I’m Jo Phillips and I’m head teacher here at Mataki Way, I feel blessed to be part of the dedicated hardworking and passionate teaching team here.

I have twenty years Early Childhood teaching experiences so you could say that teaching is my passion and it is definitely, not just a job. I love every minute of my day exploring and learning with these young children.

I am also blessed to share my life with my husband of 27 years Reg and our three now adult children – Selina, Konrad and Paul. When they were younger, I found it incredible watching them learn , explore and create new understandings and their world and the wider world of their Samoan heritage and culture.

Being with them enabled me to emphasize and understand the challenges and issues that face the whanau in our centre’s and some of the needs and aspirations they may have for their children too. I therefore love sharing and engaging with whanau especially regarding their child’s valued learning and what happens here each day and to understand the experiences children have at home that may be similar.

I believe we are all lifelong learners and learning can be not only challenging but also fun and I truly enjoy working alongside children as their curiosity, creativity and confidence grows. We can explore together and communicate ideas and working theories, whilst making discoveries about the world around us.