BestStart Puni Road

Are you looking for quality care and education for your infant, toddler or preschool child? 

The team at BestStart Puni Road in Pukekohe provides the very best education and care. We value our relationships and love working with parents and the wider community to give each and every child the best start on their learning journey.

Growing roots, happy hearts, and sandy boots!

We nurture our tamariki to be bold, courageous, and confident every day and support tamariki to use their curious nature to explore our environment within the centre, as well as within our local community. The best start to the rest of your learning journey begins with us!

Our team combines a variety of well-experienced people from different backgrounds and ethnicities, and we all work together to bring out our strengths in each other as kaiako (teachers). Our kaiako are very passionate in providing an environment where your child can build on their confidence, competence, independence, and celebrate their individuality. We communicate well together and work to the highest standard to keep your child safe while building their confidence and supporting their learning experiences.

Infants and Toddlers

Our infants and toddlers centre is a safe and nurturing space for your child. Our kaiako care deeply about the children receiving the best experience possible while they are in our care.

We are eager to work alongside you, and your child's home routine, in order to provide them with emotional and physical security while they attend BestStart Puni Road.

The first 3 years are extremely important for a child's learning and developmental potential. This includes growth in their sense of identity, confidence, competence, independence, and self-help/problem-solving skills.

Our team follows a plan that allows the children to learn from their own interests. Tamariki contribute to their own learning through play, and our staff then use their interests to expand on the information the child already knows.

As your child progresses, we share their milestones with you and have as much excitement about them taking their first explorative steps into their educational journey and physical growth, as you do.

The Infants and Toddlers centre has a spacious, natural outdoor play space. Indoors is warm and homely. Both areas are fully equipped with safe sensory and physical learning opportunities for the children.

Whānau are always welcome and we encourage you to chat with us any time, our door is always open to supporting our parents, families, and children.

Preschool

Our Preschool Centre is a fun and exciting environment, full of interactions and activities to challenge your child's thinking.

Our staff are friendly and approachable, working alongside parents. We love to know what aspirations you have for your child's learning and developmental journey, as it helps us support you as their parent, and also support your child's personal experience, while they are with us at BestStart Puni Road.

We believe in the importance of whānau and maintaining a strong relationship with you as the parent, in order to provide the best care for your child. Our preschool environment encourages both group and solitary play. Indoors, children experience an environment that is a fun, calm, and comfortable learning space.

You will see our Be School Ready initiative included around the preschool room. We believe in giving your child the best foundation to support their transition from preschool, to school. This is an important milestone in every child's life and we feel privileged to be a part of each of our children's journey of growth while they are with us at BestStart Puni Road.

Outdoors we have a large, spacious area, for your child to burn off energy. With plenty of learning opportunities to spark their interest, they will enjoy exploring as they play.

These opportunities include:

● Looking after our hei hei (chickens) such as feeding them and collecting eggs

● Harvesting fruit from our orchard which has several varieties of trees and plants

● Water play during Summer! Our centre loves water play, and the learning possibilities are never ending

As your child engages in learning activities and progresses throughout their time with us, we share with you all their experiences.

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.