BestStart Howick

BestStart Howick is located in a lovely converted heritage villa close to Howick Village and is within easy travelling distance for parents living in Bucklands Beach, Eastern Beach, Cockle Bay and Highland Park. The centre is rich with character and all the teachers and children who have journeyed before us have contributed to an enriching and stimulating environment.

Our stable and experienced teaching team provide a safe, supportive and engaging learning environment for our children. The relationships with children and partnerships with parents form a strong foundation for learning in our centre. Our philosophy places emphasis on the importance of free play and our unique environment provides a home away from home feeling, providing children with engaging and challenging experiences that help them develop the essential dispositions that create a life-long love of learning.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful large outdoor play space that supports children’s ongoing physical development and natural inquisitiveness. Our outdoor area is an extension of our classroom and supports the development of children’s dexterity and social competence. Our beautiful heritage tree provides natural shade and can be climbed along with climbing frames. Our bikes, swings, water play area and creative arts area ensures our children are provided with numerous activities to develop and grow.

The fantastic resources and fully qualified teachers support children to actively participate in centre life, empowering them to inquire and explore as they learn about the world around them.

We offer small group sizes, with 8 children in our under 2 year old room and 37 children over 2 year olds in our in our preschool rooms. We welcome feedback and ideas that help us to create a meaningful learning environment.

We would love you and your family to join us at BestStart Howick. Please feel free to call us for more information or simply drop by for a visit.

BestStart是新西兰最大的幼儿教育机构，我们服务于新西兰幼儿教育行业已经有22 年了。在全国各地，我们有270多家幼儿园以及众多具有新西兰幼儿教育资质的教师。BestStart的所有幼儿园都隶属总部直接管理，因此我们拥有一支强大的教育领导团队确保和提高每个BestStart幼儿园的教育质量。

我们采用的新西兰早教教材- Te Whāriki是享誉世界的。在新西兰，儿童早期教育提倡孩子从玩中学习，注重孩子个人的喜好和发展，由孩子自己决定想要学什么以及怎么学，从而使他们逐渐形成适合自己的学习方法。众多著名的研究报告表明，教会了孩子掌握知识的方法才更有可能使他们在以后的学习和成长过程中赢得成功。这个短片就是向您简单介绍一下，在我们BestStart幼儿园孩子们是怎么样从玩中学习的。

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.