Childcare options in Regent

Our centre is an intimate and nurturing space where your child can discover and experience life in a caring and stress free environment. We offer a centre where you will be assured your baby feels at ease and at home.

We maintain a small team and low enrollment to ensure your child is enveloped in attention and surrounded by familiar faces. This is part of our philosophy to encourage early brain development, which is affected by the experiences children have and the settings in which they spend time in, at these early stages. Our experienced team place huge importance on early childhood development and strive to create and maintain a nurturing environment for your child to continue their journey of discovery.

Choosing our Centre

Little Geckos philosophy is founded on a respect for Early Childhood Development. The day-to-day experiences babies have at this early stage determine the ongoing development of their brain. These experiences have implications for vision, motor skill development, language, music and maths. Starting your child’s journey in a setting developed specifically for their needs, and in a place where they are nurtured and cared for by professionals who understand these principles, encourages the development of their brain and wellbeing.

We believe it is incredibly important that you are able to settle your child in to Little Geckos, and recommend a minimum of 3 settling sessions with you and your child (there is no charge for these). Between you and your Little Geckos teacher, it will be discussed whether more settling sessions may be needed. These settling sessions can take the form of a couple of hours or a whole day. We welcome and look forward to you spending time here. On these visits we will start to build an understanding of you and your child and their routines and little quirks! It is important to us that we know as much as possible about the things your child loves and those that he or she are not so keen on. This helps us to make this home as much as possible like yours. The dates for settling sessions are discussed with you when we give you a call to say we have a space available that suits your requirements.

Play Time

Play time for babies and toddlers is very important work. They have so much happening while they play. The world is still such a new place to them and it can take much repetition for them to understand and feel comfortable with environments, people and objects. Routines are also very important. Where ever possible we make our environment predictable for them. Having the same activity out for them for say a couple of months may seem boring to us as adults but for them it is a chance to explore, understand and finally master. What a great moment that is to observe! It may appear as teachers we are just sitting round watching babies….don’t be fooled! As trained early childhood teachers, we are observing, recording, responding, planning and evaluating. We need to offer our children an environment that is responsive to their needs and observation is a key element to achieving this. We live in a busy fast paced world. We offer an unhurried curriculum for our busy babies where they have time to work things out for themselves. Along with respect, safety and love – Little Geckos is a fun, nurturing place for your child.

Food

All your child’s nutritional requirements are provided for by you, so please bring each day whatever your child will need. You know at this age what they currently like and dislike. You also know what they have tried so far and haven’t with regard to allergies and reactions. We also want to replicate your home environment as much as possible, so the taste and textures they have at home, are the same as they have here. Routine and familiarity make for a content environment. We are able to heat food as required and have a fridge available with a space just for your child’s milk and food.

Geckos offers specialised early childhood education for preschoolers.  Using child-led learning techniques and our play-based curriculum, our qualified teachers will empower and support your child as they develop to becoming school ready.

Our space is built and designed with 3-5 year olds in mind and some areas were even designed by our tamariki. Quality playground equipment, supervised cooking events, communal meal times and secret gardens are just some of the ways we use play to transfer important life skills to our pre-schoolers.

Transition to School

The transition from early learning to primary school is a big change in your child's life.  When your child turns 4, it’s time to start thinking about preparing for a positive transition to school.

At Geckos, we will help ensure your child feels safe, confident and connected to their new school and friends.  One of the ways we do this is by developing strong connections with our local primary, Whangarei Primary School.  Even if your child transitions to another school, everyone benefits from spending time at Whangarei Primary.  We enjoy sitting in on junior classroom time each week and participate in special events, such as cross country and assemblies.  Tamariki become comfortable with older students and the busier pace of a school environment.

We have an open door policy and encourage your child's new primary teacher to visit your child here at Geckos.  Before your child leaves us, we’ll write a letter celebrating them to their new school.

Please approach us for information about different schools in the area and feel free to ask us to join you on school visits.

We set aside long blocks of time for tamariki to fully engage in the activities of their choice, allowing them to enjoy deeper, richer and more powerful learning through play.  We read the tamariki’s cues to tell us when it’s time for refueling, or quiet time, so don't be surprised if you walk in and our rhythm doesn't look exactly like this.

What to pack in your child's bag

Each day your child will need to arrive with:

- Food for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea in a lunch box
- Change of clothes, we love to get messy and wet while we learn!

The Nest is a purpose-built space designed to nurture the needs of tamariki from 3 months up to 3 and half years. Our Nest kaiako are qualified to recognise and meet the special learning and care requirements of our youngest children, in a safe and welcoming environment.
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The Nest is run with optimum teacher to child ratios to ensure your little one always has an adult to help. All our equipment is designed to be safe and stimulating for children under 3 years and we have dedicated sleep areas and sleep times to create a calm and comfortable environment for your child to nap. We sit together for meals to support healthy eating habits, social skills and a sense of community.

We set aside long blocks of time for tamariki to fully engage in the activities of their choice, allowing them to enjoy deeper, richer and more powerful learning through play.  We read the children’s cues to tell us when it’s time for refueling, or quiet time, so don't be surprised if you walk in and our rhythm doesn't look exactly like this.

What to pack in your child's bag

Each day your child will need to arrive with:

• Food for morning kai, lunch and afternoon kai in a lunch box
• Change of clothes, we love to get messy and wet while we learn!
• Nappies (for those not toilet-trained)