Childcare options in Hobsonville

HeadStart Childcare provides the highest quality childcare and education for children aged from 2 to 5 years old. We are a small exclusive and long established centre with qualified teachers who have been an integral part of our centre for years. We offer a multi-age learning environment where the goal is to build confidence in younger children as well as enhance their language and behavioural skills alongside maximising intellectual potential. Meanwhile, older children benefit from multi-age grouping because it allows them to ‘mentor’ younger children, which builds on their sense of responsibility, and empathy skills.

Our children benefit from establishing long lasting relationships with the same teachers and children for their entire time with us, without the unnecessary  stress of moving rooms every year which some centres need to manage.We aim to provide the highest quality childcare to best serve the children and families in our community to grow them into well-rounded, happy and confident learners.

Everyone is welcome. HeadStart is a unique place. It’s a place where your tamariki can explore and grow holistically, in a safe environment that is supportive, caring and stimulating.

Our longstanding teaching staff care deeply about all the children in our care. Your child’s emotional, social, cognitive and physical wellbeing is our primary focus and constant consideration in the programme we provide. Sharing information is key to meeting the needs of your child, so we take the time to build respectful and reciprocal relationships with you and all important family members in your child’s life.

Our philosophy

As an early childcare centre, we believe true holistic development is best achieved through a curriculum of child-led learning and discovery, community awareness and individual acceptance.As a culturally minded and community focused centre, we welcome children of all ethnicities and all levels of ability. Our programme reflects this in the choice of activities, celebrations and learning objectives to provide a rich tapestry of experiences for your child. For you we believe it’s about knowing your child is receiving the best quality childcare and early education possible. For us it’s about nurturing the minds, bodies and hearts of the future.

Welcome to Busy Bees Hobsonville, where we embrace Reggio Emilia-inspired philosophy to cultivate curious minds! We take great pride in providing a safe and empowering environment for tamariki to learn and grow. Our centre features six classrooms specifically designed for different age groups, fostering Tuakana/teina relationships and engaged tamariki. Our focus is empowering tamariki to direct their learning while ensuring they feel supported and safe. We offer diverse open-ended and natural resources to encourage teachable moments and create happy, learning-focused experiences.

Infant

Our infant’s rooms are based on building loving and trusting bonds, our kaiako work closely with families to understand infant cues and develop a routine that supports children’s natural rhythms. When tamariki are ready to progress, they will head into the Nikau room, and utilise sensory play, outdoor exploration, music, and movement to create a fun, interactive atmosphere whilst maintaining a focus on the love and care that infants need to thrive.

Toddler

The toddler rooms are designed to help our tamariki balance the desire to be independent with the need to be nurtured and cared for. Our kaiako support the unfolding autonomy of the older tamariki to encourage the child’s emergent personality to blossom.

Preschool

Our preschool room supports the tamariki with social and emotional competence at a time when they are ready to engage in meaningful play with others. When tamariki start to become more aware of their upcoming transition to school, our resources are reflective of the medium’s children will be using at school. Kaiako observe and converse with children to develop projects based on their interests.

School readiness programme – Our preschool offers a reading and writing programme for our over 3-year-old children. Along with the support of our families, we encourage children to enjoy learning about literacy alongside their peers. We also work closely with the primary schools in the area to ensure a smooth transition for tamariki.

At Hobsonville Kindergarten we view all children as Tāonga (gifts).  We acknowledge and celebrate the kētē of skills, knowledge and life experiences each individual child brings with them.

We believe children are citizens of today and support them to become leaders of tomorrow.  We hold the values of respect, equity and integrity and support our children to develop these attitudes.  We advocate for children’s rights.  We support the development of children’s social competency through positive guidance strategies.

We encourage children to participate in a rich learning environment where children learn to view themselves as learners and become familiar with the process of learning.  We believe free play empowers children to take responsibility for their own learning and development, creating a passion for lifelong learning.  We encourage children to learn together, developing their independence and interdependence skills.

Whānaungātanga (respect for people, places and things), underpins our daily practice.  We acknowledge and respect Tiriti ō Waitangi and strive to provide an environment that upholds the values and beliefs of both treaty partners.  We warmly embrace the diversity of cultures within our kindergarten whānau and strive to be a part of a democratic, inclusive, safe and happy community.

We respect whānau as their child’s first teacher, holding unique knowledge of their child.  Partnerships between teachers, whānau, children and the wider community are at the heart of our teaching practice.  We welcome and empower all participants within the Kindergarten community to share their knowledge, ideas and expertise.

As part of the Auckland Kindergarten Association, we can offer a different experience to your typical daycare in Hobsonville. Kindergartens and the AKA have an established reputation as top quality centres of learning, with innovative and creative teaching. They are known to set up children well for moving on to a school environment, and often have close links with local primary schools.

