Trentham Kindergarten Head Teacher

Whānau Manaaki

Teaching
Upper Hutt
Permanent / Full Time

26/5/2026

At He Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens (WMK), we're proud to support over 135 kindergartens across the regions of Taranaki, Whanganui, Central Plateau, Horowhenua, Manawatū, Kāpiti, Porirua, Greater Wellington, Upper Hutt, Wairarapa and South Otago. We also offer a unique home-based service, Etu Ao, in Porirua and Levin, with a special focus on Pacific families.

He Whānau Manaaki Introduction | He Whānau Manaaki Timatanga Kōrero

We believe that high quality early childhood education is a powerful force—for children, their whānau, their communities, and for the future of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our vision is to be a national leader in early childhood education, setting the standard and advocating for excellence and access across the country.

- Nurturing the mana of the child - Honouring each child's unique identity and potential

- Kounga | Quality - Striving for excellence in every aspect of our services

- Pono | Integrity - Acting with honesty, respect, and transparency

- Kaitiakitanga | Stewardship and sustainability

- Mahi Tahi | Partnership - Working together with whānau and communities

Today, more than 6,000 children are part of the Whānau Manaaki kindergarten family, with an additional 150 children enrolled in our Etu Ao home-based programme. Together, we're building strong foundations for lifelong learning and wellbeing.

Trentham kindergarten has a mixed age group and follows a full year school day model. We are located in the suburb of Trentham in Upper Hutt. We are a teaching team of five who are all passionate about providing quality learning experiences for children and their whānau. We have strong relationships with our community and value whānau contributions and involvement.

Our whānau come from a wide area and we feed into a large number of Upper Hutt schools.

We value and promote partnership with parents, family and whānau and celebrate the cultural diversity of our community. We focus on respecting and promoting our bicultural heritage whilst supporting all children to lead their own learning and demonstrate tuakana-teina with each other.

We offer a learning environment where children's interests, strengths and passions are fostered and where learning is fun. We provide a safe and welcoming environment for children and support the development of healthy lifestyles with a combination of learning about our environment, healthy food and physical activity.

We are licensed for 43 children. You will join our team of 4 other teachers.

Full-time Head Teacher - Trentham Kindergarten

Total hours per week:40 Mon to Fri: 8 to 4:30

- is committed to deepening our cultural journey in Tiriti o Waitangi learning partnerships

- understands and enacts leadership capability and is adaptable and responsive to change

- has excellent communication and interpersonal skills with colleagues, whānau and tamariki, with a lens of supporting the wealth of knowledge they bring with them

- implements and leads by example, effective practice that supports children with diverse learning needs, providing an inclusive curriculum that promotes all children's sense of belonging and wellbeing within a very multicultural kindergarten setting

- leads collaborative professional learning using internal evaluation processes and adaptively applies this learning in practice.

To apply for this position, you need to address the key skills or abilities listed above. We ask that you talk about these in your covering letter, giving examples of how you have demonstrated these skills/abilities in previous roles. Please remember to attach your covering letter, resume and other relevant information as listed in the Application Requirements on our website.

Applications close on: Tuesday 9th June at 11:45pm.