Childcare options in Whangaparaoa

Coast Kindy is a special place where your children are at the heart of all we do. Our passionate teachers are qualified (or training to be) and seek to see your child grow and develop into capable and confident learners.

We are an inclusive place where your children can feel safe, be nurtured and encouraged to explore and investigate the environment which invites curiosity and engagement in learning.

Connecting with your children’s whānau is something we treasure and we support, encourage and recognise families as knowing your children best.

We incorporate our Christian faith into our everyday life at Coast Kindy with the key values of faith, love, kindness and respect forming a framework for us.

The heartbeat of Kindy is to provide your children with plenty of opportunities to learn, grow and explore through play, enabling them to thrive in an emotionally and physically safe environment.

We value Ti Tiriti o Waitangi and see it as a thread through our local curriculum encompassing our local beach visits, library visits and our own community weekly music session – Kin-da-groove.

We welcome new families to visit our centre and see what we have to offer.  Siblings are able to be together at Coast Kindy because there is no age segregation.

• **We offer 20 ECE hours free for 3+ yr olds.  All other hours that your child attends is $6 per hour.
• **We are open 8am to 4pm (including school holidays)
• **Two year olds are $6 per hour.
• **we have low teacher/child ratios
• **we offer a play-based curriculum
• ** faith-based values guide us especially kindness, faith, love and respect
• **we have a large outdoor play space
• **we foster a strong connection with whānau
• **we have no miniumum hours of attendance so we can tailor-make your child's week to work in with you
• Check out our website at www.coastkindy.co.nz

Welcome to Whangaparaoa Kindergarten. Nau mai haere mai kohungahunga o Whangaparaoa 

Child led, play based learning is important to us, as teachers we support children’s agency, by encouraging choice from our resource rich environment creating a sense of fun and wonder. 

Our mixed age group provides an inclusive environment by encouraging involvement with learners of different ages, abilities and backgrounds. 

We are a Silver Enviroschool and support a sense of kaitiakitanga/guardianship of Papatuanuku/Earth. 

We practice mindfulness and kindness to others. Reciprocal relationships, within our community of learners where everyone feels safe and cared for, are the foundations for learning and development. 

Child led, play based learning is important to us, as teachers we support children’s agency, by encouraging choice from our resource rich environment nurturing to create a sense of fun and wonder. Our natural and large outdoor environment provokes play and provides physical challenges and leadership opportunities. Whānau and community involvement enriches our programme. 

We take our tamariki on regular nature based excursions and we have strong relationships with Whangaparaoa and Gulf Harbour schools. As a member of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula Kahui Ako, we are part of a community of 17 Early Childhood Services. Our mixed age group provides an inclusive environment by encouraging involvement with learners of different ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Our Purpose

To provide effective early childhood education services to ensure every child leaves kindergarten with the foundations of personal development and a love of life and learning

Your Child, Your Place

At our centres your child will learn:

• How to relate to other children and their teachers
• How to take responsibility, develop independence and self-confidence
• How to share and explore their understanding of people, places and things
• How to express ideas and acknowledge feelings
• Negotiating, turn taking, cooperation and conflict resolution
• Respect for other cultures, languages and traditions
• How to better interact with family and the wider community
• Hauora (the four dimensions of health), physical, mental, social and spiritual health
• Sustainability and the natural environment

Our History

Kaitiaki Kindergartens were originally known as the East Coast Bays Free Kindergarten Association. Torbay was the association’s first kindergarten which opened in 1954 and it is still a very active kindergarten to this day. As we grew we became known as the Northern Auckland Free Kindergarten Association. Today, we go by the name of ‘Kaitiaki Kindergartens’. Kaitiaki means, “a guardian or trustee, typically of an environmental area or resource.” This change reflects our responsibility to each and every child, community member and kindergarten in the Kaitiaki wider family.

We’re about:

• children, families and whanau
• quality early childhood education
• a qualified and registered workforce
• community
• not-for-profit
• home grown
• kiwi owned

Kindergarten is a partnership between:

Teachers

Qualified, registered teachers provide and deliver educational programmes under the guidance and support of the Professional Practice Leaders.

Our communities

Support teachers and the Association to help raise funds to ensure it has the resources required by the teachers and staff and to build community relationships.

Board of management

Elected by the community by members (parents/whanau) to govern the Association. The board sets policies and the strategic direction of the Association and appoints the General Manager to manage the Association on their behalf.

