Our People
Amanda Pritchard, Administrator
Amanda has been an administrator for our centres since 2012, supporting multiple centres at a time. She is often the first of many warm and friendly smiles that greet you as you come through our doors. On top of being our most capable and dedicated administrator, Amanda is also pursuing her Early Childhood Teaching qualification. She and her husband are proud parents of 4 beautiful girls. Amanda loves all sports and having a good laugh with her work colleagues.
Anna Kim, Head Teacher
Bachelor of Arts (University of Auckland) – Major in Education, Minor in Japanese
Graduate Diploma in ECE (Massey University), Full Teacher Certification
Kaiako Anna was originally from Korea and has been living in New Zealand for over 20 years. Also a mother to a young child, Kaiako Anna is passionate about working with young children and believes the early years of a child are the most crucial period as they form habits and attitudes which tend to last a lifetime. For this reason, she has chosen to take up early childhood teaching as a career, wanting to support and develop the crucial period of every child. She believes that each child is unique and brings with them their own knowledge, strengths, interests, and theories. Children are competent and capable, inquisitive, and energetic; it is vital that she, as a teacher, is there to protect the child's way of being, celebrate their creativity, perspective, individuality, and support their innate ability to imagine while also allowing for their development of thought processes.
Saori Zhang, Certificated Teacher (Preschool)
Bachelor of Education (Auckland University of Technology) – Montessori Early Childhood Teaching
Full Teacher Certification
Kaiako Saori was born in China, spent her schooling years in Japan, and then came to New Zealand over 13 years ago. Saori has taught in New Zealand for many years, both in the private sector and public kindergartens across various age groups, but mainly pre-schoolers. As a mum of 2 young boys, Saori is an articulate, communicative, and energetic teacher. She is steadfast in her commitment to high quality teaching practice – something her colleagues admire about her.
Dominique Snyman, Educator (Preschool)
Kaiako Dominique moved to New Zealand with her husband and 2 daughters in 2008 from South Africa. Her early career in real estate gave her the foundational skills for effective customer service. She is also an experienced in-home childcare provider. At the centre, Dominique is an all-rounder. She is our main van driver, and enjoys baking, cooking, and gardening with our tamariki. Her warm and fun-loving nature keep our tamariki engaged and our team spirit high.
Catherine Collecutt, Educator (Nursery)
Kaiako Catherine was born in Takaupuna. In her early career, she pursued nursing. 18 years ago, she moved to Hong Kong with her young family. There, they lived too far away from any hospital; and this is when she discovered early childhood teaching. After her family returned and settled back into New Zealand, she decided to continue her new-found passion in ECE and never looked back. She has been a pillar of Learning Adventures for over 13 years.
