Childcare options in Kaiwharawhara

Centrally located just outside of Wellington’s CBD, and boasting stunning harbour views, Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara provides an environment that’s safe and happy, nurturing, and inspiring. Our team of passionate, innovative educators strive to build children’s confidence and unique capabilities, each bringing different backgrounds and interests that enrich interactions and boost learning opportunities.

Relationships are at the heart of everything we do here at Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara. Our primary caregiving approach fosters strong bonds between teachers, children, and whanau, and we actively encourage family involvement. We know that children learn best through strong relationships with key adults. That’s why we appoint a primary and secondary carer to every child who joins us.

If you are looking for a centre where children are celebrated for their individuality, and encouraged to reach their full potential, you’ve found it here at Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara.

Why choose us?

There are a host of reasons why Wellington families choose Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara. Here are just a few of them:

• Three spacious rooms catering for each of the different age groups, each with their own outdoor play space for safety
• Each child is appointed a ‘special teacher’ or primary caregiver who is the main point of contact for both child and parents
• Excellent teacher to child ratios, well above Ministry of Education guidelines
• Real grass in our Infants sensory garden encourages natural world exploration and provides enjoyable textures for learning to move
• Exciting enrichment programme for our children aged 4.5 years and older
• Lots of fun activities like baking, bubble parties, balloons, shredded paper snow, dance parties and dress up days
• We celebrate birthdays, graduations and cultural events such as Diwali, Maori Language Week, All Hallows Eve, Christmas, Anzac Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day
• Onsite cook makes nutritious morning tea, afternoon tea and a hot lunch daily, and caters to children’s individual dietary needs
• Free nappy wipes and sunscreen
• Parental involvement is encouraged - your participation makes our learning environment rich for all children
• Thanks to our central location, transport is a major interest for our children as they watch the cruise ships, ferries, trucks and trains from our outdoor areas

Our Rooms

We have three rooms within our centre. We follow an enquiry-based, primary teaching approach, and respect the natural development of each individual child. We use play to teach the skills required for educational success. Each room has its own individual outdoor play space to ensure the safety of each child in our care. Children transition between rooms when they are displaying an interest and readiness for further developing their skills.

Infants Room

Infants are invited to participate in individual care moments with their primary and secondary teacher. Care moments, such as bottle feeding, nappy changing and sleep, are guided by your home routine. Your primary teacher gets to know your child and family extremely well, so that they can respond to your child’s needs, while building their trust, abilities and confidence. In our outdoor space, children experience real grass and assist the teachers in caring for the sensory garden. As well as outdoor play, children have the opportunity to explore the indoor environment at their own pace. Children are encouraged to develop their gross motor skills naturally, in line with our RIE/Pikler- inspired philosophy.  Excellent teacher to child ratio of 1:4.

Toddlers Room

Our Toddlers Room has an amazing view over Wellington Harbour, the motorway and train line. Transport is an ongoing interest and the passing freight trains are an especially exciting time within our day. Children are invited to explore sand, water, dough, books, art and messy play, and participate in music and movement sessions. These play experiences support children’s expression of emotions and communication of ideas, which are two big concepts that toddlers are exploring. We encourage toddlers to develop their independence through putting away their dishes after kai time, wiping their own face and hands, and helping themselves to drinking water as they require it. There are opportunities for children to help teachers care for the environment and choose their own learning experiences.  Excellent teacher to child ratio of 1:5.

Juniors Room

Children in the Juniors Room are advancing their skills in preparation for their future learning journey at school. Each day children are invited to work with others, prepare and serve their own kai, and participate in group time. Our ‘letter of the week’ programme supports children’s individual interest in the alphabet and numbers. We believe in guiding children’s learning at their own pace. Children have the opportunity to create their own artwork, build complex structures, tell stories, perform in front of their peers and role play scenarios from their wider world. We support early science learning by encouraging children to pose questions and explore the answers. Excellent teacher to child ratio of 1:10. We have an amazing enrichment programme that children begin when they are 4.5 years old. They have time with a teacher discussing school and are offered activities related to the letters in their name, beginning mathematical and science concepts that they will come across at school. Our children get so excited about this programme that they stay focused on their enrichment tasks over the entire morning, rather than just during the allocated session! 

BestStart Kaiwharawhara is conveniently located on Hutt Road with its own carpark, the perfect location for any family travelling to or from the city.

Cherishing Collaborative Learning

Collaboration with family: At BestStart Kaiwharawhara we are highly invested in building relationships with our families. Knowing the hopes and dreams you have for your child, enables us to partner with you to progress these. We will chat to you daily around your child’s play, and the teaching and learning that is being achieved from following your child’s interests and working towards learning outcomes that we’ve agreed upon. We are a multicultural team and enjoy learning as much as we can about the different cultures of our families to strengthen and broaden the daily experiences on offer to your child. Research tells us that outcomes improve when children have a sense of connection between home and the centre. The centre is “our place” to enjoy and learn within, together.

Collaboration with children: Children at BestStart Kaiwharawhara are given the time and space to investigate and explore the world around them with teachers there to extend their learning. Children are empowered to make decisions about their environment, sharing what they do and don’t like. We see our children as confident and capable learners who have amazing knowledge to share with us as teachers.

Collaboration with community: Having such easy access to Wellington city we enjoy local walks, along with bus rides, to explore our local community. This has included trips to Te Papa, Spotlight, Animates, Kaiwharawhara Park and being a part of the Prime Ministers Children’s Picnic at Parliament. We encourage people within our community to share their knowledge with us. We have hosted NZ Police, Easy Swim and our families, who share their unique talents. These experiences provide your child with the opportunity to learn about the world around them and different skills, backgrounds and perspectives.

Collaboration with BestStart: Our teaching team are committed to being the best possible teachers they can be and attend professional learning to extend on their knowledge. We love visiting other centres to gain inspiration and enjoy sharing our culture and knowledge with each other. Our professional leaders, network with other leaders within BestStart to learn more about best practice within early childhood education. By working together as an organisation we are ensuring we increase our knowledge to better support positive learning outcomes for children.

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.