Childcare options in Pleasant Point

Situated within a delightful rural township, our centre has three spacious rooms, and outdoor play areas, ensuring plenty of space to run, dance, and climb. To laugh, hug and care. To create, explore and love learning.

BestStart Pleasant Point - Aroha, A Place To Love

Where our tamariki not only feel loved, but love coming too!

We enjoy the outdoors and treasure the knowledge of the farming lifestyle our tamariki bring to our learning environments – tractors, trucks, diggers, and farm animals are much loved resources in our classrooms and playgrounds. And we always enjoy a wee visit from pets and other animals from home.

Here, tamariki and whanau can build friendships and be part of a learning whanau that cares – for ourselves, each other and our local community, enjoying walks to our local park, landmarks and shops when we can, and maintaining strong ties with our local primary schools. We love to see older siblings and past children pop in in their school uniforms, with such pride on their faces, ready to share with the teachers just how well they are doing at school.

The sign on our entrance gate to the Nursery room says ‘Pepe at Play’ and this is exactly what you will see when you arrive. Alongside ensuring caring and responsive care needs are met, our teachers and caregivers provide an environment where children develop the love of learning through their play and laughter, through caring and respectful relationships where children’s voice’s are heard and valued, where children can confidently express themselves, their knowledge and their needs, and where children know they belong and are the priority no matter what. Indeed, this flows throughout all our rooms, Nursery, Preschool and Kindergarten, and forms the basis of our centre vision and philosophy….

Aroha through Whanaungatanga - we build relationships with each other through shared experiences and working together to build a sense of belonging for all.

Aroha through Manaakitanga - we support tamariki in showing kindness, respect, generosity and care of others, with kaiako and adults role modelling this at all times.

Aroha through Whatumanawa - we value the ability for all to develop open and healthy expressions of emotions. We want to hear the children’s voices in their play, and our parent and whanau voices in the learning and development of their children.

Who is BestStart?

BestStart is for families who want more from early-childhood education. Safe, nurturing and educationally focused, we’re committed to growing caring people with curious minds.

Together we teach, learn and nurture.

Our vision is to work in partnership with families, whanau and communities to enable children to achieve their learning potential.

Ko tō mātou tirohanga hei mahi ngātahi i te taha o ngā whānau me ngā hāpori, kia āwhinatia ngā tamariki, kia tū pito mata ai rāatou, hei rangatira mō āpōpō.

We are committed to being a progressive and responsive leader in early-childhood education. We do this by enhancing our services, investing in our people, developing our support structure and continuously improving the educational outcomes and experiences of our children, families and the communities we serve.

Some facts:

• We’re licensed to educate and care for 15,000 full-time children daily.
• 18,000 families use BestStart services annually.
• We have over 270 centres nationwide located from Whangarei to Invercargill.
• Each centre is managed by a Centre Manager who is supported by a local Area Manager. This gives our centre teams ongoing quality training and support.
• Te Whāriki, the world-wide acclaimed national early childhood education curriculum, is used in all centres.
• We have over 4500 permanent teachers nationally. Over 90% of our permanent teaching staff are either fully qualified with a diploma or bachelor of teaching (ECE) or higher, or are in training. These figures are very high by national standards within the ECE sector.
• We provide a two-year Advice and Guidance Programme for all recently certified teachers, providing further mentoring and training. This gives strong support for teachers from provisional registration to full teacher registration with the NZ Teachers Council.
• We regularly spend around $4 million on teacher training per annum.

We’re for children

At our heart is our commitment and passion for children. Central to this belief is our focus on the holistic development of children. We support children to explore the world around them, learning through relationships, creating a love of learning in an ever-changing world. Exploration, friendship and fun are part of the journey.

We’re for good

BestStart is a registered charity owned by the Wright Family Foundation. We support initiatives and programmes within BestStart and the wider early-childhood education sector (ECE) that support good outcomes for all children. We do this because we want to make a positive difference to the lives of all children.

Innovation leads us

At BestStart, innovation guides our thinking. We advocate positive change for learners through our research and practice. We’re proud to be thought leaders within ECE, openly challenging ourselves to think differently to provide the best for our children, families and staff.

We’re responsive

Our centres reflect their children, staff and communities. We celebrate individuality, uniqueness and diversity, encouraging a spirit of empathy, understanding and collaboration. Through our responsive relationships and our curriculum, we support learners to choose their own path.

Our people matter

At BestStart people come first. When we grow and develop our people, everyone benefits. We strive for whakamana/empowerment, nurturing a culture of excellence with engaged, talented professionals. Their commitment, skill and passion light our way.

Nau mai, haere mai and welcome to Pleasant Point Playcentre

Playcentre is unlike any other early childhood education organisation. At Playcentre, both children and their parents / caregivers attend.

At Playcentre children get the opportunity to learn and explore in a fun and safe environment.

The curiosity and creativity of our tamariki is nurtured in a way that allows them to learn about themselves and their world.

Your child will be given a chance to explore, create, climb, read, sing, experiment, play music, wear costumes, have their face painted (or do it themselves!), garden, do carpentry with real tools, bake and cook, build sandcastles, swing, slide, dance, spend time in nature and get messy.

The activities change every day. Playcentre parents all bring different skills, interests, and cultural backgrounds to add to the rich learning environment.

We welcome families with children aged 0 – 6 years. Mixed age play allows your children to engage with others older and younger than themselves. Pre-schoolers learn how to communicate, share and negotiate with empathy for their younger peers.

At Playcentre, families come together and lifelong friendships are formed.

We welcome you to visit any time during the year. You are entitled to three free visits so come and check out what we do – we would love to meet you and your family!