Meet our teachers

Kia ora everyone.

For those who do not know me, I used to be the Head teacher in the Tui room for almost 3 years.

I have had the privilege to have worked for Shona, our ex-centre manager, and Carol, the centre owner of Pupuke, over in Herne Bay starting in 2002 for 14 and a half years. It was at Bayfield EEC that I grew into the role of a head teacher. I have, however, been working in ECE for almost 22 years now and I have taught and nurtured all age groups, so I have had lots of knowledge and experience within the ECE sector.

I am part Māori and part Niuean, and I have lived in West Auckland my whole life. I am happily married with one daughter, Krisarn, who is now 11 years old.

I am passionate in working with children as I believe that they develop and learn best in a loving, nurturing, calm, understanding, safe, fun, and healthy environment.

I understand how rewarding but also how difficult the role of a parent can be at times, especially as a working parent. We all want our children to be happy, cared for and provide them with the best learning opportunities. I can assure you that I am committed to improving children’s outcomes and my role, along with the team here at Pupuke, is to assist your child on their learning journey giving them the freedom to explore and develop in a warm and caring environment.

 I am really looking forward to growing in this new role.     

 January 2021

Hola, Como están? Hello, how are you? Kia Ora.

My name is Ericka Morales.

I am from a beautiful country called Costa Rica ubicated in Centro América. I grew up in the countryside. My parents are farmers, so I understand what it is to eat what you produce.

I moved to New Zealand in 2011.

Part of my role at Pupuke Early Education Centre, is to introduce a healthy and balanced diet, delicious meals, and use proper food safety. I believe in encouraging children to taste new ingredients. I am working with, and talking about, what they like and how healthy food makes your body grow. It is fundamental for your tamariki to developing a sense of well-being, meeting the growth development and activity needs of healthy and confident children.

I am delighted to be working here, especially in getting to know all tamariki and whānau.

May 2021

Hello! My name is Carolyn and I am very excited to join the wonderful team at Pupuke Early Education Centre. Early childhood education is my passion and advocacy. Since 2008, I was an early childhood educator at the Balay-balay (Playhouse) Child Minding Centre in Iloilo City, Philippines, where learning is cultivated through play. I also had the wonderful opportunity to be one of the organizers of PAREF Preschool Ridgefield, a private preschool in Iloilo City, Philippines, where home-school collaboration provides a strong foundation for the child’s character formation. I have a Bachelor of Science in Management-Psychology degree from the University of the Philippines, a Diploma in Early Childhood Education from the West Visayas State University, Philippines, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Early Childhood Education) from the New Zealand Tertiary College, Auckland. My husband and I are comfortably settled here in New Zealand, while being supportive of our two adult sons who are trailblazing their careers. In addition, I have happy feet which makes music and movement second nature to me. I also love to travel to other countries and I consider each journey an insightful adventure. Being surrounded by children makes me feel young at heart and their world of wonder constantly amazes me. Moreover, I uphold and respect the uniqueness of each child, as well as their individual viewpoints. Furthermore, I believe that children should be given the freedom to learn through exploration and diverse experiences, in order for them to develop and enhance their self-efficacy and competency.

I look forward with eagerness to work in harmony with my associates, to coordinate and develop collegial relationships with the parents/whānau, and to build supportive and trusting relationships with the children. I consider it my privilege to share joyous, exciting, and enriching learning moments with your children, in a centre where we are all a community of learners.

August 2017

Kia ora, my name is Jo and I have been working with children for the last 25 years. Before starting at Pupuke Early Education Centre in August 2016, I was at Bayfield Early Education Centre in Herne Bay for 15 years. I have worked with all age groups from nursery to toddlers and the last 4 years in the preschool room. I consider it a privilege to be working here at Pupuke in the Pukeko room. As a teacher I believe in supporting children to become happy, independent, confident and competent learners. And most of all creating an environment where they can have fun!

August 2016

안녕하세요 (Ahn young ha se yo),  Kia ora and hello. I am Julie Yang and Jeongeun is my Korean name. I came to New Zealand in December 2008 with my sister to study Early Childhood Education from South Korea.

I graduated with a Bachelors degree in English language and literature from Youngnam University in 2007 and wanted to become an English teacher in South Korea. For a year I worked with children who were non-English speakers and helped them to learn the alphabet, phonics, and basic conversation. I also did voluntary work with children with special needs for a couple of years. Through these precious experiences, I wanted to gain in-depth knowledge about Early Education for young children and decided to study in New Zealand.

I have a Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood Education from New Zealand Tertiary College. Since 2011, I had worked as a reliever in the Tui room at Pupuke Early Education Centre while I was in training and then I had worked as a Nursery teacher at Bayfield Early Education Centre for two years. In July 2016, I was very happy to be back at my home centre in the Tui room and in November 2019, I moved to work in the Pukeko room.

I respect and support children and their families/whānau from diverse cultural backgrounds. Building respectful and collaborative relationships with children, families/whānau and colleagues are a crucial part of my teaching practice. I am super excited to take a new role as the Head Teacher in the Tui room and looking forward to getting to know all the children and families.

January 2021

Hello – Ni Hao, my name is Sophia. I moved to New Zealand from China in 2006 and started working at Pupuke Early Education Centre in November 2009. I then left when I had my son, Apollo, coming back to Pupuke in 2015. All my family loves living in beautiful Auckland. As a teacher I have built my practice around respecting individuality and diversification. I feel it is important for me to establish trust with each child and look at ways to support their learning. I believe children need to feel safe, loved, respected and trusted, getting a sense of belonging and enjoyment in their early learning journey.

November 2009

Kia Ora.

I am delighted to be a part of the team at Pupuke Early Education Centre.
My name is Rachel. I have been working with children for more than a decade both here in NZ and overseas. It helped me gain a wealth of experience, knowledge and different philosophies in teaching & learning alongside children. I have always had this huge passion of working with children of all age groups and from diverse cultural backgrounds to support them with their growth and development. Safety and Respect is paramount to me in my daily teaching practice.

My philosophy is to provide a safe, warm, nurturing, stimulating and fun learning experience for the children, giving them the autonomy to lead their own learning and freedom to choose their own activities to explore, investigate, and discover their environment to develop their confidence & competency.

I gained my Early Childhood Diploma from Penn Foster Career International School Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
I am happily married with three adult children, two young professionals and a university student. My children were born in different countries around the world where our family lived and worked before moving to NZ in 2008.

I am looking forward to building a happy and genuine relationship with the team, with your family, and your precious little ones.
June 2024