BestStart Apirana Avenue

BestStart Apirana Avenue offers quality childcare and education in Glen Innes. Our centre is located at the St Heliers Bay Road end of Apirana Avenue and is within minutes of St Heliers, Glendowie and the train station.

Growing Local Heroes

At BestStart Apirana Ave, we like to celebrate our local everyday heroes. We want to grow great members of the the Glen Innes community. We are on this journey together, where families and the local community share knowledge, passion, and skills to help inspire our heroes to achieve greatness! Heroes come in different shapes and sizes, and with many different powers to benefit our community and society as a whole.

We focus on learning through play to grow the positive emotional and social skills that create happy, healthy adults. By pretending, creating and exploring, children can use their imagination to create playful scenarios with each other and become whatever their hearts desire. They take journeys through jungles, explore the natural environment, become scientists and masters of the universe- all before lunchtime! Through this play, children learn about the world around them, take turns, problem solve, feel emotions and engage with each other.

At Best Start Apirana Ave we support children in creative and critical thought processes throughout their day. We provide engaging and enriched experiences that introduce children to early literacy and numeracy which are guided by Te Whariki and the New Zealand Curriculum. By linking the Be School Ready program to Te Whariki and the New Zealand curriculum it means that the children will have a seamless transition from day care to school.

We nurture children to become confident learning citizens by supporting them to think clearly and solve problems as individuals, to have the confidence to ask questions and expand their knowledge. Children who start school feeling confident and capable are better placed to have learning success for life. They will achieve greatness; they will inspire others with their knowledge and skills and they will have developed all the tools to achieve their goals, dreams, and aspirations successfully. 

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.