BestStart Lemon Street

BestStart Lemon Street early learning centre is nestled on a large section with mature trees and gardens, right on the edge of New Plymouth’s CBD. 

Building Mana Through Aroha

We empower the mana of ngā tamariki through nurturing relationships. We celebrate individuality and children thrive in our enriched environment.

BestStart Lemon Street has a beautiful learning enviornment with a kiwi big-backyard and peaceful atmosphere where children learn about life and the world around them. Teachers, children, families and the community are welcomed as if it were their home. Everyone's strengths are acknowledged, encouraged and cherished. This helps everyone feel at ease, accepted and safe. From acceptance our children grow their confidence to explore and discover the world around them. 

We celebrate our cultural differences and are proud of our inclusive education model. Alongside our bi-cultural curriculum we promote whanaungatanga, te reo, ngā tikanga, and tuakana/teina relationships. With us tamariki develop an understanding of sustainability, learning where food comes from and how to care for our environment. Kaiako help children bake for the whole centre, grow vegetables and plants, reduce, re-use and recycle. 

Our warm environment is divided to two age based rooms to support the specific learning and development as children grow. Our teaching team demonstrate aroha through responsive caregiving to ensure each child’s emotional and physical wellbeing is  supported. Through formal and informal observations the teaching team and whanau notice each child’s interests and support them in further extending this through intentional teaching practices.

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.