BestStart Nottingham Avenue

BestStart Nottingham Avenue provides quality education and care for children aged 3 months to 6 years in the heart of Halswell.

Aroha - The Heart Of Our Learning Journey

Our homely centre is a long-established service within the community that offers care and education for children aged 3 months to 6 years. Our centre consists of three dedicated age-appropriate classrooms within two converted houses, each with their own adjoining, well-established gardens, trees and playgrounds, so children can connect with one another in different areas of the centre throughout the day.

Children at our centre bring their own lunch boxes, which helps them to develop the self-care lunch box skills they will need when they start school.  Nutritious morning and afternoon teas are provided each day, which meet the Healthy Heart guidelines.  The centre currently holds the Gold Pā-Harakeke Award.

Our Nursery caters for just 7 children, offering low ratios and wonderful opportunities to form strong bonds with their passionate, caring teachers, in a natural environment.

The Toddler Room caters for children aged approximately 20 months to 3 1/2 years of age. This room provides children with a great stepping-stone to leading their own learning, through opportunities to form strong relationships with teachers and peers. The teachers support a child-led programme, supporting learning and social development through a variety of experiences and activities, using their learning environment to build confidence, have fun, and to empower them to challenge themselves, take risks and extend their current knowledge, interests, skills and abilities.

Our Preschool Room caters for children aged approximately 3 1/2 – 6 years of age. Through the close relationships they have formed with teachers and peers, children in this room are encouraged to be responsible, respectful, and contributing learners. The children lead their own learning, and are very resourceful, practical learners who are eager to learn, and who are encouraged to actively explore their environment, under close supervision and with a degree of controlled risk.

These children engage with teachers, and work independently in our Be School Ready initiative which is immersed throughout the daily programme and routines, with resources readily available to them. 

Forming relationships with our local community is important to us.  We have developed close relationships with our local schools, Oaklands, Halswell and Knights Stream, and we offer termly visits to these schools for children nearing 5 years old.  We also make regular visits to Te Hapua, Halswell Library, and use the local bus services to access Halswell and Knights Stream Schools, and other amenities within our local area, such as the Wigram Air Force Museum. 

What makes us special: 

• Small classroom numbers and 3 age-appropriate classrooms
• Wonderful large outdoor playground areas with established gardens and trees
• Our children are encouraged to become active explorers of their environment, under close supervision and controlled risk conditions

We are excited to offer families access to Storypark e-portfolios. they are a great way to keep up to date with what your child is doing while at the centre. You can log in to the secure platform wherever you are in the world to see what's been happening in their day, check out photos of them and comment on their activities. 

We would love to welcome you and your child into our centre. Drop in for a visit any time, we look forward to meeting you.

For more information about the specific fees for your centre, please contact us directly (03) 322 8238 /  nottingham@best-start.org. You might be eligible for support paying their childcare fees. For more information click here.