Exceptional Early Learning School in Auckland


At our Preschool in Karaka, Auckland, we welcome children from 3 months to 5 years. Our Early Learning School is a warm and inspiring childcare environment in which to learn, and our passionate and experienced childcare practitioners understand the importance of creating a structured foundation to help our young learners develop into confident individuals. 

From day one, we introduce our children to a love of play and learning, ensuring they enjoy a positive start to their early education. Guided by outstanding teachers and surrounded by our exceptional learning space, our youngest students can safely explore, experiment, solve problems and express themselves as individuals. 

Our teachers place an emphasis on nurturing language development and social relationships, with every child receiving the personalised support they need to thrive and prepare them for the next stage of their education.

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Best Preschool education Karaka
 

Why Choose Our Preschool in Karaka, South Auckland?


Our Preschool in Karaka is committed to offering every child a nurturing and holistic early learning experience. Our highly qualified and dedicated educators provide exceptional daycare, with small class sizes and a stimulating curriculum that allows us to personalise every child's learning, based on their unique interests and needs.

At ACG Strathallan Preschool, we aim to foster your child's academic, social and emotional growth with an approach to learning that is based on inquiry and play. Our Early Years programme helps young learners make sense of the world in a safe and inclusive Preschool environment, which supports them as they learn to build relationships and regulate their emotions. Our caring team nurtures children's social and language skills, encouraging them to solve problems both individually and by working together in small groups.

Our 5-year-old children also benefit from an exceptional School Readiness programme, which is designed to help them prepare for a successful transition to Primary School. We encourage the children to establish healthy practices early on, with supervised access to the ACG Strathallan sports facilities. A range of extracurricular classes taught by specialist teachers are also available to our young learners.

Curriculum of Childcare near me

Preschool Options


At ACG Strathallan Preschool, we understand that our families have different needs, so we provide a flexible approach to childcare, starting with a minimum booking of 6.5 hours. We operate full-day sessions from 07.30 to 17.30, Monday to Friday.

Preschool Stages and Curriculum


Our Early Learning School programme reinforces and builds on children's natural inclination to learn by offering varied, stimulating and enjoyable activities. This provides the perfect foundation for acquiring basic skills in numeracy and literacy and will prepare your child for a successful learning experience in subsequent school years. 

Our Preschool in Karaka, South Auckland follows the New Zealand Te Whāriki Early Childhood Curriculum as the basis of its programme development, providing holistic teaching in all areas of learning. This programme is combined with other approaches, such as the Reggio Emilia Inspired Approach, in which children are seen as capable learners from birth. At ACG Strathallan Preschool, we continually enrich our programme with current research and theory on child development to create a fun, exciting and robust educational programme. 

Infant Early Learning Schools in Karaka

Infant Early Learning School

From 3 months to 2 years

Karaka ELS School

Junior Early Learning School

2 to 3.5 years

Daycare in my area

Senior Early Learning School

4 to 5 years

Te Whariki education at Daycare nearby

Preschool Environment


Inspired by the Reggio Emilia and Te Whāriki curriculum, our Preschool in Karaka promotes an inquiry and play-based learning environment. Classrooms have different learning stations offering stimulating activities based on different curriculum areas. Our purpose-designed learning spaces help children explore, understand and make sense of their world. They discover how to interact with others and the importance of self-regulation as they build their language skills, develop problem-solving abilities and advance their coordination and physical competence.

Karaka Childcare facilities

Preschool Facilities


Our Daycare and Preschool in Karaka form a beautiful, bright and purpose-built centre with fully-equipped classrooms that provide open and dynamic spaces to encourage learning and exploration. Set in a rural landscape, we have plenty of separate outdoor play areas for children to explore, including supervised access to the ACG Strathallan school gym, basketball courts, tennis courts and athletics fields for games and activities. 

Best Auckland Childcare

Exceptional Childcare Teachers


Our team of highly skilled, experienced, and passionate educators personalise every child’s learning experience based on their unique interests, needs and motivations, while also emphasising the importance of teamwork and collaboration. 

From the age of 5, students at ACG Strathallan are prepared for Primary School by leaving their main classroom to receive specialist subject teaching in science, PE & health, Mandarin, music and visual arts.

Our Preschool Philosophy


ACG Strathallan Preschool advocates for the rights of all children, valuing and embracing childhood culture and respecting children as active members of society. We base our Preschool philosophy upon Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum Te Whāriki, with a strong inspiration from the Reggio Emilia educational approach. The key combination of these influences guides our philosophy statement under the four principles of Te Whāriki, incorporating the image of the child, parent and teacher.

