BestStart Marne Road Kindy

Creating explorers, researchers & decision makers “Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning.” – Robert John Meehan We provide an authentic learning experience, knowledgeable children who have the ability to extend their learning, opportunities for the children to be courageous and curious to learn and discover through exploring, thinking, questioning and using knowledge to learn new things every day and promote a love of learning.   

At Marne Road Kindy we read books, tell stories, rhymes and philosophize, we tumble in the grass, laugh and be crazy. Sometimes we silently sit and listen to the sounds around us. We capture real bugs to observe and answer our well thought out questions, pick real fruit from our fruit trees and even go on nature walks once a week. The children have opportunities to observe animals and discover plants, jump in puddles and forecast the weather by watching the changes in the clouds.

Our Children develop strong friendships and social skills. They will gain a deep awareness of nature, themselves and their environment. With this they will also have a respect for mother earth and each other, with our unique abilities and personalities. 

Our children love to explore the vegetable patch for slugs. snails and worms grow some tasty vegetables to eat and share with the family. They love to go and hunt for treasure, play dress ups and figure out just exactly which stick makes the best magic fairy wand or pirates’ sword. To ensure this learning is authentic we provide a natural environment; children learn through nature and build strong connections with the natural world, as much time as possible is spent outside through our flexible daily programme that caters to every child’s wellbeing. 

Through Manaakitanga (respect) aroha (love) and whanaungatanga (relationships) we create a welcoming and collaborative environment. We let Nature be another teacher – Utilising, encouraging and valuing all areas of learning and development through Papatuanuku - Mother Nature. Providing the children the freedom of just being in nature daily and experiencing wild spaces within the grounds and on regular excursions to “The Magic Tree Gardens” giving them the time to connect with nature and learn to love papatuanauku so they are able to care for, respect and protect it growing up to become guardians of the land. 

We take great care and pride in offering children and their families an environment that is a home away from homeChildren have the freedom to discover, investigate, socialise, build interests, prepare for school and grow as learners.

Quality Programme and Project Approach 

Our programme is based around the project approach and is always alive throughout BestStart Marne Road Kindy life. We encourage children to thrive through their interests. Our children can engage deeper in their play and learning with support from teachers. Children have a strong disposition to explore and discover. The project approach builds on their natural curiosity, enabling children to interact, question, connect, problem-solve, communicate, reflect, and more. This kind of authentic learning extends beyond the classroom to each child’s home, our community and the world. It essentially makes learning fun, challenging and exciting to dig deeper into our funds of knowledge. We believe our stimulating environment helps children build strong relationships with their teachers and peers. 

Meals 

At BestStart Marne Road Kindy, we believe in having a positive attitude towards food and nutrition and we support our children to develop skills in healthy eating. We provide a nutritious morning and afternoon tea that is prepared with the children and parents provide a lunch box for children attending after 12pm. This encourages children to develop independence in managing their lunch box and we support this as part of our Be School Ready approach.

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.