HeadStart is a unique place. It’s a place where your tamariki can explore and grow holistically, in a safe environment that is supportive, caring and stimulating.

Our longstanding teaching staff care deeply about all the children in our care. Your child’s emotional, social, cognitive and physical wellbeing is our primary focus and constant consideration in the programme we provide. Sharing information is key to meeting the needs of your child, so we take the time to build respectful and reciprocal relationships with you and all important family members in your child’s life.

As a culturally minded and community focused centre, we welcome children of all ethnicities and all levels of ability. Our programme reflects this in the choice of activities, celebrations and learning objectives to provide a rich tapestry of experiences for your child.

For you we believe it’s about knowing your child is receiving the best quality childcare and early education possible. For us it’s about nurturing the minds, bodies and hearts of the future.

For more information, we invite you to read our philosophy.

At HeadStart our underlying objective is to create confident and competent learners, driven by self-discovery. We encourage learning, both at an individual level and within group settings, by making learning fun, engaging and significant to your child.

At HeadStart, we aim to prepare each child with the skills needed for school and their future as a happy and confident adult. In consultation with local schools and teachers, we have developed a Transition to School programme that focuses on the foundation skills needed for children to make a smooth transition to school.

• Number and letter recognition
• Sequencing, sizing, grouping and matching
• Social skills, such as listening, taking turns, respecting individual choice
• Mathematical concepts such as under, over, between
• Understanding functional language and concepts
• Writing their name

These foundation skills are born and developed from an attention to gross and fine motor skills, communication, exploration, contribution and social understanding.

Of greater importance is how we value all children having creative expression. We pay individual consideration to each child’s creative interpretation of a task or activity, to provide ways for them to explore further and extend on the path their creativity and learning has taken.