Nurturing
Tomorrow's Leaders
Our Philosophy
He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important thing in the world?
It is people! It is people! It is people!
At Brightlands we welcome all families/whanau and their children/tamariki into our safe, caring and respectful learning environment, where they will feel part of the Brightlands family/whanau. Our environment is built around trust, respect, love and belonging.
We welcome, embrace and celebrate all cultures that form part of our beautiful country. We are also privileged to encourage and respect the bi-cultural heritage of our country, the unique position Māori as Tangata Whenua and Te Reo Māori as an active language.
We believe that each child is a unique individual with unique talents, interests, understandings and connections and is capable of becoming a confident and emotionally intelligent leader in their own unique way. We help our children achieve this by creating learning environments which are responsive, respectful and promote their sense of security and belonging.
The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whãriki, guides and inspires our thinking and practices. At Brightlands we use multiple educational approaches, Pikler and Reggio in particular which help to enhance children’s emotional intelligence and leadership capabilities.
We believe children have the right to be respected, they should have a voice about the things that concern them and be given choices about those things.
We also believe children have a right to exist in calm, quiet, uncluttered spaces where learning can occur naturally and with ease. The environment should create a sense of peace and of "being", a place to feel at home while making discoveries about themselves and others.
The Pikler approach is based on a kind and respectful relationship between an adult and infant, through tender care moments, a naturally paced motor development, free movement and uninterrupted play.
The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences. We must widen the range of topics and goals, the types of situations we offer and their degree of structure, the kinds and combinations of resources and materials, and the possible interactions with things, peers, and adults.
- Loris Malaguzi
At Brightlands, we use multiple educational strategies. Our role is to build relationships, to guide learning through intentional teaching as well as 'capturing teachable moment'. Our educators/kaiko move between the roles of directing learning, extending upon learning and being a mindful, silent observer and listener.
Our educators help to enhance the child’s emotional intelligence and empathy for others through positive relationships with all, including positive guidance, role modelling and helping children to make appropriate choices and give them tools and strategies to manage their emotions and behaviours and resolve their own conflicts.
Building strong relationships is, we believe, a vital component at Brightlands. As we are building a foundation for our children’s learning it is important for us to strive to develop genuine, meaningful and respectful relationships that will facilitate with both cognitive and emotional development and wellbeing for the children.
Our programme is child led, which means the children lead and explore the topics which interest them. We believe children should have the time to explore and discover without interruption. This means unhurried, unscheduled, free choice time that allows children to play and learn, experience joy and wonder and to sometimes simple "be". This child-initiated programme is suited to the individual learning needs of every child as each child is able to explore and develop at their own pace, while encompassing all areas of learning, physical, cognitive, language, emotional and social.
The teachers at Brightlands are experienced, passionate, engaged and committed educators who work together to bring forth the best from each of the children for whom they care. The teachers and management engage in reflective practice and attend regular professional development sessions in order to stay abreast of current educational trends and practices in order to give their children the best possible learning journey whilst at Brightlands.
Here at Brightlands we really do believe that learning is a lifelong journey. Above all, we genuinely show aroha for our Brightlands children as they are part of us, part of our Brightlands family/whanau, and love is important as it is the bond which binds us/whanau together forever.
Come and visit one of our Brightlands Childcare Centres for yourself: tour the rooms, and meet some of our teachers. We offer high quality early childhood education and care.
Phone Number
07 849 6868 (Hamilton)
09 218 4993 (Auckland)
021 678 287 (Operations Manager)