Childcare options in Claudelands

BestStart Brooklyn is a quiet home like centre, where passionate experienced teachers work alongside you and your child to help them grow, develop and become their best selves. The teachers are always looking at ways in which we can help a child achieve their goals by providing a quality learning environment.

Our Vision - Reaching For The Stars

Our understanding of Wairua at BestStart Brooklyn, is the coming together of two waters, the centre and our whanau.  We both work together to build and create a strong relationship with high expectations – Whanaungatanga.  These relationships are the key to helping our children and their whanau reach the stars.  Manaakitanga is the values of integrity, trust, sincerity and equality these are seen through the interactions that we have with the children and their whanau daily. 

BestStart Brooklyn is unique as we are a mixed aged centre, caring for children from 3 months to 5 years of age in one encouraging environment.  This setting has many benefits for all the teachers, children and their whanau.  Our children have a strong sense of tuakana teina – the older children caring for the younger children, or the more experienced helping to grow those with less experience.  Being a mixed aged centre allows siblings, cousins and friends to stay together thus strengthening the relationship of home.  

We pride ourselves on providing a high-quality learning programme and environment that provides the children with many different opportunities to help them as they reach their own stars.  Our curriculum is built upon the interests of the children and is supported by the strands and principles of the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum - Te Whariki.  Working alongside the whanau we make goals and aspirations for a child to work towards.  With each aspiration that is achieved it is a step closer to reaching their full potential. 

Just one of our priorities for our children is to help them to prepare for school.  Heading off to school with a strong foundation is one of the brightest achievements in each child’s lives. We support and help prepare our children by including early numeracy, literacy, creative arts, science, physical education and social skills in everything they do.  Conversations are shared with whanau to show how much a child has learnt through play and how they are preparing for school.

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.

The Education Review Office has rated BestStart Claudelands one of the top NZ childcare centres .

Create, Inspire, Explore

“Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world” - Roald Dahl

BestStart Claudelands is located near the Claudelands Events Centre on the main route leading into the central city. Our families come from surrounding suburbs, with parents often working in the city or studying at University or Wintec. We celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the many cultures that make up our centre families. Together we learn from one another through play.

We have two main rooms, catering for the needs of babies – aged up to two and children from two to five years old. Our classroom names represent the cultural heritage and uniqueness of Jubilee Bush in the Claudelands Area: Tui and Kereru. We provide quiet reflective areas as well as structure in our environment to provide stimulation for inquisitive minds.

Tui Room - Here in the Tui room we offer a cosy indoor environment and a large outdoor area with beautiful over hanging trees. With a maxium of 10 children at all times we are able to create strong relationships and provide aspects of primary care inspired by Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber. We aim to inspire, create learning environments to encourage curiosity and imagination and build strong relationships with our tamariki and whanau. While working alongside our smallest tamariki at BestStart Claudelands in the Tui room we will have children who can reason, explore and be confident life long learners. 

Kereru Room - The Kereru room is a learning space to encourage children’s natural curiosity to create, inspire and explore. Whanaungatanga (relationships) is at the heart of our centre. We encourage whanau to participate in all aspects of centre life. Walk into an environment where the mature trees frame our outdoor area.  Hear the laughter as it echoes throughout the centre. See the children busying themselves with endless opportunities to create, inspire and explore with all that is available to them.  Come and join us embrace and celebrate the diverse cultures within our centre community. Our routines, activities and daily running of our curriculum is designed around our children’s needs current interests and passions. Here we provide a supportive and rich environment, open-ended provocations where children can explore their ideas alone or in groups. Our outdoor area is equipped with moveable equipment where children are encouraged to take responsibility of and lead their own learning.

The heart of BestStart Claudelands is embracing relationships through the principle of whanaungatanga (the extended family concept). Establishing and maintaining warm, trusting, reciprocal relationships between teachers, tamariki, and their whānau is the foundation for creating a strong sense of belonging for children. This helps them grow as confident, capable and life-long learners.

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.

Fountain City Montessori is a community of educators who are passionate about children and the Montessori learning method and philosophy.

When your child attends our preschool, you can expect a warm, nurturing and peaceful, mixed age environment that fosters a love of learning, respect and independence.

Encouraging these skills helps your child to become an independent, responsible member of their community.