Childcare options in Leamington

Calling all superheroes!! BestStart Cambridge want you!

Welcome to BestStart Cambridge, where we are training the next generation of Hometown Heroes. 

Please see reception for your visitor's cape and honouree Superhero badge. Our children are no ordinary Heroes in Training. They are filled with plenty of Kiwi ingenuity and are chosen from a diverse group of citizens worthy of this task.

To be part of our Hometown Hero Academy, you’ll want to make a difference in the mighty town of Kemureti, the of Town of Trees & Champions. Hometown heroes throughout time have emerged from the waters of Karapiro, like beacons of hope righteousness, ready to take on the world, and contribute to society.

As one of our heroes in training, your child will be going for walks in our local flora and fauna where they will develop the ability to care for wildlife and plants. Our junior heroes will work alongside the magnificent Mother of this Earth Papatunuku as she shows them how to be Kaitiaki of the land.

Instilled with the powers of Awhi and Manaaki, you will see our heroes learning about sustainability and recycling. This will help them create a community garden filled with yummy kai, which we can share to support and sustain our whanau and the wider community - just like heroes do!

Superheroes are dedicated to fighting injustice, protecting the community, and battling the wicked! Through visiting Vetora next door to us, our junior heroes will learn how to care for our furry friends – because this is what Superheros do! They protect and care for the weak and defenceless in their community.

As our heroes’ journey through Ruma Awhi onto Ruma Manaaki and end up in Ruma Kaitiaki they will have developed many different superpowers.

Ruma Awhi will have helped them develop the superpowers of running at extreme speed, climbing fearlessly and communicating their wants and need effectively to others.

Ruma Manaaki will have helped them develop the superpower of independence, caring for others, and a need for exploring their world with a sense of urgency.

Ruma Kaitiaki will have instilled in them the superpowers of taking risks, never giving up, working in a team and believing in yourself.

As you can see, our superheroes here at Cambridge are full of love, life, fun, and empathy, which they share with everyone they meet. Every person they meet is touched with the passion, energy, warmth, and kindness they exude, like the web shot from Spiderman’s hand. These lucky individuals are left in a state of wonder and curiosity about how they too can us on this journey.

A journey where families and the local community share knowledge, passion, and skills to help inspire our heroes to achieve greatness! These collective powers are passed along to others to continue to create heroes in many different shapes and forms, and with many different powers to benefit our community and society as a whole.

During their time with us, each child will be inspired to be a hero in their own right! The heroes in training who leave us will go on to be amazing superheroes! They will achieve greatness; they will inspire others with their knowledge and skills. And they will have developed all the tools to achieve their goals, dreams, and aspirations successfully. 

So, jump on our waka and join us for an adventure down mighty awa that leads us to Lake Karapiro. He waka e te noa!

Nothing can stop you when you have superpowers!

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 Elim your child will LEARN that they are uniquely created and LOVED. 

They will find JOY in friendship and community, and they will discover the ADVENTURE of the world around them as they GROW and LEARN alongside our gifted team of teachers.

Our Philosophy

Life is an adventure and through loving relationships in a faith based environment we celebrate the unique identity of each child.

Our play based curriculum nurtures our tamariki to be curious learners and empowers them to be explorers of their unfolding world.

Our Core Values

WHANAUNGATANGA (Relationships)

We value respectful relationships with tamariki, their whanau and our Elim community. We create a joyful journey of learning through nurturing the beauty and potential in each other

MATATOA (Adventure)

Unravelling children's learning is a treasure that we cherish.  Tamariki are empowered to curiously explore their world through play.

PIRIPONO (Faith)

Our belief is that each individual is created by God with unique gifts and talents that we honour and celebrate. Therefore we are faithful in our love and advocacy for our tamariki and their whanau aspirations.

Little Sparrow’s Leamington Educare is a ‘boutique and state of the art’ purpose built centre licensed for 50 children. 

We opened in March 2018 and are located in Froude St, Leamington adjacent to the lovely Froude Park and opposite the expansive greenbelt of Cambridge. We are situated a short walk to Leamington Primary School where our children benefit from the transition to school programme we have in place.

Our centre has children separated into two main areas (infants and toddlers) however, our philosophy is for the children to cross-over regularly to enjoy the various play spaces and the company of their siblings whenever possible. In this way the children can learn and grow in a family-like environment where we aim to create a ‘home away from home’ atmosphere for the children to always feel safe and secure. 

Our unique indoor and outdoor activity areas have been specifically designed to not only challenge but create an interesting learning environment for the children to explore and enjoy.