BestStart Whangaparaoa is a brand new early learning centre in The Coast, Whangaparaoa. The centre will provide quality education and care for children aged between 3 months to 6 years old.

BestStart Manly has moved to the new centre, bringing with them the much-loved Tallulah the rabbit and the centre’s fish, Mr Fish and Chips. We will nurture our tamariki to be bold, courageous, and confident every day and support tamariki to use their curious nature to explore our environment within the centre, as well as within our local community.

Our indoor spaces are built to support the learning and development of every age group – Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers. Each room will be equipped with high quality, focused resources designed to spark curious minds. We'll have an expansive outdoor where children can challenge themselves on the playground equipment while building their independence and self-confidence.

Exploring our Community will be a significant strength for BestStart Whangaparaoa, allowing our tamariki to become competent and confident learners in exploring people, places and things. Local excursions are a part of our curriculum on a regular basis with the knowledge and understanding of a child connecting their worlds between home and centre.

Our close proximity to all things Coast related means the supermarket, library, Arkles Bay Beach, Whangaparaoa College, and main bus route are at our doorstep for us to explore! Healthy, nutritious meals and snacks will be provided throughout the day. 

We will offer BestStart’s Be School Ready initiative for our preschool children, which will be incorporated into everyday practice, assisting with the next step in their learning journey.The initiative encourages children to use their developing self-help skills and provides a range of opportunities to extend their independence. 

Your child’s learning journey and milestones will be captured and shared through one-on-one communication and our online learning portfolios on Storypark. This is a great way to keep up to date with what your child is doing while at the centre. 

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.

Fantails Estate stands out as leading-edge, modern purpose-built facilities with an environment that match the quality of education and care provided.

Set on over 3½ hectares of land nestled between farmland, in a rural lifestyle setting, and provides one of the largest landscaped outdoor spaces at a New Zealand early learning centre. A perfect place where there is enough (real!) grass for children to run, play, have fun, explore and learn.

Our generation and those past, did not sit as much as children do today in our more sedentary lifestyle. Research shows that auditory, visual, and tactile skills depend on movements. Academic success depends on having these basic physical skills in place for efficient learning to occur.

The very best place for children to get moving and master their emerging physical skills is outdoors. It is outdoors that children can fully and freely experience motor skills like running, leaping, and jumping.

Playing outdoors also helps children with cognitive, social, and emotional development. It is here where children are more likely to invent games, be able to express themselves, and learn about the world their own way. They feel safe and in control, which promotes autonomy, decision-making, and organisational skills.

Although the children are only playing to have fun, they're actually learning lifelong skills! In conjunction with age-appropriate child-led learning, our specialised school readiness program for pre-schoolers, the Fantail Flyers, is where special attention is given to not just word recognition, numeracy, and vocabulary but also concentration, working in a group and routines. Our aim is to build confidence so children can move comfortably into 'big school'.

Fantails Estate has five rooms, creating a more intimate setting for different age groups. Large north-facing sliding doors create a seamless indoor/outdoor flow to the landscaped grounds and play area, with babies, toddlers, and older children each having their own separate play areas.

Inside, modular furniture creates flexible play spaces and comfortable spots for parents to spend time with their children.

In line with the Healthy Heart recommendations, Fantails offer fresh food prepared on the premises for morning and afternoon snacks and a hot lunch, saving parents the need to prepare a main meal for children in the evening.

Here at MiniDale Explorers, our experienced team provides comprehensive educational programmes and professional care for your child, with plenty of natural education opportunities in a nurturing environment ready for your child to learn, grow and explore.

Our centre offers separate learning environments for our Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children, these large spaces allow children to actively explore within an inclusive setting which provides quality care and education for all children.

All of our staff are committed and passionate about Early Childhood Education; this is reflected in the responsive relationships and daily interactions with children, parents, and Whãnau. We value and encourage strong relationships with our parents and whãnau. We believe it is important to form these partnerships, valuing whãnau’s aspirations for their children.

We encourage children’s learning through experimentation, exploration, and play. Our project investigations holistically incorporate all aspects of the curriculum, which includes song, music, drama, art, movement, and the natural world.

We have an outdoor environment that is second to none! We believe that our well-designed and generous playground stimulates the diversity of children’s play experience and contributes to their healthy development.

We are committed to ensuring all children are genuinely cared for by dedicated teachers who have the wellbeing of the child as their priority. We provide a nurturing environment that has high-quality education and care practices that are appropriate for all stages of a child’s development.

