BestStart Everglade Preschool

Welcome to BestStart Everglade Preschool. We welcome you to visit our centre and have a guided tour through our culturally rich and stimulating learning environment.

We’re open from 7.30am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday and have children in our care from 2 to 5 years old. Our Preschool has excellent staff to child ratios, quality equipment and toys in a safe, nurturing, stimulating and attractive learning environment. We also have our sister centre BestStart Everglade babies nearby. We have two rooms, each set up to meet the needs of children in different age groups and at different stages of learning. We have an inspiring outdoor play space that is safe and stimulating to enhance our tamariki’s learning. 

We have a friendly team of qualified and committed teachers, a centre cook and centre administrator who provide the best learning and care environments for the children. We believe that children are empowered to be capable, competent and confident learners when they are supported by kaiako through positive relationships and quality interactions where they feel safe, secure and a sense of belonging.  

We are proud to be part of a vibrant multi-cultural community and our centre has children coming from diverse cultural backgrounds which proves beneficial to both our children and staff, enabling them to learn about, understand and respect the exciting cultural diversity within our community.

We have a well-established Be School Ready initiative that has been developed to ensure that children leave the centre as confident and capable learners ready for school. We have strong links with the local schools such as Everglade Primary, Hill Park, Manurewa Central and Redoubt Primary School.  We engage in a variety of ways in various school events and also encourage the neighbouring school children to be involved in our centre events.

We work closely with the NZ Heart Foundation and have a strong focus in the Hauora initiative which encourages children to be healthy in mind, body and spirit.  We work collaboratively with outside agencies such as CCS disability and MOE to support our children with additional needs.  The children brush their teeth at the centre and we work with Smile Care to promote an oral health programme in the centre.

We look forward to hearing from you and joining you in the journey of raising your child. Come and visit us.

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.