Childcare options in Highland Park

Rockabye is a privately owned, purpose-built childcare centre in Highland Park, Auckland.  We are within easy access of the Howick, Bucklands Beach, Pakuranga and Botany areas.

Rockabye is licensed for 50 children: Twenty 0 – 3 year olds and thirty 3 – 5 year olds. We offer full-time and part-week care. To ensure your child feels settled and at ease with us, we prefer this to be a minimum of two days per week.

Our centre is light, welcoming and cheerful, where every consideration has been taken to create an attractive, safe and stimulating environment. We have two classrooms and two large outdoor areas that are well resourced with equipment to help develop your child’s physical skills and encourage their sense of exploration and adventure.

We understand that the relationships and the environments that children experience have a direct impact on their development and learning. We also believe that quality early childhood experiences promote the development of children and will increase the opportunity for success through your child’s life.

Professional and nurturing teachers each bring their own unique skills and teaching styles to the centre. Their years of experience, coupled with excellent resources, toys and equipment, provide many opportunities for your child to explore, learn and enjoy.

Education Review Office in April 2014 rated our centre in the top 5% in New Zealand. They stated:  Consistent,  effective teaching practice, Children are happy and settled, with a strong  sense  of  belonging, Children  are involved in rich literacy,  numeracy and  science opportunities.

At Rockabye we have three core values that we aim to reflect in every aspect of our centre: trust, quality and integrity. Here’s what they mean to us.

Trust

We work hard to have strong relationships with all of our families, and we want you to feel comfortable and secure leaving your child in our care. We hope you will see Rockabye as a second home for your child, so it is important to us that you can talk to us comfortably about your needs and aspirations for your child.

Quality

We have high expectations of our team, and all of our staff members are qualified or completing their training. Parents regularly comment on the stability that our dedicated and long-standing staff provides for their child and their family.

Our centre is well resourced and we have extensive outside play areas. We aim to keep our centre clean and tidy both inside and out to provide a safe environment for your child.

Integrity

Integrity to us means that we will deliver on what we promise; and this means that we want to do the best that we can for your child.

It means that we expect staff to treat you as they would wish to be treated. Our team communicates closely with parents, keeping them informed and making them feel like a vital part of our centre.

Babies & Toddlers

We offer childcare for babies and toddlers from ages 0 to 2 years old.

Our focus in this room is to provide a warm and nurturing environment for your child. We also promote independence and encourage children to be confident communicators.

The care of each child is individualised and we aim to provide continuity and consistency with the care they receive at home.

Parents regularly tell us that the room feels relaxed, calm and settled. This is important to us, as we want Rockabye to be like a second home, where your baby or toddler feels comfortable eating, sleeping, learning and playing.

We believe that children learn best through play. The classroom is designed to ensure that a range of toys and activities is freely available to stimulate their creative play. We also encourage learning through play with fun activities such as baking and creative art works. Our large outdoor play area is partly covered so that your child can explore the outdoors all year round.

The team in the Babies and Toddlers Room know the children and their families well. They focus on providing for each child’s individual needs and promote positive language and teaching techniques to encourage self-esteem and growth.

Preschoolers (3 – 5 Years)

We offer childcare for preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years.

Our focus in this room is on preparing your child for school and developing and fostering their individual interests.

Feedback from parents tells us that they value the creativity and inventiveness of our teachers in increasing their children’s confidence and social and emotional skills. The classroom and large sunny outdoor area are well resourced with an extensive range of equipment and a variety of mediums to encourage children to research, discover and explore. Our experienced teachers are committed to enabling children to feel safe to challenge themselves and take ownership of their own learning. The team in the Preschool Room works in partnership with families to set goals where children are challenged to build on existing relationships and previous learning experiences. Children in the Preschool Room are able to gain increasing independence in preparation for school. Teachers also support children to become familiar with early literacy and numeracy concepts.

We would love to introduce you and your family to Rockabye, so feel free to book a visit today.

Welcome to Go Bananas Childcare!

Leaving a child with a childcare facility is an important decision. For most of the children, it marks the first time they will be away from their parents for a long period of time. We are delighted that you are considering our services as an integral part of your child’s upbringing. We are committed to providing the best quality care and education for children from 3 months to 6 years old.

Research shows a child’s first five years are critical to all future learning and development as their brains develop most rapidly during this time. By age three a child’s brain has already developed to 80% of its adult size with brain connections formed through the interactions, experiences, and relationships the child makes. The quality of these interactions, experiences, and relationships is crucial and that is why a child’s involvement in a quality early learning program is so important.

Why Choose Us

• Provide indoor and outdoor educational spaces which are age-appropriate and designed to engage and support children to discover, grow and learn.
• Offer children the experiences to support their cognitive, emotional and physical development.
• Plan from each child’s individual interests, we aim to work alongside their interest, making them to be creative, curious and confident to develop positive and lasting relationships with their peers.
• Promote the very best practices to nurture children’s well-being and support them to fulfil their potential.
• Partner with families to ensure our children feel a sense of belonging.
• Acknowledge and respect the diversity of our families and communities in which they reside.
• Have educators, teachers, and leaders who are passionate, dedicated and they support and celebrate each child’s individual talents and strengths through.

JeMMa’s Home-based Education and Childcare was founded on the belief that early childhood education plays a major role in a child’s ability to develop skills and learn throughout life. 

As a kindergarten teacher, Jenny Tyrrell could see that children who had a focus of learning whilst in a home environment appeared better equipped to learn in the future. As well as this, children who were well socialised with other children of different ages appeared to cope better than others. 

It was those two key observations which cemented her belief; that a child, learning with other children, in a homebased environment rather than an institutional environment, was the best way to go. And that’s how JeMMa’s started. The name is derived from a combination of the two directors names, Jenny and Martin. 

At JeMMa’s we believe that home-based education and care is the next best alternative to learning at home with Mum or Dad 

Children who learn in a comfortable home-based environment seem to develop strong problem solving, social and learning skills. Because they are in a comfortable, uncrowded environment children they get the chance to develop and learn at steady pace with all the help they need. 

JeMMa’s children receive lots of one-on-one time with their educator, as well as interaction with other children in different age groups. These are two core components in the development of happy, energetic, sharing, respectful, thoughtful, problem solving and fun loving kids. 

Our Philosophy 

JeMMa’s is a quality privately owned family focused Homebased Education and Childcare Service that is committed to ensuring that all children, parents, whānau and kaiako are welcomed and encouraged to play an active role in promoting positive outcomes for our learners. We are guided and inspired by Te Whāriki our early childhood curriculum which encourages us to appreciate that children come into the world eager to learn and we see this as a privilege where we can work in partnership with children, parents and whānau to empower our learners through responsive engaging environments and experiences where they can reach their highest potential and develop an enthusiasm for ongoing learning. 

Building and sustaining quality learning focused relationships with everyone is the essence to who are and what believe is valuable for outcomes for children and their ongoing wellbeing and development. Our nurturing relationships will be underpinned through our Christian values and connection with people within our service and our wider communities.  Our environments will embrace cultural diversity of Aotearoa and our commitment to Te Tiriti O Waitangi will be authentic. 

We view all children as unique learners where they will have endless opportunities to learn through play and develop a range of knowledge, skills, and learning dispositions. This will spark children’s independence, urge to lead their own learning, social skills, curiosity, creativity, discovery, ability to express themselves and things that are important to them. Our kaiako will dedicate quality time with our children where they will nurture those in the moment opportunities and offer the guidance, support, and encouragement that our learners need to blossom and thrive.