BestStart Grey Lynn  

BestStart Grey Lynn, formerly First Steps Grey Lynn, is a special childcare centre located in a quiet, secluded spot just outside of Ponsonby and close to Westmere. Our location provides easy access for parents/whanau with plenty of parking just outside. We have a gorgeous playground that is a great challenging, natural learning environment for children as well as being a lovely quiet, peaceful place for special moments. The essence of nature in our environment engages the senses, cultivates curiosity and creates wonderment and discovery. We are surrounded by parks and reserves and are lucky enough to have park like surroundings in our centre with lots of leafy green trees.

We have two separate spaces for children:

Our Whare room caters for children from 3 months- 2.5 years. We practice primary caregiving, where your baby will have a key teacher responsible for all their care needs and special moments. This builds secure relationships to allow us to support your child as an individual to reach their full potential. Our babies have a beautiful natural environment inside and out where children are encouraged to explore at their own pace. We provide lots of opportunities for our younger children to learn through their senses while developing their fine and gross motor skills. They are encouraged to explore the natural world around them with plenty of opportunities to explore their very own nature walk and real grass!

Our Studio caters for children from 2.5-5 years. The Studio children have a fantastic natural setting in which to learn. Our inside environment encourages thinking and exploration and our outside caters for all of those developing physical skills. We run a Be School Ready initiative where children are encouraged to begin writing their own names and even make their own lunch once a week. There is a focus on increasing children’s independence to enable each child to build foundation skills for life long learning. The Studio children go on a weekly bush walk and we encourage physical fitness through our weekly Jiggle Jam programme.

Sustainabilty

BestStart Grey Lynn are focused on reducing our environmental impact and becoming more sustainable. Each child receives their own machine washable wet bag to store any wet or dirty clothing in, eliminating the need for one-use plastic supermarket bags.

We have an emphasis on sustainability and have a worm farm to enable children to learn about recycling. We participate in the Paper4trees programme which is a waste minimisation programme for Early Childhood Centres and schools.

We are also taking part in the Terracycle Recycling Programme. The programmes we are involved with are Fonterra Pouch Recycling, Colgate Oral Care Recycling  and the GLAD Food Storage Recycling programmes. We will receive $1 per kilo of pouches and 2 cents for every oral care item and food storage item we send away for recycling. We will be donating all money received through the programme to a local charity.

For more detailed information about Terracycle, click here.

Jiggle Jam - We are happy to provide the opportunity for our children to experience the fun of Jiggle Jam. With two sessions every week, Jiggle Jam introduces children to timing, rhythm, counting, coordination, fine and gross motor skill and gets the heart pumping! This is just one thing we are doing to promote health and wellness to our children. Ask us for more information.

Nature walks - Children in our studio room enjoy nature walks every week. They explore the natural environment by fossicking for bugs, climbing trees, collecting natural items, discovering plants and more. It’s a great way for our children to discover and learn about the world around them.

Garden yoga - We have yoga sessions every Wednesday at 10am. Practicing yoga poses helps children learn about the benefits of exercise. It helps to develop their confidence, teaches them breathing techniques and to concentrate for more sustained periods.

Please feel free to drop in anytime to get a tour of our wonderful centre and meet our lovely teaching team.