We believe that the unique and community-focused environment of a kindergarten is a top Hobsonville childcare option, because we provide much more than just care – we help to form the citizens of today and leaders of tomorrow.

Our learning philosophy

For the past 110 years, the Auckland Kindergarten Association has been igniting young minds by encouraging them to explore their imaginations through play. For many of us, kindergarten was where we began our life of learning; it was where we started learning skills like sharing, tolerance, patience, respect and self-confidence.

We view children as capable, competent, life-long learners, and our philosophy encourages children to make their own learning choices, problem-solve and observe and explore at their own pace…with support from teachers, parents, wider whānau and their peers. We value the importance of child-initiated, play-based experiences. Our kindergarten teachers nurture your children’s interests and natural curiosity by working alongside them, expanding language and introducing mathematical and science concepts, as well as literacy, digital technology and sustainable practices.

Our centres have gardens and natural outdoor spaces where children can create, explore, be imaginative and expressive. There’s plenty of room to safely run about, being imaginative and physically active. In fact, the natural world is essential to free-range play. AKA encourages each kindergarten community to explore and enrich their diversity and uniqueness. Some have regular excursions into the local community; some are Enviroschool kindergartens that live and breathe sustainable practices; while others engage in long-term research on child interest-based programmes of learning.

As an organisation, we formally acknowledge the dual heritage of Aotearoa / New Zealand, and work to uphold the spirit and intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in each kindergarten. We are accessible, secular and welcoming to the wide diversity of tamariki and whānau who attend our centres, and value ongoing partnerships between teaching teams and leadership staff with families and whānau. We value ongoing learning for teachers, parents and whānau, and the sharing of knowledge, skills and attributes is fundamental to achieving the best learning outcomes for children. Teachers and staff can access collegial professional time to ensure that quality practice is enhanced so current theories of learning and development within New Zealand’s world-class Te Whāriki early childhood curriculum are shared and understood.

Children learn

Children in our kindergartens have the opportunity to:

• Feel confident, develop responsibility and a sense of independence
• Play meaningfully alongside other children and adults
• Develop effective communication skills
• Persevere, problem-solve and take risks
• Explore limits, boundaries, routines and conflict resolution strategies
• Practice fine motor skills such as threading, writing, cutting and grasping
• Develop gross motor play such as physical games like climbing, throwing, kicking, balancing and lifting
• Develop creative expressions through painting, music, collage, movement, dance, finger-painting, drawing, cutting, pasting and story sharing
• Develop early numeracy, literacy and science skills
• Learn techniques through trial and error
• Explore the world through experimenting, questioning and curiosity
• Develop confidence and celebrate both attempts and successes
• Develop a passion for learning and a love of life
• Have fun!

Older children will be supported in their transition to school to make this process as simple and seamless as possible. Book a visit here on Kindello today, we’d love to meet you.

We are delighted to introduce our stunning Early Learning Centre – REAL KIDS.

We are a Reggio Emilia-inspired centre sited on almost an acre of wonderfully expansive Hobsonville land, with over a quarter of an acre of natural outdoor area to complement our ethos of learning and teaching.  Our playgrounds are huge, natural spaces with real trees, bushes, plants and grass - just like the good old Kiwi quarter acre section used to be.

Real Kids is family-owned and directed - staffed with amazingly knowledgeable teachers who are passionate about being part of your child’s ongoing journey towards confidently discovering their place in an ever-changing world.

Our aim is to be the best choice for parents who seek a nurturing, child and learning-focused centre that helps develop confident, resilient, creative, responsible and respectful children.

Our learning environments are beautiful yet comfortable, familiar yet new, challenging yet safe. In developing our environment we aimed to design flexible, appropriate, natural and dynamic spaces that respond to the specific needs of our children, encouraging curiosity and an ongoing desire to learn.

The choice of items and materials within each of our spaces, both indoors and out, is carefully thought out and is critical to encourage learning through meaningful play. To complement the numerous and varied educational toys, a large array of ‘open-ended’ resources are always available.  Research has proven that resources that have no predetermined use (open-ended) are highly effective in promoting and sustaining learning that lasts a lifetime.

At Real Kids, we use the outdoors as an established learning space. We are fortunate to have more than a quarter acre of purposefully-designed natural outdoor space providing opportunities for children to learn in and through nature and to build a love for the natural world.

Our philosophy

Te Whāriki

The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, is founded on the aspirations that children should grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.

Reggio Emilia

Widely regarded as the hallmark for high quality education, the Reggio Emilia educational project originated in Italy and is today recognised as one of the foremost learning philosophies in the world.  It is an innovative and inspiring approach to early childhood education which values each child as strong, capable and resilient – rich with wonder and knowledge.  Each child is viewed as having an innate curiosity that drives their interest to understand their world and their place in it - where learning from and with others is the key to constructing knowledge and skills.