PAUA History

PAUA (Preschoolers At-home Uniquely Achieving) was born out of a desire to provide a quality Homebased Early Childhood Education Service that would reflect our personal Christian values. Our charter with the Ministry of Education said:

 
PAUA Early Childhood Home Based Care Service is based on Christian philosophy and will reflect those principles and values. It will seek to provide a quality early childhood service to all families/educators, a service to any family where a need is identified and where the requirements of the Education Home Based Care Order are able to be fulfilled.

 

17th November 2003 is when PAUA was born, the first children we enrolled were in Taupo (not part of the original plan... but obviously part of God's!)

 

Deb Loveridge was our first Visiting Teacher that we employed in Palmerston North in February 2005, after some time away with family commitments we were rapt that she returned as a Visiting Teacher in February 2010. Over the years, Visiting Teachers in the Palmerston North region have included Michelle Nicholls, Helen Williams, Rose Fowler, Suz McVicar and Nicky Paul – we have valued the contribution that each have made. Currently we have Tina Larsen, Paulette Moana and Deb working in the Manawatu, Foxton region.

 

February 2005 was when Robin Fay was employed in Taupo as Visiting Teacher. With her vision and ability the Taupo/Turangi region grew with Educators and Children. She left in July 2007 to fulfil her vision of working with children in East Timor. Currently in 2010 we have Lynelle Laws and Sarah Infield as Visiting Teachers in Taupo, and Rangi Wikaira in Turangi.

 

In January 2007 Brenda Cooper became our Visiting Teacher in Pahiatua, the area grew with Laura Crocker joining her at the end of that year. Mary Morris followed in 2008 working in the Woodville/Dannevirke region, and Colleen Barr started in Waipukurau/Hastings in February 2010. We currently have Educators from Napier down to Featherston on that side of the North Island.

 

Melody Nightingale joined us in April 2008 and her move to Tauranga meant that PAUA was moving in to the Bay of Plenty. Currently we have Lucelle Cook and Ngahui Cassidy working in the Bay.  Also in mid 2008 we moved down the Kapiti Coast, firstly with Erika Langenhoven as Visiting Teacher, and now Julie Clover and Carolyn McKenzie cover that region.

 

October 2008 also saw Pauline Barnett move from being a PAUA Educator in Taihape, to a Visiting Teacher!

 

Meanwhile in Wanganui we’ve had Melanie Peters and Shelley Kyle working alongside Raewyn over the years. Currently we have Sandra Watson, Megan Wallace and Leanne Chapman looking after all the Educators in the region.

 

February 2009 saw PAUA move into South Taranaki – Ngani Ngatai as our first Visiting Teacher, and joined in October by Phillippa Ngatai-Turahui.

 

The move to the South Island began in July 2009 with Erin Bradley employed as a Visiting Teacher, Gillian Wait joined her in February 2010.

 

All the way through, Raewyn’s passion for quality resources has meant the sourcing of high quality products has been really important to her. Educators and parents starting asking to buy these resources for their families. This lead to our first “Christmas Buying Evenings” being held throughout the PAUA world in 2008. This has now grown and last year saw the opening of the PAUA Products store in Wanganui. July 2010 saw the launch of PAUA Products online store so that more Kiwi children can enjoy the educational benefits of these high quality toys and resources.

 

So where to next? We aren’t 100% sure, but one thing we do know.... God does and He’ll let us in on the secret in due course!!