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Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara

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our story

Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara opened in 2013. We are located on the second floor, with stunning views of the Wellington Harbour. We are a well-resourced centre, divided into three spacious rooms. Our philosophy is inspired by RIE and Pikler’s respectful principles, which guide our interactions with children to build their confidence and natural capabilities. We have a primary caregiving approach to teaching, which allows us to build close, reciprocal relationships with children and their families. Relationships are at the heart of everything we do, so expect to be invited to share your career, passions and culture with us! We appreciate the contributions of parents and whanau, who are an important part of our Active Explorers family.

Our teaching team is innovative and committed to developing their own teaching practices, to create positive outcomes for children and whanau. We all have different backgrounds and interests outside of teaching which support us in our interactions with children. Within our team, we have an onsite cook who makes a nutritious morning tea, afternoon tea and a hot lunch for children each day. She caters to children’s individual dietary needs. Our programme promotes the importance of healthy eating and physical activity to children and families, which has earned us a silver Healthy Heart award from the Heart Foundation.

ERO Report

The Education Review Office (ERO) is the New Zealand government department that evaluates and reports on the education and care of students in schools and early childhood services. ERO’s reports are used by parents, teachers, early childhood education managers, school principals and trustees, and by government policy makers.

Early childhood services are reviewed on average once every three years. Reviews will be more frequent where the performance of a school or centre is poor and there are risks to the education and safety of the students, or less frequent where a school has a stable reporting history and demonstrates good self-review processes and use of its assessment information.

You can read our centre’s ERO review here.

centre information

Centre Hours:

Monday to Friday: 7:30 am – 6:00 pm

Saturday, Sunday & Public Holiday: Closed

Ages Catered For:

3 Months – 5 Years

Testimonials

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  • We are sad to be leaving Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara as Eddie is happy here and we are very pleased with the level of care he has received. Thanks so much Susan and Kimberley!

    Peter
    Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara

  • I am absolutely heartbroken to have to pull our daughter out of Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara - she has been very, very happy with Vanessa in the Infants Room and we have the greatest respect and affection for the whole team. I was pretty concerned about leaving my little girl in day-care at four months old but she has absolutely thrived. She is noticeably more social, settled and confident than other babies in our antenatal group which tells me I made the right choice.

    The entire infants room team, and the wider staff, have been incredibly kind and patient. Vanessa and Lynney in particular seem to hold very genuine affection for our daughter and go to great lengths to ensure she is happy, secure and receiving appropriate developmental opportunities. Every morning our daughter shrieks with delight when she sees her teachers and we've never, ever had tears at drop-off time.

    We've shared our daughter’s Storypark content with our extended families - the grandparents in particular have appreciated seeing these lovely updates as both my parents and my husband's parents live out of town. Thank you for this.

    Mary-Rose
    Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara

  • Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara are fantastic-the teaching staff provide a caring and supportive environment. They encourage independent play and thinking and are flexible in catering for our daughters ever changing interests.

    Leigh
    Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara

  • I am so pleased we found Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara. After initially enrolling our son into another childcare facility and finding that we were not comfortable with him in there, it was really refreshing to meet the Centre Manager and to find a centre that shares similar values and ideas about childcare as our own. Anne-Marie couldn't have been more accommodating - not only did she have a place for our son almost immediately but she was very reassuring when answering the ton of questions that I had as an anxious first time mum!

    The teachers in the infants room are great and our son seems really happy there. I can leave him for the day and not worry about him as I know they do a great job. He even sleeps and eats better at IKids than he does at home! A sure sign that he has settled well.

    Tash & Adam
    Active Explorers Kaiwharawhara