Nevaeh’s Recent Learning Adventures

Over the last couple of weeks, Nevaeh has enjoyed many exciting learning opportunities and experiences.

A special highlight was a visit to Marilyn’s house, where Nevaeh had the chance to play on a real piano with Marilyn. She walked in confidently like she owned the place and knew exactly what she was there to do. It was wonderful to see her curiosity and confidence shine as she explored the piano and enjoyed making music.

Nevaeh was also very lucky to receive a beautiful new pair of sparkly slippers from Jackie and her daughter. Nevaeh absolutely loved them and could not stop looking at them, especially when they sparkled in the sunlight.

Imaginative play continues to be a big interest for Nevaeh. She has been spending lots of time caring for her doll and using the crib setup, and this week she also started showing interest in pushing the baby pram around. Looking ahead, we are planning to create a mock bedroom setup in the sensory space to help extend this imaginative play even further. This may include activities such as opening and closing curtains for baby at bedtime, turning the lights off, and playing soft lullabies to create a calming bedtime routine experience.

Nevaeh has also been enjoying sensory learning activities, including colour matching and counting games. Some of these resources were brought back by Amy from a recent visit to the Vision Resource Library in Christchurch. We are hoping to visit again a couple more times this year, as the library has an extensive range of learning materials and resources covering almost every topic and area of development imaginable.

Nevaeh continues to grow in confidence, curiosity, and imaginative play through these experiences.

 

Caring, Connecting, and Cross Country

We’re already into week three of the term, and it’s hard to believe how quickly the time is flying by.

This week we’ve included a photo of Nevaeh’s special wall in her classroom, which helps her peers see what she’s been up to throughout the day, as mentioned in a previous post.

One thing we’ve really noticed lately is how naturally drawn Nevaeh is to nurturing and caring for babies. We’ve been leaning into this interest as an opportunity to build on those lovely innate caregiving skills. With some dolls, a crib, stroller, and other baby items added into the space, it’s been an absolute hit. When Nevaeh first saw the crib, she immediately went over, said “sleep,” and carefully tucked the baby into bed. Such a cool moment to witness.

Nevaeh is also forming some really nice friendships with Jackson and Dakota, which has been wonderful to see grow over the past few weeks.

She’s also been doing some practice for cross country, which was a great lead-up to yesterday’s event. Nevaeh completed her lap in the sunshine and absolutely loved it.

Olivia has also been doing some fantastic work with Nevaeh using the mirror to support conversations around body parts, integrating lots of speech and language opportunities while focusing on identification and communication.

I’ve honestly been so impressed by everything Olivia and Jackie have been doing to support Nevaeh while we are without specialists. From physio and occupational therapy through to speech and language support, they’ve both done an incredible job making sure Nevaeh’s needs continue to be well met. Thank you so much, ladies.

Welcome to Term 2!

This week marked our first week back, and Nevaeh has had a really positive start to the term.

She’s spent a lot of time doing what she naturally enjoys—drawing and coloring with a wide range of colors. We’re using those moments as part of her learning, pairing each color with its name and the corresponding sign. This has been a key focus in her speech and language sessions with Olivia, and it’s been a nice, natural way to build that connection without taking away from something she already loves.

Nevaeh has also been connecting well with her classmates, with more shared interactions throughout the week. She now has a display area in her classroom where curious peers can see what Nevaeh gets up to each week.

A highlight activity this week was an outdoor scavenger hunt with Olivia, where they explored different objects, textures, and colors on a sunny day. It was a great opportunity for hands-on, sensory-based learning.

We’ve got some exciting plans lined up for the term, including volunteering at RDA, a visit to the Kiwi Centre, and opportunities for Nevaeh to create music with her peers as a way to connect and communicate through a medium she is strong in.

We also had our termly visit from the BLENNZ team, who shared some helpful ideas. One option we’re looking into is a visit to the Visual Resource Centre in Christchurch, which Amy will hopefully be visiting later this term. We’re also exploring the possibility of working with resource teachers for vision, particularly around their Learning Through Music programme, to see what we might be able to incorporate into her weekly routine.

