Childcare options in Kensington

Our centre, situated in the McKay Stadium, is surrounded by panoramic views of Parihaka and Kensington Park.

Educare Kensington Park is a small, intimate centre in central Whangarei that caters for 2-6 year olds. Surrounded by panoramic views of Parihaka and Kensington Park we base our programme on being active and making the most of our location, integrating the Kensington field and stadium into our daily routine whenever we can.

We have a strong focus on our arts programme, supporting the natural creativity and individual strengths of our tamariki. Resources are readily available for all to harness their imagination and creativity at any time during the day.

Educare Kensington Park is run by a passionate and dedicated teaching team who encourage children to drive their own learning and creativity. We put continual emphasis on reciprocal trust, respect and the Tuakana – Teina relationship among our tamariki. Our centre ensures connections with our local community and Iwi are strong, as a result our children know where they come from and begin to establish a sense of belonging.

St John’s Progressive Childcare is a community-based childcare, which means we are a ‘non profit’ organisation. This makes it possible for any profit to go back into the centre; updating resources, play environments, and teacher resources.

We have two dedicated areas catering for Infants and Toddlers and Over Twos.  Both areas are well resourced inside and have large outdoor environments.  We offer healthy nutritious meals, with the over two’s having a lunch box day on a Friday.

As a community centre, inclusive of the entire learning community (child, teacher, whanau, community), our commitment is to be collaborative learners through respectful, reciprocal, relationships.  This supports our mission to provide quality care and education for all.

We welcome you to come and visit us during opening hours and have a look around and meet the team.

​Our childcare centre in Kensington caters for tamariki aged three months to five years.  We are whānau focused and support tamariki to be school ready. 

Giggles provides a bicultural curriculum.  Kaupapa Māori is important to us here at Giggles.  As part of our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi we embrace te reo Māori and use te reo daily with the tamariki.  We practice tikanga in our daily rituals such as welcoming, sharing of kai, reference to te ao wairua (the spiritual world), and our role as kaitiaki (guardians) of our whenua (land).

 In our context we use the terms Teina, Tuakana and Kaiārahi to describe the different areas and age groups within our centre.  The Teina area is a safe space for our younger tamariki, generally under the age of two years.  We usually have nine teina in this area and three kaiako dedicated to their care.  From te wāhi teina, our tamariki transition to te wāhi tuakana where they enjoy a larger outdoor space with up to 12 tamariki and two kaiako each day.  Our oldest tamariki or kaiārahi, who are usually aged three-five years old have their own wāhi which inlcudes te rūma Rongo, a space set aside for mahi toi.

We provide:

• Quality childcare and education
• Caring, experienced and qualified kaiako
• Great rates, WINZ subsidies and 20 Hours ECE
• Welcoming, whānau focused atmosphere