Childcare options in Wainoni

BestStart Wainoni Road sits in the heart of the Wainoni community and caters for children aged 3 months to 6 years old. We have a reputation and are well connected to external community agencies. We are the centre of choice and provide a safe, secure, loving environment for each and every child and their families.

Aroha is the Heart of Wainoni

We are a stable, loving, safe haven in the community where all children, families and cultures are accepted by our qualified, long-standing teaching team.

What can you expect from our centre:

• We are very welcoming, accepting and accommodating for all families and children
• We love our different cultures within the centre and strive to learn and practice something from each of them
• We are understanding of the different community needs and provide connections where needed to ensure these are met for all children and families
• Our community reputation is strong and we are the centre of choice in the area
• Our activities and opportunities are endless
• We have a long standing, stable teaching team who will continuously go above and beyond for our whanau, which includes strong leadership and role models for our children
• Communication with our families is important and we provide support and guidance through our online platform, Storypark
• We provide a range of nutritious breakfast, morning tea and afternoon tea options to accommodate all children

Whakatauki

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

Collaboration in any community is key. We welcome the strengths and knowledge of everyone. By working together we can all flourish - especially our tamariki.

We would love you to visit us anytime to experience for yourself the warmth and aroha that our centre can provide for you.

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.

Ottawa Gardens Preschool is proud family owned business that has a strong sense of whanau. We pride ourselves on the tamariki gaining a strong sense of belonging where they know this is a safe place for them to come and learn about themselves, what they are interested in and taking safe risks to grow their motor skills, while getting them ready for school. We have a strong teaching team where all the teachers are qualified and either have their full registration or working towards this. The teaching team all have different strengths offering a vas varity of experiences to the tamariki.  

The indoor enviroment has recently been   rebuilt due to the February earthquake and is now a purpose built preschool offering plenty of space for the tamariki to learn. The outdoor environment is often described as "Wow, Wasnt expecting that!" Ottawa Gardens Preschool has a very generous outdoor environment with plenty of structures for the tamariki to climb on, places for them to ride the bikes that are provided and a grass area where different types of sports can be played. At the back of the environment is a chicken coop where we currently have 8 chickens that provide eggs for us to use in our baking and cooking with the tamariki.  

We accept all children from new born to 6 years old. Here at Ottawa Gardens Preschool we do not have a seperate area for the under 2s, rather we have all our children in the same room. this offers a greater sense of whanau in the centre, but also teachers the older childen humbleness by helping the younger children wash their hands or with an experience we are doing, however we still offer different experiences for the differant age groups. 

We value our whanau and wider community by strengthening relationships, including parent and Whanau communication and participation. We believe in providing the building blocks for success in learning. This comes through creating habits of the children’s mind that inspires them to want and need to learn all the time.

Kia ora, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Hello  

Just Kids Community Preschool started in July 2003. From the first day of operation we were excited to provide care and education to infants, toddlers and pre-school children. We saw the diversity in our community and we were excited about the endless possibilities before us to impact children’s lives for the better.  

Today, we aim to ensure that every child, family and whãnau member is accepted, included and feels a sense of belonging within our service.  

We are a community based preschool and family/whãnau are at the forefront of what we do and what we believe in. 

 Our management and staff aim to provide children with the foundations that they will need for successful future learning.  

At our Bickerton Street centre we provide - a free transport service, free lunches & snacks for every child, free jacket, socks, shoes and headlice treatment for every child, support for parents of children with diverse needs, parent evenings, whanau events, 20 Hours Free Childcare for 3 and 4 year olds......and more. 

 We invite you to come and visit our centre today!  

Together, we can ensure your tamariki have a great start in life and become happy and confident life-long learners.