BestStart Wolverton Street

BestStart Wolverton Street, where we empower minds to think, hands to create and hearts to love

Our tamariki are empowered by our passionate teachers to create and experiment with their own ideas, persist and problem solve, encouraging confident and resilient explorers. 

We asked our current parents what words they would use to describe us?Just some of the words they shared were, Support, Love, Trust, Care & Family. 

Our teams commitment to building meaningful connections within our centre whanau is second to none, creating positive and memorable experiences for all.  Our teachers are valued, nurtured and supported through a closely connected team, We have the privilege of individually planning for your child's learning and development, creating responsive and exciting journeys.  You will be pleasantly surprised when you visit our centre, just how warm, welcoming and attractive our environments are with each room specifically tailored to children's age and development.

Our Little Huia Room cares for our infants from 3 months - 2 years of age.  Our youngest infants are provided primary care, where one main teacher primarily supports your child, establishing a secure and trusting relationship through consistent care and routines. We have lovely intimate spaces and a cosy outdoor courtyard, providing a safe space for our very young infants to explore as they quickly grow, reaching amazing milestones. Our adventurous older children enjoy gaining more confidence and control of their bodies as they enjoy exploring a shared outdoor space with their Huia peers

Our Huia Room cares for our youngest toddlers aged from 2 - 2.5 years of age.  We have a lovely spacious room, offering two large attractive indoor areas, set up to meet the needs of our growing and courageous explorers. We have a lovely outdoor area that provides endless opportunities of uninterrupted hands on learning and experimenting with our ideas. Our outdoor gardens which we have thoroughly enjoyed growing and caring for, have given us a sense of responsibility for the living world and knowledge of how to care for it.  We empower our tamariki to continue to practice their self-help skills and provide a language-rich environment to support their growing verbal communication. We facilitate peaceful techniques to work with and alongside others.

Our Piha Room cares for our older toddlers aged from 2.5–3.5 years of age.  This attractive learning space invites our tamariki to engage in meaningful connections with their learning environment. The strong connections give our tamariki the upmost confidence to further develop their skills in all areas of their learning.  The indoor area that is beautifully encompassed in two big open and spacious areas, provides many opportunities for our active explorers to carry out their working theories and foster their curiosity. We have a lovely level outdoor area which offers a safe space for our tamariki to challenge themselves in safe and responsible ways.  Our beautiful big sandpit sits in front of a majestic mural of the Piha beach. Our team are dedicated to supporting children in mastering their self-help skills and building social competencies that support inclusive relationships.  On rainy days we keep our busy toddlers engaged in our wonderful indoor Gym area, where they enjoy expressing themselves through the world of drama, dance and navigating through obstacles. 

Our Karekare Room cares for our children aged from 3.5–5 years of age. On any day you will find scientists, artists, bakers, gardeners and so much more.  Our tamariki thrive through creating, researching, revisiting learning and applying past knowledge to new experiences.  We have beautiful intimate learning spaces in our indoor environment that invite tamariki  to engage in many different curriculum areas in a meaningful and purposeful way.  We have a wonderful spacious outdoor area, offering children ample opportunities to explore and challenge themselves physically, where in turn they continue to develop their confidence and independence.   We empower our tamariki to be great leaders, sharing responsibilities, negotiating and persevering through challenges and keeping themselves safe. We help foster loving, caring and empathetic tamariki, so that we may always show care and respect for everyone and everything in our lives. Our teachers are focused on growing children’s knowledge around numeracy and literacy, offering a beautiful balance for children as they prepare for their next learning journey to Primary School. 

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.