Childcare options in Whangamata

BestStart Whangamata is a quality childcare centre for children from three months to five years. We are centrally located, five minutes from Whangamata’s beautiful beach and harbour. Our coastal environment allows us to explore, participate in community events and develop meaningful relationships with our community.

Little Steps to a Big Future

The qualified teaching team are passionate about Early Childhood Education and have skills and experience that support children and families. We’re committed to providing a stimulating environment based on individual needs of our tamariki and whanau. Welcoming parents and children on arrival and sharing moments of your child’s day with you is an important part of our day.

We respect parents as first teachers and work with you to guide your child through their learning journey. We offer quality education through building respectful relationships and engaging children in learning through play. Your aspirations and expectations for your child and the contributions you make to your child’s learning are valued.

Every moment is a learning opportunity from infants and toddlers through to our four year olds. We want our tamariki to be confident learners and allow them the freedom, time and space to learn valuable skills.

We offer a unique Be School Ready initiative, which builds on the skills necessary to transition to school. Four year olds visit the new entrant classes at both the Area School as well as Opoutere School prior to turning 5.

Our under two room provides a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment. This creates a sense of wonder for babies and toddlers, with its separate outdoor space providing opportunities for your child to have fun while learning.

Our over two area has play spaces that allow for your child’s creativity and imagination to be explored and extended. Natural resources sourced from Whangamata are incorporated into our environment, which complement our approach to teaching.

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.

Welcome to Whangamata Kindergarten.

Our vision is to provide quality, inclusive and accessible Early Childhood Education to our community within a welcoming environment, and to foster a culture of open thinking and manaakitanga.

Our mission is that every child believes in themselves, and that we ensure they leave kindergarten with the foundations of personal development and a love of learning for life. 

What makes our kindergarten special?

• Our qualified and very experienced teaching team.
• We support all children to experience a cross section of the curriculum through their passions, interests and creativity.
• We are an Enviroschools Kindergarten and promote a healthy, peaceful and sustainable programme.
• We take pride in our beautiful environment which sparks children’s natural curiosity and excitement for learning.
• Being on the same grounds as Whangamata School provides us with a unique opportunity to participate in school life.

Rainbow Cottage is a small, family focused centre that prides intself on a family-like, relaxed and happy atmosphere. Being at Rainbow Cottage is likened to being part of a big, happy family.

Hours and days of operation

We are open Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, all year (closed weekends and public holidays only).

We offer flexible enrolment times, including full day, 9-3 and morning or afternoon sessions to meet the needs of our families.

Our program

At Rainbow Cottage, our learning program is based on children’s interests and play urges. We believe that play is the foundation of learning. Through innate play urges (swinging, collecting, constructing, transporting to name a few) children learn the skills they need for life. Children at Rainbow Cottage are encouraged to create, imagine and discover through child-led play.

Documentation of learning

Each child has an individual portfolio which documents their learning and development whilst at the centre. In addition to these folders (which are located within easy reach of the children at the centre and are also welcome to pay visits home) each learning story or portfolio entry is also loaded onto a secure web based site. This can be accessed via a password by anyone the family would like to give access to. Rainbow learning stories are beamed around New Zealand and across the world on a regular basis – much to the delight of family members who enjoy sharing these learning journeys. Not only does our online system give families 24 hour access to their child’s learning, it also provides a backup for these precious memories.

What makes us exceptional?

We firmly believe that children should be allowed to be children. They only get one chance and we are here to make that chance a positive one. We encourage children to develop a love of learning; it’s not as much about what they ‘know’ as knowing how to get answers.

Social competence is, in our view, one of the most important aspects of early childhood development. Positive relationships, smiles, love, hugs and knowing that they matter are some of the things we ensure children lucky enough to attend rainbow cottage are showered with on a daily basis.