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BestStart Glasgow Street is conveniently located in Whanganui’s CBD. We care for children from 0-6 years old all year round. With love, support and positive interactions, we provide an environment where children feel valued, respected and confident in their own journey.
Fuelling the Minds of Curious Learners
BestStart Glasgow Street is a place where children know they belong. We view children as capable, competent, life-long learners who are encouraged to make their own learning choices, at their own pace, in a positive, productive way.
Play-based learning
At BestStart Glasgow Street we value the importance of child-initiated, play-based experiences - play is at the heart of all great learning! We offer experiences that promote early brain development and children are encouraged to learn through fostering their use of sight, touch and communication.
Relationships
We value our partnerships with our families and their wider whanau, and create an environment that embraces parents aspirations, values and beliefs to support their children’s learning and development.As staff we celebrate together each others differences, and contributions we each make through open communication. We intrinsically value a rich environment where languages, rituals and symbols of children’s own culture and others are protected and promoted positively. Our centre is inclusive of, and embraces the diverse learning needs of all children, with programmes and environments that nurtures children through all stages of their development.
We welcome you to come and visit us to see first hand our wonderful centre, meet the teaching team and learn more about the great learning experiences your child will have with us.
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.