Childcare options in Sandringham

Welcome to Sandringham Kindergarten.  Our kindergarten is an attractive, inspiring environment that supports young learners.

Here at Sandringham Kindergarten we focus on inquiry-based practices to encourage and inspire children to discover the world around them, and lay the foundations for the essential skills of life.

Sandringham Kindergarten has strong community-based relationships.  Everyone is welcome – we invite you to meet our teaching team and experience our kindergarten in action!

Our kindergartens have early childhood qualified and registered teachers who speak a range of languages.  The teachers are dedicated to, and passionate about, early childhood education.  Each kindergarten has a head teacher plus teachers and support staff.  Quality learning programmes are based on the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki.

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 nestled away between Trent Bray Swimming School and Eden Park- come into our centre and, like the Secret Garden, discover the magic of learning- the wonder, the intrigue and the open-ended potential of learning that brings kaiako (teachers) and tamariki (Children) together to build their knowledge through play and exploration.

Welcome to BestStart Mount Eden. A happy, safe and nurturing space for your child to learn, develop and grow in their own unique way through creating Magic in the Moments.  

As you walk through our doors you will see, feel and hear the Aroha (love), Whakaute (respect), Whakawhirinaki(trust),Tākarko(play) and Koa(joy) that underpins our interactions with children, parents and whānau, the way we set up our environment and how we document and celebrate the learning journey of our tamariki.  

We take pride in our core foundations and believe that our tamariki are capable and competent learners who benefit from engaged kaiako as well as real-life experiences and resources. We strive to inspire creativity and independence through loose parts, meaningful provocations and a challenging learning environment where tamariki can take risks in a safe space. Here, tamariki learn to develop social skills, are given the opportunity to assess risks, problem solve, develop an awareness of mindfulness and grow the confidence in themselves as capable and competent lifelong learners- It is those magic moments throughout the day where this all happens.  

Come and be a part of our Mt Eden community, where we want to know what is important to you and your whānau and where your dreams and aspirations for your tamariki are valued. 

The Pipi Room ( Under two ) 

Our cosy Pipi villa cater for our youngest tamariki (children) from 4 months to approximately two and a half years. Our caring and nurturing team understand how hard it can be for new parents to go back to work and the importance of having to leave the most precious thing in the whole world with new people, in a new environment. We have a flexible and supportive settling in process that allows time for both yourself and your child to become familiar with the kaiako, (teachers) environment and rhythm of our centre, as we learn about yours.  

Rhythm and routines are more than just happenings during the day and kaiako make the most of the these moments, to make them magical and special for the child. 

Relationships are so important in Early Childhood Education and our primary caregiving system allows opportunity for a strong bond to be developed between the teachers and your child, as well having a consistent point of contact for parents and whānau (family). 

The Paua Room ( Over two )

Our Paua villa caters for the learning of our tamariki (children) aged around 2.5 and 5 years. Our curriculum is based around lose parts- open ended resources that encourage creativity, collaboration, resilience, perseverance, collaboration and communication- just to name a few! The value of lose parts is that there is no one way to use them- so your child’s imagination is the limit. With the future constantly changing we cannot prepare our tamariki (children) exactly for what is to come. But what we can begin to develop are resilient problem solvers who are open-minded, divergent thinking individuals that can think outside the box!  

We aim to support tamariki (children) who are confident in themselves as learners through lose parts, intentional teaching strategies and purposeful learning embedded throughout a play-based setting with magical moments sprinkled throughout!  

Our ‘Meadow’ is our touch of nature right in the middle of Auckland Central where we have a vegetable garden, mud pit, fruit trees, a compost area, a worm farm and a fire pit in winter. Here, children experience the true essence of learning in nature where they can make mud pies, forage for bugs and help in the vege patch. Natural learning is so important to us as at BestStart Mt Eden- we teach our tamariki to take care of the earth and it strengthens our connection to Papatuanuku, our Māori earth mother.  

Come visit us and see our environment in action, meet our genuine and passionate teachers and most importantly feel the aroha (love) of the BestStart Mt Eden community. We look forward to meeting you.

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.

Kia ora and welcome to KiNZ Sandringham

KiNZ Sandringham provides beautiful learning spaces that invite children to extend and develop their skills and knowledge.  Children are empowered to imagine and construct their reality through play – providing a feeling of competence and control, and building self-esteem.

Care and respect are core values at our child care centre, and our responsive teachers strive to extend children’s interests, learning and development.

At KiNZ Sandringham, we focus on providing a rich multicultural environment that respects and encourages the cultural backgrounds of our families and whānau.

Children can use information technologies to enhance learning opportunities, and we are privileged to use the Edendale Primary School playground, especially during holidays.

Sangita, Rose, Anna, Charity, and Ling welcome you to KiNZ Sandringham!