Our resources are personalised to the interests and developmental levels of the child and provide opportunities for their extension. As they approach school age our programmes develop the very important foundation skills of numeracy and literacy. We understand that it is an important event when your child moves from preschool to school and this is reflected in the curriculum within our transition to school programme.

Welcome to the Bright Bears Preschool. We're a beautiful, well-established early learning centre licensed for 25 children, aged from 2 years old – 5 years old.

Upon enrolment, we encourage you to come to the centre and stay for a short period of time to settle your child. Talk to staff to establish a settling procedure that best suits your child. You are encouraged to spend as much time as necessary in the centre to settle your child. Our objectives are to provide an environment that is child centred.

Bright Bears Early Childhood Centre believes that as children interact with their social and physical environments, ask questions of themselves and others and develop theories that are meaningful to them, they are constructing knowledge and developing skills.

Through an emergent curriculum which follows the children’s interests, teachers support the children’s curiosity, helping them make decisions and choices through project work. We encourage children to develop and further their interests/ skills/ strengths by working independently and in collaboration with teachers and peers extending their investigative and reasoning strategies.

Love is at the heart of our preschool.

Twenty years since its opening Gulf Harbour Preschool still has the reputation of being the Hibiscus Coast’s premier early learning centre. Gulf Harbour Preschool is owned and operated by Lynda and Stephen who are both qualified, primary trained teachers who know how vital it is to create “a love for learning” in your child’s foundational years.

Our Image of the Child / Ākonga

We believe that all children are competent, curious learners; capable of complex thinking, interested in their world and full of potential. They are natural researchers who question what they see: thinking, hypothesizing, making predictions, experimenting and expressing their discoveries in a variety of ways. Every individual child at our centre will be encouraged to grow and learn in their own way, at their own pace, being supported and nurtured by our caring team of teachers and a strong peer group.

Our Families / Whānau

We treasure our relationships with parents, whānau and the community, believing strongly in the value of meaningful, regular interactions to support children’s wellbeing and inspire their learning.

Whanaungatanga/relationships are an integral part of our teaching strategy at Gulf Harbour Preschool, as we foster links between home and preschool. Parents are encouraged to participate in our learning program by sharing in their children’s interests and researching with their child at home, reinforcing the learning from Preschool. We value the important role parents play as they encourage their children to contribute books and other resources, and personally share with us their own expertise and experiences.

Our Environment / Akoranga

Our learning environment is richly resourced and plays an important role in inspiring children to explore, wonder and create, with provocations purposefully set up for children to engage in complex learning experiences. Children’s wellbeing is our goal and is evident in our settled, secure children who have formed strong friendships which frequently become life-long relationships. 

We are fortunate to have children at Preschool who hail from all over the world, and it is exciting to celebrate their customs and language. Te Reo me nga tikanga Māori is embedded into our programme and our interactions with children, and our teachers are committed to honouring Te Tiriti ō Waitangi. We believe in weaving our bicultural heritage into a multicultural programme to support all learners. Te taiao/the environment is respected and utilised in our roles as kaitiakitanga/teachers and guardians.

Our Learning Journey / Marau Mātauranga

Our goal is to create a life-long love of learning in each child. We believe in acknowledging children’s wonder and curiosity and providing them with opportunities to explore at their own pace. Learning opportunities are a response to children’s interests, with inquiry-based learning occurring through intentional and free play activities. Through exploration of intentional materials children are encouraged to construct their own knowledge and understanding.

Literacy and numeracy is embedded into everything we do, exposing children to emergent concepts as well as focused learning experiences. Peer learning and tuakana/teina concepts are encouraged as our mixed-age group of children support each other’s learning. We provide a variety of activities to maintain children interests and to appeal to different learning styles, as we strive to achieve tino rangatiratanga/self-determination for all children. 

The Arts / Auahatanga

We value the role that the arts play for providing children with endless opportunities to express themselves and their learning. We perceive art to be a fun-filled process of engagement/auahatanga that is creative, reflective, deliberate and that deepens and extends children’s learning. Children communicate and represent their understandings, emotions, discoveries and interests through encounters with a range of media, materials and art techniques. Our specially designed taupuni mahi toi/art studio allows for creative exploration all day long, with a skilled teacher present to facilitate meaningful art experiences. We love performing arts/toi whakaari and our annual Christmas show is the highlight of the year, representing our learning through poem, drama, song and dance.