One of the most valuable aspects of pre-school learning is exploration and New Zealand’s Ministry of Education prioritises creating safe environments where young kiwis have the freedom to embrace their adventurous spirit by choosing where they learn and play.

Exploration helps develop confidence, decision making and independence and one Lower Hutt kindergarten has recognised and championed its importance for over 30 years.

Epuni Kindergarten is situated on a sheltered site in a supportive community that sees many 2nd and 3rd generation students enjoying its vibrant and welcoming environment.

Though a sheltered and safe home away from home for the children in its care, one challenge of Epuni’s location is the weather says head teacher Liz Fifita.

“We operate an open-door policy so that our students can embrace their independence and freely go from indoor to outdoor learning and play whenever they wish. We have a spacious and secure covered area to use when it’s raining and our playground and sandpit is unavailable, however colder temperatures and rain still limited how long our kids can enjoy it for,” she says

In early 2024, Epuni was able to solve part of this challenge with the installation new heavy-duty plastic drop-curtains that prevented any rain getting in and were easier for the teaching team to operate and secure.

Geographically, the east side of the Hutt Valley is late to get the morning sun and early to lose it in the afternoon. This means cold mornings and dropping temperatures later in the school day.

With temperatures still an obstacle and preventing the teaching team of 5 and their 40 students from being able to enjoy the space to its fullest, a discussion between Fifita and a parent uncovered the ideal solution.

Warm & toasty

UPS Power Solutions’ engineering manager, James Clark has already seen his eldest daughter enjoy Epuni’s enriching learning environment before progressing on to school. His second daughter currently attends the kindergarten and his youngest will be joining the Epuni family in a few years’ time.

He says that the outside areas at Epuni have always been a highlight for his own children and their friends but recognised how vulnerable their exploration was to weather interruptions.

“As soon as we started talking about how to improve the outdoor space and extend its value to the kids’ learning, I knew our Helping Hands Initiative could solve the problem. Epuni is already a place that our kids look forward to visiting every day so it’s great to be able to add even more variety to their experience,” he says.

Clark immediately began researching the ideal heating solution that would increase the availability of the outdoor space, while maintaining the safety and security of the kindergarten and its occupants.

“We not only wanted to deliver a heating solution that was tailored to the space but wanted to investigate how it would best meet Epuni’s requirements by simplifying its operation. This would ensure the teaching team could rely on the heaters switching off automatically with no interruption to learning or unnecessary power costs,” he says.

Clark, a registered electrician, installed the three 2.4kW outdoor radiant heaters and set up delay off timers to fit the daily operation of the kindergarten.

The heaters come on for 2 hours in the morning so everyone arrives at a warm and cozy space, with teachers able to remotely operate them in the afternoon if required.

Liz Fifiti says that her teaching team, students and their parents got the benefits immediately and they are almost looking forward to what will be a very different winter experience at Epuni Kindergarten.

Helping our own communities

The Helping Hands Initiative was established to provide a vehicle for UPS Power Solutions’ people to assist their own communities. Clark says that this is a perfect example of where attention and expertise can always deliver a great result.

“We love lending a helping hand because it often involves more engagement with our communities and the outcomes we can achieve together are specifically tailored. There’s nothing better than seeing the positive impacts of our initiatives first-hand,” he says.

Liz Fifita says that this project was especially fitting as in 2023 the Hutt City Kindergarten Association of 20 early learning centres celebrated its 95^th year of providing rich learning environments where children feel comfortable to explore and engage.

“It has completely changed the space for us at a time when we’re celebrating some real landmarks for early education in the region. The children keep commenting on how nice and warm it is and are clearly pleased that we’ve been able to relax our disciplined approach to warm weather clothing and lots of layers. We can’t thank James and his team at UPSPS enough,” she says.

See where else we've provided a Helping Hand