Community Ownership: Parents likely have a strong say in how the service operates and what happens to children, all money earnt stays within it, and teachers may be paid better and childcare charges may be lower compared to most (but not necessarily all) private and corporate owned services. (Ask: Is it an Incorporated Society? Does it also have charitable status?)
Small Boutique Centre: Centres with 50 or fewer children make it easier for staff to provide a warm and nurturing environment, for children to have their individual needs met and skills, knowledge, and competencies extended. (Ask: For continuity of care and relationships, do children stay with the same group of children and teachers throughout their time at the service?)
100% Qualified Teacher Funded: All staff counted toward meeting the minimum adult-child ratio requirement must hold a practising certificate as a teacher if the service receives this level of Ministry of Education funding. (Ask: Does the service count teachers trained in the ECE of children birth to 5 years and not primary or secondary school trained teachers?)
Men Included on Teaching Staff (as at last year): There are strong benefits of having both men and women on the teaching team for the quality of care and education a service provides to children. Additionally, gender bias in staff recruitment and employment is not generally acceptable in society today. (Ask: How many teaching staff are employed and what proportion are men?)
(as at last year):
Clean Licence Record (last year and the year before): To be licensed a service must comply with regulations that help ensure children’s safety, care, and a suitable standard of education. When requirements are breached the Ministry of Education may downgrade a service’s licence to provisional or issue a suspension. (Check the lists of services placed on a provisional or suspended licence https://oece.nz/public/information/standards/ published each year)
(last year and year before):
Recommended Highly by 80% or More Families: At least 80% of families recommend the service and rate it as being very good to excellent on a range of aspects of quality. (Note that a response rate of at least 51% families on the OECE parent survey https://oece.nz/public/information/resources/parent-survey/ research instrument within the last three years is necessary here)
8 Reviews on “The Secret Garden Preschool”
An incredible centre, with the most genuine, passionate and caring teachers. It is already evident, that even in a relatively short space of time, how much effort/time the teachers have invested in helping our son to gain confidence and really start to thrive. The facilities are great, with a range of areas and endless activities for the kids to explore and develop.
We absolutely love Secret Garden, they go over and beyond to help the children. My son Mitchell has loved it there, and has blossomed into a lovely confident boy. Highly recommend.
The Secret Garden is by far the best preschool in the East Auckland area (and we’ve been to a few) the teachers are warm, caring, nurturing are passionate about what they do and provide the most incredible service. My daughter is always happy to attend and has many stories to tell me about her friends and teachers at the end of the day. The centre is kept clean and the teachers set up incredible activities for the kids to do each day. I can’t fault them at all!
Phenomenal centre with so much love and care from the staff ❤️ Their dedication and support to students and parents leaves me in awe!
The centre is well organized with so many resources for the children to explore.
Amazing, amazing, amazing team. Highly recommend.
My boy was always happy, relaxed and content, and loved his time at The Secret Garden. He experienced so much, and when it was time to start school he was so ready. Couldn’t recommend highly enough. Really an excellent centre all round.
The best ECE in the area indeed, not to mention the the environment is super cozy, great teachers and children ratio, the teachers are super loving, warm, caring and extremely passionate at what they do, they really know our children well too. When we had concerns about one of our children, there was ongoing communication between teachers and they always kept us updated about her progress at preschool. Words can’t express how grateful we are to be part of this whanau. This is one of the best decision for our girls. Highly recommended!
A truly beautiful centre with a warm feeling. The teachers go above and beyond for the children. Our little one has thrived here. Would highly recommend.
The BEST ECE centre in the area!!
The teachers are the BEST!! Absolutely Passionate and always ensuring the children are the priority!
Definitely home away from home for our family