KidStart Caregivers and families build close enduring relationships, which support your family’s values and beliefs and reinforce your healthy food choices and your child’s sleep routines.

As there is a maximum of four children to one Caregiver at any one time, children have more child to adult time, so their interests and abilities can be recognised and responded to. They have less exposure to illness and are able to have their daily needs for rest and activity catered for individually.

A major feature of KidStart home-based care and learning is the opportunity for children to learn from everyday activities in the home and local community. What are sometimes seen as daily routines can actually become rich learning opportunities. This means a trip to the supermarket is a chance to count fruit, compare the size of vegetables, find grocery items, discuss healthy eating choices and help plan the menu for lunch, while a walk in the garden can be an opportunity to talk about the seasons, plants and the insects which thrive on them.

But it’s not just domestic routine. KidStart children also do plenty of other fun activities, including lots of indoors and outdoor play, painting, dressing up, singing and dancing, listening to stories, going on local outings and regular KidStart playgroups.

Under KidStart every Caregiver is supported by a Visiting Teacher (a qualified and registered early childhood teacher) to ensure that each child’s learning and development needs are met, based on the New Zealand early childhood education curriculum framework, Te Whariki. Each child’s progress is documented in his or her Record of Learning and Care.

On top of this Barnardos early childhood specialists provide on-going professional development and support, to ensure that KidStart is providing best practice in early childhood education.

KidStart is chartered with the Ministry of Education and regularly audited by the Education Review Office.

Home-based education and care is the fastest growing type of service in the early childhood sector (Ministry of Education 2004 figures) and KidStart is the largest provider within that sector.