Overall, it’s been a steady, positive start, and we’re looking forward to building on it as the term progresses.

 

End of term wrap-up

As Term 1 comes to an end, Nevaeh has been busy with a range of hands-on activities.

She has spent time exploring art using paint and pens, building her confidence and fine motor skills. She has also been using button toys where she presses a button and it names the colour, helping her with colour recognition.

Nevaeh has enjoyed playing with cars, sorting them into colours and groups. She has also been learning about size, exploring the concepts of small, smaller, and smallest through play.

Nevaeh also had her final physio session with Sam to wrap up the term. As always, music has been a real highlight, and we’ve gotten to hear Nevaeh’s beautiful voice a lot more this term. It has been great to see her progress, and we look forward to settling in with a new therapy team in Term 2.

Overall, it’s been a productive term with lots of practical learning and development.

 

Heritage Park Social Outing

Recently, Nevaeh joined a small group of her peers on an exciting visit to the Westland Industrial Heritage Park. Hosted by the wonderful staff, she had the chance to engage with friends and work a little with her physiotherapist, Sam. The kids loved riding the trains and tractor, while Nevaeh fully immersed herself in the sensory experiences—the sounds, movement, fresh air, and sunshine. She was especially fascinated by the play of light, color, and textures while exploring the artifacts in the sheds. It was a fun experience for all in attendance, and we plan on doing a similar trip back to explore the “Big Machines” shed in term 4.

Ed Sheeran

Just thought we’d pop on and share a quick post about this summer that just can’t go without being mentioned 🙂

In late January, Nevaeh and family were lucky enough to attend the Ed Sheeran concert in Christchurch! Ed has been such an important part of Nevaeh’s journey thus far, and we don’t go a day without listening to or singing/playing his music here at school. We were all so happy that she was able to experience him live. Hopefully he’ll be back one day and we can go for round 2!

And many thanks to Haemophilia NZ for providing complimentary tickets for the whole family to enjoy the experience together!

Hello 2026 :)

We’ve had a busy first couple weeks of school, and Nevaeh is getting back into the swing of things. She’s been spending time with her new classmates and teacher Miss Lang, playing music with Marilyn and Amy, attending her first RDA session of the year, and having a swim with Sam. She’s also resumed her daily learning with Jackie and Olivia, and has been all smiles. Next week we go on a fun small group excursion to the Industrial Heritage park where will we ride the trains and tractor sled, and explore some old artifacts from days gone by.

Looking forward to a great year! Lots more learning to share along the way…

 

End of year wrap-up and thanks!

With our last blog post of the year, I wanted to extend a heartfelt thanks to Nevaeh’s entire team, and all those that she has interacted with this year. We’ve seen incredible growth and maturing in Nevaeh, and it has been truly inspiring to watch her explore and learn alongside her amazing, fun, and deeply caring team.  Happy holidays to all and we look forward to making more memories with Nevaeh in 2026!

 

A snapshot of learning

This week I wanted to share a few of the learning activities Nevaeh has been exploring with her team this term. She has been performing simple pieces of music with Amy, and trying out different writing and drawing tools like pens, paint pens, and chalk with Olivia, which she really enjoys.

She’s also had lots of fun with cars- counting them, talking about colours, and watching them zoom down the ramp with plenty of excitement. On the iPad, Nevaeh is practising two-dimensional matching, sorting, and answering questions, and her engagement and confidence in these activities are growing each week.

It’s been wonderful to see her curiosity and enthusiasm shine through in so many different areas.

 

Church Organ Inspiration

Last week, we were lucky enough to be invited to the Anglican church to learn about and play their incredible church organ. Nevaeh absolutely loved it, and we can’t wait to go back for another visit. Helene treated us to a performance, and Nevaeh got the opportunity to play her very best “Mary had a little lamb.” She loved exploring the different sounds, and dancing and singing along while Helene played.