BestStart Montel Avenue

Take my hand and together, we will discover, explore and learn about ourselves, each other, our community and the world around us. Ehara taku toa i te roa takitahi engari, he toa takitini - Success is not the work of one, but the work of many

Pukeko Room (3 month to 2 years)

Our nursery is a warm, caring environment filled with love and little explorers actively discovering the world around them! Our Kaiako plan the curriculum based on our pepi’s interests, developing skills and our whanau aspirations, working alongside parents and caregivers to ensure partnerships with families that support continuity between home and centre and provides deeper knowledge of each and every infant.

Kiwi Room (2 to 3.5 years)

Our boisterous toddlers love exploring and making new discoveries! Our passionate Kaiako set up provocations to encourage our tamariki to think outside the box, utilizing up-cycled and natural materials to ensure our children are learning about sustainability and looking after our precious whenua. Our teachers engage with families to build and maintain strong relationships that are supportive of children’s learning and family aspirations. 

Tui Room (3.5 to 5 years)

There is nothing better than hearing preschoolers who love to learn! And that is exactly what you hear in our Tui room. With experienced teachers who share that same love for learning, our Tui tamariki experience an environment where they are encouraged to develop their independence as they prepare for Primary school with our specially designed Be School Ready program! Our teachers strive to create a safe and calm home-like environment to support children's social and emotional learning.

This is achieved by ensuring our environment is familiar for children and their families, through consistent routines and strong meaningful relationships. Learning in the Tui Room is a hands-on approach, encompassing our families aspirations and with play as a curriculum that focuses on the children’s interests and dispositions, encouraging Tamariki to gain a love for learning as they engage in the carefully planned environment and experiences.

Garden to Table

Our huge vegetable garden offers our tamariki the opportunity to get involved in their meals, planting, caring for and eventually harvesting the vegetables to take to our kitchen where our talented cook turns it all into delicious, nutritious meals worthy of our Healthy heart award.

Part of the award winning BestStart family, we've been voted the Most Trusted early childhood education provider in New Zealand. BestStart Montel is your child's destination for early learning. 

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.