BestStart Powells Road Kindy

Do you dare to take risks, to be brave, be bold and be you? We welcome you oh brave one, to BestStart Powells Road Kindy.

Home of the Brave!

BestStart Powells Road Kindy is the home of the brave where your child will grow, learn and play. A place that will nurture your child’s inner courage, inspiring them to rise up and break free; flying for the stars or the moon or wherever their brave adventure takes them. 

Our imaginations run wild, as our courage flies high, out come the lions, tigers, super girls and super boys, scientists, mathematicians, authors and maybe some actors who confidently stride through our home bravely, knowing who they are and their place in our brave world. Come in and join us. 

Our tamariki (children) are our taonga (treasures), unleashing their potential and helping them strive for the stars is what we as kaiako (teachers) do.

Community connections are part of our foundations, knowing who we are and our place in this world. Our community explorers step out from our home down on Powells Road courageously entering their next adventure. Is today a day for a trip to the forest-visiting and getting to know Tane Mahuta, or perhaps Norma’s farm so we can go feed the pigs? Are we popping into Insoll School for our lunch box group or maybe a going on a scavenger hunt down the road at Raymond Park? We always find new adventures for our brave explorers!

Our tamariki are kaitiaki (guardians of this land). During community explorations or Kindy adventures, we empower our tamariki to care of our place. Our community garden, our animals, our forests, and our kindy, are all ours to care for, in turn these places care for us too. 

Kindy life is full of adventure! As you step into our play space you enter an environment that fosters independence, nurtures belonging, fosters creativity, promotes thinking; a space where your child takes control of their own destiny, taking risks and exploring. 

Our kaiako value kōrero, conversations, and use language to encourage and engage learning. Our kaiako also value respect; supporting our tamariki to respect themselves, their belongings, their environment and their kindy whānau. Through respect we support tamariki to acknowledge and process their emotions, talk about how things make them feel as we prepare them for their journey of life.

As our explorers pave their footprints in their kindy journey, we support them to fill their kete mātauranga (basket of knowledge) to prepare them for the next pathway to school. Armed with this knowledge we support the transition to school, supporting you and your child 

Our tamariki stand strong like our mountains, fly high like the kererū, are cheeky like the fantail, majestic like butterfly and brave like tuatara, each in their own way. We value individuality and will get to know you and your child, so we can welcome you all with open arms to our whānau at BestStart Powells Road Kindy.

Come spread your wings or fly your cape, whichever suits, at our home of the brave.

Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti arahia ō tātou mahi 

Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work.

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.