Childcare options in Karaka

Nau mai, haere mai and welcome to Karaka Playcentre

Playcentre is unlike any other early childhood education organisation. At Playcentre, both children and their parents/caregivers attend.

At Playcentre children get the opportunity to learn and explore in a fun and safe environment.

The curiosity and creativity of our tamariki are nurtured in a way that allows them to learn about themselves and their world.

Your child will be given a chance to explore, create, climb, read, sing, experiment, play music, wear costumes, have their face painted (or do it themselves!), garden, do carpentry with real tools, bake and cook, build sandcastles, swing, slide, dance, spend time in nature and get messy.

The activities change every day. Playcentre parents all bring different skills, interests, and cultural backgrounds to add to the rich learning environment.

We welcome families with children aged 0 – 6 years. Mixed-age play allows your children to engage with others older and younger than themselves. Pre-schoolers learn how to communicate, share and negotiate with empathy for their younger peers.

At Playcentre, families come together and lifelong friendships are formed.

We welcome you to visit any time during the year. You are entitled to three free visits so come and check out what we do – we would love to meet you and your family!

Infant Early Learning School – from three months With a purpose-built, creative and stimulating play and learning area, our infant preschool caters for children from three months to two years. To maintain our high level of quality, care and attention, we have a staff ratio of one teacher to four children. 

Junior Early Learning School – two to four years Young children are now encouraged to play, think, experiment, develop self-expression and curiosity. Language skills are developed alongside social skills. Our teachers are highly dedicated and we maintain a strict ratio of one staff member to nine children. 

Senior Early Learning School - School Readiness curriculum We’ve developed a School Readiness curriculum so that children are excited and prepared for continuous learning. We support children in creative and critical thought processes throughout their day, and we provide experiences that introduce children to early concepts of maths, science, art, reading and other curriculum areas. We nurture children to become confident by supporting them to think clearly and solve problems, to have the confidence to ask questions and expand their knowledge. It’s well known that children who start school feeling confident and capable are better placed to have learning success for life.

Our Philosophy

Strathallan Preschool advocates for the rights of all children, valuing and embracing the culture of childhood and respecting children as active members of society.

We base our philosophy upon Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum: Te Whāriki, as well as the integration of a strong inspirational influence from the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy.

The importance of these influences guides our philosophy statement under the four principles of Te Whāriki with the image of the child, parent and teacher being incorporated within these.

The four principles of Te Whāriki:

• Whakamana (Empowerment) – we empower children to evolve as interactive learners and creators of knowledge, actively engaging and exploring the wider world around them.
• Kotahitanga (Holistic Development) – our curriculum reflects the holistic way that children learn through acknowledging them as unique individuals who are capable and hold a richness of cultural identity.
• Whānau Tangata (Family and Community) – we acknowledge that the wider world of family, whānau and community is an integral part of our curriculum, and we foster active participation from all.
• Ngā Hononga (Relationships) – we believe children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things and encourage participation in meaningful ways.

Welcome to the wonderful world at BestStart Karaka, where the confident and quirky come alive. Our goal here is clear, to grow resilient children with a strong sense of who they are and what makes them unique. ""This is me, I am proud"" is what you'll hear our children saying out loud! We’re memorable, funny and one of a kind, and randomly quoting our favorite Dr Seuss rhymes.

This is me, I am proud!

Our journey begins with the Precious Gems' room, where our littlest people reside and resume. Our babies may be small, but their learning is mighty, they’re sassy and curious, lively and sprightly! Each baby is special, their learning journey unique, a Primary Caregiving system helps our teachers to teach all our movers and shakers in a personal way, showing them that it’s safe to explore, learn and play. For a person’s a person, no matter how small, and deserves love and trust as they learn how to crawl. Their wellbeing is nurtured as they get in their groove, in their own time and pace, with the freedom to move. Our teachers trust babies to learn what they need, they know they’ll meet their milestones with support and encouragement they’ll succeed. As their feet become stable and words start to form, it’s time to move upwards into our next room! For the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go, I wonder what’s next for our young ones to know?

Best be known that at any given moment you will have a very social toddler at your toes asking many things as their vocabulary grows. For our toddlers love talking with developing ease, their language and social skills blossoming. These conversations are witty with innovative flair (and a please and thank you is encouraged to share).

You’ll be hearing lots of different things while in this room, it may be uncontrollable laughter, music in the background or even sounds of cars on the imaginary highway as the children race around, but don’t worry because ‘these things are fun, and fun is good!’ But other things must be done and get done they should. As a teacher calls tamariki to come to the mat, you would be surprised to see the fun that is had! Our mat times contain many stories and songs, where children are invited to join in and sing along. With support and acceptance from teachers that care, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a lack of confidence here. For our toddlers know they belong, and they know of their place, as they take part in our daily routine, that is predictable and safe.

Next stop on your journey is our Platinum Junior room, where a world of explorers are travelling to the moon. Here you will find some peculiar creations, which our inventors love making any time, in every station! For the unpredictable is fun for these little ones, who don’t care what it is, only what it can become! Things are put together, to be knocked to the ground (because they love building things up if they can smash them back down!). The children in this room are quite the problem solvers, with intelligence stretching to understanding emotions. For they understand how it feels to be in anothers shoes, and can think for themselves, knowing just what to choose, whether dressing in costume, or playing pretend, these wee thinkers will surprise you with their ability to create and extend.

Think left and think right. ‘Think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if you only try,’ our Platinum Juniors have lots of thinks to think at all times and their thoughts they run wild, their imaginations in their primes! Their sleeping is fewer, rest has been undercut, ‘you could miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut!’

Here in the Platinum Seniors’ room, we have innovators and dreamers. We have transformers to princesses and all sorts of creatures, with detail and skills to create and refine the features. From lego masters to constructors, we have all different schemas, from enclosers, to transporters to even destructors! We celebrate our differences in all sorts of ways, but the best way to do this, is to do this through play!

Platinum Seniors are resourceful! We often see magic moments created by the children in this room… turning picnic tables and chairs into engines that can take you into out-of-space, so jump on board! 3,2,1, Zoooom!   We shape competent leaders, protective friends and responsible readers. Our brains are full of knowledge, from questioning and challenging to learning how to make porridge! Here we look, talk and think about not being the same, all alongside learning to write our name. But did you hear that rumour? These children are full of character, but also full of humour! They are proud of their achievements, and protective of their friends and they are well supported to take a challenge to all ends. You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!

And now you know what you know. You’re the one who’ll decide where to go…

Come in and see for yourself because ‘I meant what I said, and I said what I meant’, here at BestStart Karaka we are unique 100%!  "

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.