong, responsive and trusting relationships between all its members. I look forward to building these relationships with all the children and whanau of The Garden Early Childhood Centre.

 Rebekah Phillips - Teacher in training (ECE)

Hi, my name is Rebekah Phillips. I am an Early Childhood teacher in training. I have completed my first stage of study towards my Bachelor of Teaching(ECE) and will begin my second stage this year.

I grew up on a farm in Pahoia and now live in Omokoroa with my partner, who has three beautiful children and our dog Jet.

I have worked with children for 6 years, working at Early Childhood Centres and both Pahoia Primary School and Whakamarama School as a qualified teacher aide.

I am excited to be a part of The Garden family where tamariki have a fun, caring, kind and nurturing environment to learn and grow in.

I look forward to working with a great team and getting to know all of our wonderful families.

 Amy Cleland - Fully Qualified teacher.

Kia ora, my name is Amy Cleland. I am a qualified Early Childhood Teacher after completing a Bachelor of Teaching(ECE) in 2018. I will be working on my registration over the next two years.

Originally from Dunedin, I grew up on a farm and with a love for music I worked as a piano teacher whilst studying in Tauranga for the past three years. After completing my degree I wanted to continue living in the beautiful Bay of Plenty. I enjoy soaking up the sun rays at the beach and riding horses when i get the opportunity.

I am excited to be part of The Garden whanau and getting to know the families here.

Toni Alexander - Teacher Support

Hi, my name is Toni Alexander. I am doing the role of teacher support here at The Garden Early Childhood Centre

I have just moved to Omokoroa from Auckland where I have lived my whole life.

I have previously worked as a nanny for 14 years and worked in Early Childhood Centres previous to my move down here.

I have two primary school age children who attend Omokoroa Point School.

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.

It is an exciting new chapter in my life and cant wait to nurture and help your children grow while they attend their early lives here at The Garden.

Helen Osborne - Fully Qualified Registered teacher.

Kia ora. Im Helen and Im delighted to be joining the wonderful teaching team here at The Garden.

In Terms of my previous experience in education, I have been very happily involved in teaching for many years - much of this being in the UK’s education sector. This includes several years of working in south east England as a qualified primary school teacher.

I moved to New Zealand in 2009 and pretty much “on touch down”began working as an Early Childhood Teacher in central Tauranga. I found my role hugely rewarding and I was very interested to discover the close links between New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum(Te Whariki) and that of the UK’s Early Years Foundation Stage framework. I went to undertake study for a New Zealand qualification and in January 2015 was awarded my Graduate Diploma in Teaching(Early Childhood Education).

I feel so fortunate over the years to have met and worked with so many fabulously inspiring young minds and to have enjoyed building relationships with both tamariki and their whanau. I passionately believe that as adults, we have so much to learn(or rediscover)from watching and engaging with our children - in my experience, teaching and learning is very much a reciprocal activity.

Having this opportunity to teach here at The Garden and to contribute to its community is such an exciting next step in my teaching journey and wow…. what a beautiful natural setting in which to do this - an environment which is clearly supportive of our children’s holistic well-being, sense of community and respect for the natural environment.

Speaking of community, I feel very fortunate that my family live here locally on this very special Omokoroa peninsula. I have a very creative and inquiring daughter who attends the local school and my husband is fortunate to work locally too. You might see us around!

Stephanie Leeves-Annan - Fully Qualified Registered teacher.

Hello, my name is Stephanie Leeves-Annan and I am excited to be a part of the Garden family. I have lived in beautiful Omokoroa for the last fifteen years with my husband Geoff and our high school age twin boys Oliver and Alexander.

I am a trained and registered ECE teacher and have taught pre-school age children for 6 years. I have a visual arts background and prior to 2009, I worked in Museums and Art Galleries. I am passionate about encouraging creativity and helping children to build a life-long love of learning.

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