BestStart Prestons is a modern childcare centre, catering for children aged from 3 months to 5 years. We are well-resourced with high quality education and play resources and modern teaching environments. We are the centre of choice in the Prestons community. Check out our blogs further down the page to learn more about our centre.

Where Learning Is Fun

We offer a child led curriculum which supports the modern teaching environments found in local feed schools. By offering the child let environment, we can support children with their transition to school through our Be School Ready initiative offered within the centre. The initiative has been developed to ensure that children leave the centre as confident, capable learners, having had many different experiences to prepare for the next step in their education journey.

To cater for each important stage in your child's life, we have four development classrooms; our Nursery, Preschool, Prep School and Seniors.

Our Nursery offers specialist teachers who are passionate about the care and education of young children. We have a caring and supportive environment for children, catering for each of the special milestones your baby will develop.

In our Preschool we offer a fun environment so children can build confidence through a child led curriculum, exploring fun topics to support their learning and social development.

Our Prep School room offers a challenging and supportive environment for young children, with safe areas to explore and enjoy their world, while developing friendships in a caring child led environment, with high quality teachers and resources.

Our Seniors Class is the final step before leaving us to go off to Primary School. Our Seniors Class offers a literacy and numeracy rich environment, where children can further develop working theories of the world around them and beyong.

We have the ability to share these special events with you and your family through Storypark, our safe online system of communication.

Meal times are a treat for us with our qualified chef on site, providing healthy cooked lunches each day. We can cater for allergies, and special dietary requirements.

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.

It is vital that our preschool offers a warm and welcoming environment in which all children, parents and whanau feel respected, accepted and have a sense of belonging.  

All children are unique, and our programme will respect and reflect on the individual child’s interests, providing all children with equal opportunities to reach their full potential.  

All children will be given support through gentle, sensitive and informed guidance. This will encourage self regulation, effective thinking and self help skills.  

The building of relationships with the child, parents and whanau is a vital part of our family based centre. We recognise the importance of linking home and centre life as we recognise that learning begins at home and that the parents are the child’s first teacher, for this reason we invite and encourage parent/whanau participation.  

Play is an important part of learning. We understand and support the freedom for children to explore and grow at their own pace. Our environment will reflect this and will allow for self directed learning. 

Cultural diversity is valuable and we acknowledge the importance this has on each child and their family, acknowledging that learning begins at home. 

When children leave Prestons they will be capable, confident and independent learners.

Little Blue Penguin has two locations in Christchurch. Little Blue Penguin Prestons - 408 Prestons Road, and Little Blue Penguin Bishopdale - 68 Farrington Ave. Both centres are owner-operated and provide a lovely home away from home environment for tamariki; where children, educators, parents, whānau and leaders will collaborate to co-design an exceptional programme with the same goal in mind: children who are comfortable in their surroundings, happy in their play and confident in their learning.

As Christchurch-based mums, passionate early childhood educators, and keen researchers we have a vision to create truly exceptional and unique learning spaces for children to learn, grow, discover and develop in natural, home away from home settings. Because of our dedication to early childhood advocacy, supportive learning communities and continual improvement, we decided that the best option is to create our very own evidence-based preschool and nurserys.

Little Blue Penguin is dedicated to quality care and meeting the needs of each child and their whānau. This is achieved through our evidence-based and holistic approach to teaching and learning, as well as our core values: calmness, closeness, consistency, curiosity and confidence.

Knowing each child, their whānau (who they are and where they come from) is crucial to the success of the programme, and in order to truly implement a holistic approach Little Blue Penguin will provide nutritious home-cooked meals for children; caring for the children’s well-being first and foremost.

At our centres, we employ a primary caregiving system known as the Key Kaiako approach. This approach ensures that each child has a designated Key Kaiako or pair of Key Kaiako to provide consistent support for their learning and developmental needs. By establishing this bond, we foster a sense of security and trust, enabling tamariki to feel confident in forming relationships and exploring their environment. This approach allows for personalised attention and care, creating a nurturing environment where every child can thrive.