Childcare options in Tauhara

BestStart Totara Street is located in the business area of Totara Point. We are just a stones throw away from Taupo Bungy and the Spa Park. Our centre caters for children from the ages of 3 months until they are ready for their next journey at school. ERO has rated us one of the top childcare centres in NZ.

Getting to know you, to grow you!

Drop into BestStart Totara Street and you will be warmly welcomed by one of our dedicated staff and all our smiling tamariki. As you walk into our beautiful sun filled learning environments you will meet the rest of our dedicated, experienced and knowledgeable teaching team and support staff.

We have age appropriate learning spaces so our tamariki have the freedom to actively experience the area, with free and easy access to all resources.

At BestStart Totara we provide a secure space for our not yet moving tamariki. We have implemented the free movement philosophy as this is something we feel strongly about. We believe the children will meet their developmental milestones in their own time.

For our older children we have implemented a programme that supports them to develop at their own pace. We entice exploration and create individual plans that support our children to ensure the best possible learning outcomes are occurring for them.

We recognise that tamariki learn though play and support their development and learning by implementing intentional teaching. Our Be School Ready initivate ensures all children are surrounded by literacy and numeracy in all areas of their play so they are ready for life long learning.

Our teaching team is full of experienced, passionate teachers who thrive on supporting tamariki to achieve milestones and develop in all areas of their lives. We believe teaching is a vocation and all our teachers have followed their calling to work alongside children.

We look forward to welcoming you to BestStart Totara soon.

"Every child is gifted, they just unwrap their packages at different times"- Author Unknown

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.

Creating Lifelong Learners

Tamariki natural curiosity is the foundation for exploration and growth. They explore to make sense of the world, develop and have fun. Tamariki start their lives by exploring the world around them. They learn through everything they see, touch, hear, smell, taste and do.

Through play, nga tamariki engage in active learning and exploration. They learn more about their interests and about the world. Most importantly, they learn how to adapt to a changing world. Play helps us remain creative and provokes our imagination.

Our People

Our team at Kids at Home is a dedicated team of individuals who have been chosen for their commitment to provide quality, educational in-home childcare. Kids at Home’s management team also consists of experienced Early childhood professionals and others who have worked within other roles in ECE for many years. We are proud of our positive workplace culture which can be felt as soon as you walk through our office doors!

Playgroups

Playgroup provides your child with a rich learning setting that encourages your child to build a foundation for future learning. Our groups provide your child with the opportunity to mix and make lifelong friends with other tamariki

Music Groups

Music groups provide your child the opportunity to participate in singing, dancing and experiment with musical instruments.

Music is an important part of any child care program. Listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, and moving to music are all activities that support tamariki development.

Outings and Excursions

Visiting Teachers plan trips to events or places of interest in the community such as fire stations, the zoo, museum, parks etc. (Whanau and friends are welcome to attend).

High Standard of Care

Our Teachers and Educators pride themselves on the quality of care and education each child receives.

We do not limit ourselves to one teaching method or philosophy because we understand that your child is unique. We believe that each child has their own learning style and personality.

Kids at Home’s Visiting Teachers are fully qualified and certificated ECE Teachers with a current practicing certificate from the Teaching Council; our handpicked Teachers have many years of experience and expertise between them.

Kids at Home’s Visiting Teachers support Educators with regular visits and planning for education and development of tamariki.

BestStart Richmond Kindy is a modern childcare centre located in Richmond Heights, Taupo. We are conveniently located next to School’s Out on Richmond Avenue, and just around the corner from Waipahihi Primary School.

Play together, stand together, learn together

At BestStart Richmond Kindy, parents and whanau are supported and encouraged to be an integral part of their children’s learning journey.

We stand together and support one another to create an inclusive and special learning space where play is valued as the most important way to learn and grow.  We work alongside families to set each child up for learning now and for the rest of their life.

Family - Having family and wider whanau involved in kindy life supports each child’s learning. We offer multiple ways for our families to be involved in ways that are right for them. Our relationships with each child, family and wider whanau are very important to us.

To support families to feel comfortable prior to starting, we offer settling visits where we welcome families to spend time with us together; stay, play, ask questions and get to know one another.

Our families have regular opportunities to meet at kindy events and celebrations too, supporting them to connect and forge bonds and friendships.

Families are the most important teachers of their children and we use the information families share with us to work together to develop a learning plan to support each child to develop and grow. Developing skills to play with others are important aspects of learning so we support each child to develop their own kindy family through playing and learning together and developing friendships.

Community – It's important that our children make community connections, understand their place in the communty and learn from our special town. One of our favourite things is to get out and about! We arrange for experts from our community to come to our kindy too, so children can learn from them. Our kindy offers:

• Bush Kindy (a full term of weekly lessons) for our more independent children at the local Waipahihi Reserve.
• Monthly visits from Cath Oldfield of Kids Bike Taupo to support children to ride a bike
• Planned school visits for our 4-year olds to Waipahihi School and Hilltop School
• Yearly performances in the Tuwharetoa Kapa Haka Festival (Taiopenga Tuwharetoa).
• Regular trips on the Taupo Connector Bus service into town to visit local amenities.
• Weekly walks to the Community Gardens (which are right next door to Kindy) to learn about growing and caring for plants and how to keep ourselves healthy with nutritious food.

Check out our blog below for other fun learning experiences our children have had when experts have visited our centre to share their knowledge with us - Vets, Police, Fire and Emergency workers, Ruben the Road Safety Bear and Undercover Cody (sunsafe).

Quality – choosing us is choosing quality for your child’s education and care. Our loving, friendly and caring team of teachers are passionate about getting to know each child and working with families to meet the goals they have for their child’s learning.

Children are inspired to learn through play, in our learning environment that has lots of different educational and fun toys and equipment for them to explore. They can also play, run, climb, explore and have fun in our huge outdoor play area.

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.