Childcare options in Ponsonby

BestStart Ponsonby is known for our special character and unique inner city early childhood centre setting. There is a strong sense of community within the centre. With many of our families having long lasting relationships. We’re just a short walk from Richmond Road School in Grey Lynn, and only a few minutes’ drive from Westmere, Herne Bay and Point Chevalier.

Become the maker of your own future

At BestStart Ponsonby, we have been building confident leaders in our community for many years. Our character, villa-style centre is nestled in the heart of Ponsonby on a large site providing amazing, natural outdoor play spaces. Our secret is building strong family relationships to ensure we deeply know your child and can provide the education and care each child needs to become their best future self.

Wandering into the Babies Cottage, you will be sense the love and delight our infant teachers have in our youngest learners. Working closely with the child and family to ensure care routines meet the child’s needs, each child develops a secure sense of belonging and safety in the beautiful environment. Every infant has a primary caregiver who takes care of their key care moments, such as nappy changes, feeding, and sleeping. Our infants are happy, settled, and thrive in an environment where they are emotionally secure and sociable.

The Big House is where the fun happens for our curious toddlers! Our amazing Toddler teaching team offers a strong curriculum stimulating learning, enabling social competence and independence in a safe environment. The children are on a journey of discovery using their senses to explore the world. Each child’s sense of wonder, exploration, and communication skills are nurtured with incredible results.

The Workshop is our boutique transition to a school room that caters to a small class of fantastic preschoolers. Our Workshoppers gain Be School Ready skills providing the foundations to give them the best start once they begin their journey at school. Children are taught to be independent and develop their learning interests in a fun and skilled way. Our focus on supporting children to develop strong social competencies that see them having the necessary social skills. This contributes to children having a successful transition to school and gaining the confidence to be the architects of their future.

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.

At Ponsonby Community Preschool the children and whanau are at the heart of the learning and teaching environment we provide.  Being a not-for-profit, community based preschool allows us to operate with a high qualified teacher to child ratio.  This enables us to provide our tamariki with a quality learning environment that gives them the best possible learning outcomes.

We have an inclusive curriculum that removes any barriers to participation in learning providing equal opportunities for all children and a commitment to bicultural teaching practices. The learning experiences that we design are meaningful and based on our knowledge of the Early Childhood Curriculum – Te Whariki, and the individual child’s interests.  We use a ‘notice, recognise and respond’ methodology, working in unison with our whanau in order for children to reach their learning goals.

We believe that children are competent, capable, learners.  We, as teachers, empower our tamariki to share their interests and we respond to their unique, individual personalities, cultures, ideas and needs.  We have an environment that fosters a child’s sense of belonging, where they know that they have a place to grow and develop into confident lifelong learners.

We believe that the environment acts as a third teacher.  We aim to create an inviting, responsive learning environment that will entice our children to engage and where we, as teachers, can support and deepen the learning that is occurring.

Our preschool is truly a home away from home for our tamariki, whanau and kaiako.  We provide love, care, guidance and support to our learners from two to six years of age, affirming them in their identity as their learning journey continues towards school.  We support children and whanau through the transition to school, as we lay the foundation for them to become confident, lifelong learners; curious, capable, and full of wonder for the world around them and beyond.

Kia ora and welcome to Ponsonby Kindergarten

Ponsonby Kindergarten offers an inquiry-based programme where children are encouraged to discover, experience and understand the world around them.

Ponsonby Kindergarten maintains strong connections within the local community, fostering friendships and making the community a better place to live.

Our kindergarten team are warm and welcoming.

All teachers are very experienced and highly qualified.

Please feel free to come into the kindergarten to meet us.

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.