Childcare options in Avonside

Seeking peace of mind? Lollipops Patten Street provides exceptional care and education in a safe and welcoming environment. Our team of enthusiastic educators love what they do and will nurture and support your little one to become the best they can be. Family-orientated with a homely vibe, your child will love learning and growing with us, in an atmosphere chock-full of adventure, exploration and wonder.

Give your child the greatest start. Enrol them in Lollipops Patten Street and see them shine.

Contact us today to arrange your visit.

Our philosophy

People:

Centre practices focused on building respectful reciprocal relationships across the whole of our community. Fostering acceptance, support and empowerment.

Environment:

Our welcoming and safe environments are set up to reflect the age and stage of development of tamariki, being inclusive of each child’s individual needs, enabling learning through play, exploration and discovery.

Play:

We believe in the value of play as learning - enabling tamariki (children) to learn through self-discovery, exploration, investigation and natural curiosity.

Holistic Development:

The mana of the child – supported to flourish through consistent and intentional teaching influencing the physical, emotional spiritual, intellectual and social grow of each tamaiti (child).

Cultural Heritage:

Respecting the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi of Partnerships, Participation and Protection. Always striving to make these visible within our environments, practices and pedagogy.

Rooms

Lollipops Patten Street has five different classrooms catering for different age groups and stages of development.

Kowhai Room

Dedicated to our children aged from 0 – 1, the Kowhai Room provides tailormade care that aligns as closely as possible to individual children’s home routines. Respect and care are at the core of our curriculum. Teachers work very closely with each family to understand the needs of pēpi and build a great sense of shared trust. A range of sensory stimulating experiences are provided on a daily basis.

Rata Room

Rata Room offers a slow paced care driven learning environment for our tamariki aged 1 – 2 years. To inspire curiosity and help children develop gross and fine motor skills, teachers provide a supportive environment. Age and stage appropriate experiences are delivered on daily basis. Research shows that physical development in this age group is very rapid. Therefore, our teaching team actively reflects on the environment and keeps refreshing and resetting it to facilitate such learning. We are lucky to have a large covered deck for continuous discovery play even on wet days.

Rimu Room

This warm and welcoming space is specially created for our 2 – 3 year olds. Our Rimu Room teachers are proud of their inviting, calm and multicultural environment – an environment where children’s emotional and social needs are met, and they are encouraged to build their cultural identity.

Pohutukawa Room

The Pohutukawa Room is home to our busy 3 – 4 year olds. Here, teachers encourage independence and self-help skills and children are provided with opportunities to make choices. In the Pohutukawa Room we take pride in celebrating  special days and events and involve whanau in the cultural experiences.

Totara Room

The Totara Room is where our biggest children (4 – 5 years) prepare for the next phase of their learning journey, primary school. Here children are encouraged to build positive dispositions like confidence, resilience, communication and creative thinking. They engage in a number of literacy and numeracy experiences and a daily programme called Pathways to School, which enables them to practice thinking, problem solving, cutting, sorting, grouping and more.

Why choose us?

There are a host of reasons why families choose Lollipops Patten Street. Here are just a few of them:

• Extended opening hours (7.30am to 6pm) great for working parents
• Homely and supportive environment
• Enthusiastic, caring teachers
• We welcome and encourage family/whanau involvement
• Regular celebrations including Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Chinese New Year, International Child’s Day, and Matariki
• Multicultural inclusive environment
• Online tool ‘StoryPark’ enables parents, whanau and staff to work together to support development and learning for each child
• Children have the chance to increase their knowledge and understanding of Maori language, culture and practices
• Five purpose built rooms to cater for every developmental stage in the early years
• Playball included for 3 to 6yrs
• Sunscreen included
• Shared family centre library
• Onsite Plunket service