BestStart Clarence Street

BestStart Clarence Street is a beautifully converted villa situated in central Hamilton. We're open right through the year, only closing for public holidays and care for children from 0-6 years old.

Building Wisdom Through Kindness

We work in partnership with our families to create a learning environment where every child feels confident to explore and learn. 

At BestStart Clarence Street there is a warm, home-like feel when you walk through our doors. This helps our children and families feel comfortable and secure in our learning environment. After all, a happy child allows for growth and development, fulfilling their potential.

We believe in making learning magic and provide experiences that help create a life-long love of learning. In our beautiful, nature-rich learning environments, our teaching team offer something different everyday to inspire our children and spark their imaginations. We encourage them to be creative and express themselves.

We are committed to promoting and nurturing the social, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing of our mokopuna. We show respect, integrity and kindness to all. Showing and feeling aroha (love) is paramount for us. Through love we create an inclusive whakapapa (knowing who you are and where you belong) where everyone has a voice and is heard.

Nursery

Our Nursery has a real sense of warmth and comfort. The room is full of laughter, smiles and fun.

Our Nursery is a space ready for children to explore with soft furnishings providing a modern, homely feel. Our room is designed to support age and stage development of infants and toddlers with interconnected options for working independently or together.

We respect our families cultural practices which develops trusting relationships with open communication between the centre and the whanau.

Preschool

Our Preschool room is an inspiring space which encourages children to explore and challenge themselves. Our room is beautifully set out, with carefully planned areas of interest to ignite imaginations.

We recognise the cultural diversity of our children and celebrate by acknowledging special events and learning about customs and culture through arts, cooking, singing, dancing and more.

We develop individual learning plans with a focus on whanau aspirations and children’s strengths to support each child with their learning. We have three monthly parent-teacher meetings to review, reflect and focus on the next steps.

Our playground provides lots of opportunities to explore and have fun – we even have a treehouse! It’s a wonderful space where children are busy making new friends and learning each and every day.

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.