The four principles of Te Whāriki are:

  • Whakamana (Empowerment) – we empower children to evolve as interactive learners and creators of knowledge, actively engaging and exploring the wider world around them.
  • Kotahitanga (Holistic Development) – our curriculum reflects the holistic way in which children learn by seeing them as unique individuals who are capable and hold a richness of cultural identity.
  • Whānau Tangata (Family and Community) – we acknowledge that the wider world of family, whānau and community is an integral part of our curriculum, and we foster active participation from all.
  • Ngā Hononga (Relationships) – we believe children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places and things and encourage participation in meaningful ways.

Additional Services at Our Preschool

Ensuring children are well prepared and supported when transitioning to Primary School is key at ACG Strathallan Preschool. This is why we provide a purposefully designed Preschool Readiness programme for our 5-year-old children. We aim to equip them with the essential knowledge and skills they need for this next step in their educational journey, allowing them to make a seamless and successful move to Primary School. The programme includes the development of reading and literacy skills, introduction to maths and science concepts, physical activity, music and cultural awareness.

Every Thursday, our Year 5 Primary School students visit our Senior Early Learning School to read stories. Buddy reading brings the enjoyment and benefits of storytelling to our Preschool children. With this programme, they will have the opportunity to have stories read to them and take part in fun reading sessions which greatly improve their language ability and creativity.

ACG Strathallan parents love the literacy head-start their children receive before starting Primary School. Our 5-year-olds develop literacy abilities through songs, discussion, writing and drawing, art, and the use of magazines and printed material to help them identify pictures, symbols, and text.

All learning areas are set up offering different stimulating activities for children to explore. Our learning stations include science and nature, mathematical concepts, literacy and creative arts. Teachers spend time with children at each learning station to encourage them to think about what they can see and support more complex play.

By integrating numeracy into songs and gameplay, children perceive learning as fun and easily accessible. From counting (in English, Chinese and te reo Māori), to making patterns, sorting materials, and basic addition and subtraction, our young learners understand how to identify numbers and simple mathematical concepts.

Preschool teachers provide a variety of hands-on science experiences – with our volcano-building sessions being a firm favourite. Our young students are exposed to different vocabulary as they discover the wonder of science from a purely explorative approach.

Our teachers provide various physical challenges and activities to help build teamwork, balance, and ball skills and encourage individual development. Using the College gym ensures children have access to a range of equipment while enjoying a safe space for free play and more structured sessions.

Our children have regular music and movement classes, supported by a specialist music lesson each week from a Primary teacher. They are always excited to be taught new songs and actions, integrating te reo, Chinese and even sign language, as they enthusiastically play a variety of musical instruments.

Our Preschool education highlights annual festivals such as Chinese New Year, Matariki, and Diwali.

Our teachers share classic Chinese stories to help show the significance of the New Year festival. During the week-long Matariki celebrations, our young students make traditional Māori crafts, play games, and sing songs in te reo. For the Diwali festival, our teachers draw henna designs for the children as they create rangoli patterns and lanterns to learn more about the festival of lights.

Testimonials from our Preschool Parents


Cooper started at ACG Strathallan Preschool in the infants centre at 13 months and is now 2.5 in the Junior Preschool. The low staff turnover has meant Cooper has been able to form incredible bonds with his teachers in both the infant and junior centres and they all genuinely care about their students. Cooper’s current interests are quickly identified and encouraged which means I always know he’s going to have a great day. We couldn’t be more impressed with how ACG Strathallan Preschool is nurturing our little boy and you know it’s a quality centre when the first thing he says at pick-up is “I had a good day today”.

— Codie Banks, Founding Student & Preschool Father

I was a parent who was hesitant about sending our precious little one to a Preschool, however, this has been a decision we have never regretted. From day one the staff have been amazing.

Upon starting at ACG Strathallan, Harry was a timid shy character and under the guidance of the amazing staff in the Nursery, they’ve helped bring him out of his shell, and feel safe and confident while providing him with a nurturing, clean and loving environment.

The staff have a genuine love for their job and you can see how much they care for the children. Communication has always been impeccable and they love sharing what Harry has been up to during the day. I highly recommend this Preschool to anyone and everyone.
— Wei Family

Choosing the right daycare for the little one is a hard task. Moving to a new daycare centre brings even more challenges and uncertainties to the kids and family. However, after 6 months at ACG Strathallan’s Early Learning School, we are very happy that we made the move for Lucas. Lucas has been a happy boy since day one. His transition was so smooth, that it was actually quite a surprise to see how quickly he settled in the Early Learning School.

Lucas’s development and growth are progressing very well since he joined the Early Learning School. His confidence, knowledge, experience and skills are growing day by day. We can see the care, education and kindness he receives at preschool on a daily basis. The way the centre organises and arranges activities for kids simply works very well. Lucas’s daily agenda at school is always full of excitement, joy and exploration with his friends. As a family, we are very happy to be part of ACG Strathallan daycare centre.

— Strathallan Parent

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