BestStart Te Whāriki is a brand new early learning centre, now open in Lincoln. We provide quality education and care for children aged between 3 months to 5 years old.

Our fantastic and supportive team who are bubbly and fun loving are waiting for you to come and visit our beautiful centre. Our centre has an intimate and homely feel environment due to our 4 age specific classrooms that cater for small number of children.

Our team of passionate and experienced teachers create a welcoming, respectful, safe but fun-loving atmosphere that is also calm and playful. Children experience loving relationships with teachers and develop a strong sense of belonging and empowerment. Our teachers focus on the individual learning needs and skill levels of each child and will provide a tailored individual programme that captures and celebrates our diversity in a beautifully resourced environment. Your child's learning journey and milestones are captured and shared through one-on-one communications and our online learning portfolios on Storypark.

Our four, age specific classrooms:
Our nursery room with a spacious sleep room and an open nursery nest has been designed to create a spacious, relaxed and inviting learning environment for children aged between 3 months to 2 years. By the layout of the playroom, infants and toddlers will feel empowered to self-select from the toys and many natural resources. Our teaching team is dedicated to creating a calm and unhurried atmosphere where children will be given full attention during important routine times. By working in close relationships and open communication with our families will allow us to work at each child's individual pace to ensure that their ever-changing needs are nurtured and easily catered for within the flexible daily routine.

We have three rooms in our over two-year-old area.
Our toddlers room caters for 2- to 3-year-olds. The toddlers room gives our little children the opportunity of smooth transition from the nursery to the over 2’s area due to its small, intimate size. Our preschool room caters for 3- to 4-year-olds, and our prep-room will cater for 4+ with a teacher on board who will be implementing some aspects of Montessori philosophy into our free play-based curriculum approach to support children with their transition to primary school through our Be School Ready initiative. Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play. Children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.
During free play time our over twos children will have the opportunity to discover the advantages of our mixed age group playground in the over twos area:

Our mixed age group playground will allow children to interact and learn how to get along with peers of varying ages. This is a great opportunity for developing social skills and building confidence. Older children learn compassion, patience, and problem-solving skills as they interact and assist younger children, while younger children will find themselves challenged by the older children and able to participate in more complex activities with their older peers

Meal times
We provide healthy cooked lunches each day on site and can cater for allergies and special dietary requirements.

For more information about the specific fees for your centre, please contact us directly (03) 926 5778 / tewhariki@best-start.org. You might be eligible for support paying their childcare fees. For more information click here.