Childcare options in St Martins

BestStart Huntsbury is a new early learning centre located at the bottom of the beautiful Port Hills. It was built on the site that used to belong to St. Anne’s Church which was a huge part of the local community for almost 100 years. We provide high quality care and education for children aged between 3 months and 6 years.

We currently have limited spaces in our nursery, join our waitlist now so you don’t miss out!

Convenient location - We are conveniently located across the road from St. Martins School and is within a 10 minute walking distance to Hillview Christian School and a 5 minute drive to Opawa School.  We are also close to a wide range of amenities such as a cafe, hairdresser, fish n chips shop, petrol station and supermarket.

Regular Excursions - We go on regular excursions to our local parks, local schools, local café and local retirement village.  We believe it is very important to have strong connections with our community and what’s around us.

Nutritious Meals - Our experienced cook makes the most delicious and nutritious kai for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Storypark - Your child’s learning journey and milestones will be captured and shared through one-on-one communication as well as our online learning portfolio Storypark.  This is a great way to keep up to date with what your child is doing while at the centre. You can log in to see what they have been up to during their time here, check out photos of them and comment on their activities.

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.

Poppies St Martins is located in a beautiful character villa with three separate inside and outside environments.

We pride ourselves in offering a quality programme, with lower than required ratios in our three rooms.

We are also proud to be an enviroschool and have natural playgrounds. Our children learn to be respectful of each other, our toys and our environment.

What we offer at Poppies St Martins

• A beautiful and homely Preschool

We are lucky to have such a beautiful character villa, with three separate classrooms inside and out. Our nursery is for children up to two years. Our Preschool is for children two to three years and our Prepschool is for the older children.

• Committed Kaiako (teachers)

With great ratios our experienced, committed kaiako can provide the best education and care for your child in a happy, secure environment.  We offer Primary Care Giving in the nursery, where your children can build special relationships.

• Our playground

At Poppies St Martins we have natural playgrounds with vege gardens and fruit trees. We love collecting the eggs and looking after our hens and worm farm. We have covered verandas which are perfect for hot or rainy days.

• Our environment

We are proud to be part of the Enviroschools Programme and believe in respecting Aotearoa and our environment as well as our resources and each other. We are working towards our bronze award.

• Our Programme

We provide children with opportunities to explore a number of activities including messy play, sand play, water play, books, carpentry, manipulative play, painting and collage, music, blocks, baking as well as a physically challenging outside environment.

We carefully plan indoor and outdoor environments to meet the children's individual learning goals providing stimulating and fun activities including dress up days and excursions into the community.

• Regular excursions into the community

We love visiting our community as part of our curriculum especially the nearby schools, library, and river reserve. We also enjoy bus excursions to further away places from time to time.

• Transition to School

We work to ensure your child's transition to school is as smooth as possible by fostering independence, and encouraging children to take responsibility for themselves and their belongings.

In the mornings the older children's mini group focuses on ensuring the children are ready for school. We work on the five key concepts of maths, literacy, self help skills, social skills and children's choice.

• Reasonable fees

Our fees are reasonable with no charge for statutory holidays. We offer 20 hours free ECE. WINZ and Family Boost is also available.

We would love to meet you and show you around Poppies. Please come and visit or contact us to secure your place!

Kura Kōhungahunga

He kākano ahau i ruia mai i Rangiātea

I am a seed that was sown in the heavens of Rangiātea

The Kindergarten is a place where childhood is cherished and a sense of wonder is nurtured. Tamariki play imaginatively and creatively, and develop freely within their world. There is a balance between self-directed play and the sharing of teacher-led group activities. Inside activities can include painting, baking, handwork, drawing, singing and stories, while outside tamariki can run and skip, climb trees and swing, play in the sandpit or help with gardening. The first seven years of a child’s life are of the utmost importance for developing capacities needed later in life.    

The primary developmental task during the first seven years is for the child to build a strong, healthy body. Therefore, premature demands on the intellect and working with abstract ideas are avoided as much as possible. The child is given time to exercise motor skills, experience and use language, and to develop social and emotional capacities through real experiences and interactions. There are no computers or screens in Kindergarten – families are encouraged to do likewise at home – as these devices hinder physical activity, creativity, and sociability.