BestStart Flat Bush

BestStart Flatbush is a community centre that Flatbush families love being part of. BestStart children flourish in the stimulating learning environment. BestStart Flatbush offers sessions, short days, and full-day options both part-time or full time. Come in to see how we can help your child become an independent, confident learner. ERO has rated BestStart Flat Bush in the top 7% of New Zealand childcare centres providing positive learning outcomes for children

Ready for Learning, Ready for Life

When entering Beststart Flatbush you feel the sense of connection and purpose. Strong relationships with each child and parent ensures that our learners are supported at each stage of their development. Our experienced teachers get to know each child and identify their learning dispositions as well as parent aspirations for their child’s learning. Using the NZ early learning curriculum, Te Whaaraki, teachers plan learning experiences to grow curious discoverers and support the children’s interests.

Wandering into the Pepe Room (infants up to 2 yrs) you will find a loving, nuturing space that feels like home away from home. Each infant’s care routines are supported and their interests stimulated through many interesting activities. The large, safe play area is the backdrop for endless adventures as the infants grow into capable toddlers.

Our curious and bright toddlers in the Koru Room (2-3 yrs) are working hard learning about the world. Discovering with their senses means getting messy and hands on – waterplay, gloop, art supplies. It may look like play however our Koru learners are busy building social skills to understand how their world works alongside others.  They are encouraged to make choices within a safe and protective environment.

At the other end of the building are the incredible preschoolers. The 3-4 yr olds in the Nikau room are building their confidence and self help skills through daily activities.  Working on projects in groups, the 4 – 5 yr olds in the Tangiwai Room, our older discoverers are becoming their own people and understanding their own interests.

Our Be School Ready programme is designed to support children’s next big learning step when they move to primary school. Starting from the time children enrol with us, children form relationships and build confidence in early literacy and numeracy. We are fortunate enough to have also built on our partnership with our local primary school, Ormiston Primary, so that we can create a strong and positive transition to school. We provide and encourage children to develop their independence, social skills, fine motor skills, and ability to follow routine and rules through various activities and experiences. Developing the awareness of the real world helps our children to be confident and competent learners in the future.

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.