BestStart Wattle Downs  

BestStart Wattle Downs, formerly First Steps Wattle Downs, is a childcare and early childhood education centre on Coxhead Road, close to Mahia Road and Wattle Farm Reserve. We are devoted to caring for children in the Wattle Downs area and the wider community of Manurewa. We welcome children from 3 months to 5 years and pride ourselves on working in partnership with parents and families to ensure that we are working towards the same goals.

We are a multicultural centre and we use play as a tool to help our tamariki develop into wonderful human beings. Our centre is run between two buildings. The Little Tui’s room caters for our children from 3 months to 2 ½ years.  Our Pukeko room caters for children from 2 ½ to 5 years. Our newly renovated outdoor area is inviting and challenges our children to take risks and gain control over their bodies. 

Our Learning Spaces

Little Tuis – our infants room

The family orientated room of Little Tuis is a calm and relaxing place for your infants in which they are supported in learning at their own pace with the help of our teachers.  We encourage our infants to showcase their unique personalities while gaining the confidence to be risk takers and accomplish milestones that help them grow from dependent babies into independent toddlers.

We use heuristic play or treasure baskets as learning tools. We love seeing our babies use everyday items as an open-ended resource.  They surprise us every day with the inventive and interesting ways in which they interact with the items.  Come and take a look for yourself.

Pukeko – our preschool room

Our preschool room is a hive of activity with teachers setting up different activities and experiences to engage our tamariki.

We pride ourselves on our relationship with Clayton Park Primary School who support our Be School Ready initiative.  We are grateful that they allow our 4 ½ year olds access to their classrooms once a week.  These visits help our tamariki gain confidence to be able to transition to primary school with ease once they turn five.

 We look forward to meeting you and are welcome to visit anytime.