Pascals St Albans

Located in the heart of St Albans, Christchurch, Pascals St Albans is a warm and welcoming early learning centre offering first-class education and care for pre-schoolers.

A home away from home for children of busy families, we offer three separate classrooms to cater for each age and stage, plus a natural outdoor area that challenges and stimulates young children. Our experienced and passionate teachers build confidence, independence, and resilience, through an intentionally planned and prepared learning environment.

Get a head start with your little one’s learning journey.

Our philosophy

At Pascals St Albans we are guided by Te Whāriki  and the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner – because of this we provide a holistic approach to teaching and learning.

The key aspects of our approach are:

• Children are active in their learning socially and academically.
• Teamwork between children, parents and teachers is the key to meaningful learning experiences and positive development – it takes a village to raise a child.
• Teachers and Parents have strong relationships, and this supports child development in a positive way.
• An understanding that family, culture, and other external factors have an influence on child development, and this can change course at any time.

At Pascals St Albans we are a team whose values underpin the way in which we approach our work, we strive to be our best to create the best possible outcomes for children in our care.

AKO – We are reciprocal in the way we teach and learn.

NGAIOTANGA – We are professional and doing our best in every way.

KOTAHITANGA – We are working collaboratively and constructively as an effective and solution focused team 
RANGATIRATANGA – We communicate goals, and expectations to improve quality for children and build capacity in our teaching team. 
WHAKAPONO – We are open  and honest with stakeholders in our communication around perspectives, ideas, and concerns.

MANAAKITANGA – We help to support and encourage each other in a safe environment.

KAITIAKITANGA – We take a  collective responsibility for preserving the mana of our tamariki, and our environment.

Our Rooms

Pascals St Albans has three separate classrooms, enabling us to deliver safe, nurturing and age appropriate learning experiences for all our children.  Our outside environment is split into two areas. In these areas we offer resources and equipment to support continued learning and development.

Kea Room

The Kea Room is our nursery. This is a specialised infant and toddler care room, catering for children up two years of age. The Kea room is a relaxed space where the youngest children start their preschool journey. We accommodate infants (aged from 6 weeks) and toddlers (up to 2 years ) with a maximum of 10 children at any one time. Being a small nursery we naturally provide a primary care type environment, your child may have up to three teachers that they will eventually establish strong connected relationships with.

Tui Room

Our Tui Room is for our 1.5 to 2.5 year olds. In this room we also use the primary caregiving approach and we concentrate on teaching and putting respectful practice into place. This room provides children with more space to be active and to explore and discover in their unique toddler way.

Piwakawaka Room

Our Piwakawaka Room is for our 2.5 to 4 year olds. Here you have a specific teacher assigned to your child where they continue to develop independence, language and social skills.

Why choose us?

There are a host of reasons why families choose Pascals St Albans. Here are just a few of them:

• Healthy Heart silver award
• Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea freshly prepared by our onsite cook each day.
• Hey Dee Ho – Music class each week for all children at no extra cost
• Close community relationships including visits to the retirement village, surrounding schools and walks round the local area
• Opportunities for on-site extra-curricular experiences such as Playball, Pitter Patter dance and Yoga
• Sustainable practice of recycling, worm farming and composting
• Plentiful celebrations (birthdays, graduations, cultural festivals)
• Regular family events
• High percentage of Qualified teachers with sound pedagogical knowledge