BestStart South Road

Here at BestStart South Road we have a full day centre as well as a Sessional Kindy for our families to choose from. We're open right through the school holidays and have a range of flexible times to suit every family.

Together We Play, We Grow, We Learn

We celebrate the rich diversity our children and families bring to centre life. We come together as one close knit community where kindness and respect is at the heart of centre life. Our warm, inviting environment embraces love and relationships and is full of kindness.

At BestStart South Rd our Full Day Centre is open from 7.30am to 5.15pm and offers full, short and half days. For families who prefer sessions, our Sessional Kindy has 3 session times available: 8.30am -2.30pm, 8.45am to 2.45pm and 9.00am to 3.00pm.

Community focus - Children are connected to the Hawera community, helping them to understand their place in the wider world and appreciate all their community has to offer. We’re actively engaged in our community life and go on regular excursions to meet the locals and spread happiness. We believe giving back to the community and a smile and song goes along way. We invite extended whanau to all centre events and are developing our very own community garden.

Our great outdoors - We are lucky to have a mature and natural playground where green grass grows, and fresh produce picked. Our large natural, and adventurous outdoor environment is more than big enough to kick a ball. It also provides challenges and opportunities for exploration. Children go on endless jungle hunts to discover the real-life world. Natural trees become a fantastic living place for many bugs and insects which the children love to hunt and investigate, experiencing science and how to care for the real-life animals.

Kindness - Kindness is a behaviour we value and incorporate into everything we do. Our community displays kindness to us through donations and time; our whanau through sharing meals with us, recommending us in the community and building meaningful relationships with us. Our tamariki help one another, support and encourage their friends and lend a hand to hold or a hug.“Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have”.

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.