5 Alford St, Waterview, Auckland

The best little childcare in Auckland is now in Waterview. Waterview’s revitalised parks and playgrounds provide amazing opportunities for exploration and adventure from our gorgeous purpose built learning centre, so let the Rumpus begin! Children learn through play and exploration and this philosophy has guided the design of our new centre. We encourage our children to be in the outdoors as much as possible regardless of the weather and the centre is designed to allow the children to access the outdoor areas easily with great flow from the indoor to the outdoor areas.

Our outdoor learning environment features an exciting bike path, climbing walls, a tree platform and den, veggie gardens and our own invention Playboards^TM which enable all of the outside space to be used for exciting and creative learning. We also have a key card entry system to the centre so that only caregivers have access to the centre in order to ensure the safety and security of the children. View our Parent Handbook.

At the heart of your community
The Rumpus Room is an exceptional early childhood education centre for children aged 3 months to 6 years. All age groups reap the benefits of a home like environment, experienced staff and great resources. We encourage our children to be curious, questioning and confident learners.

An extension of your family
We welcome the active involvement of parents and whanau. An integrated on-line platform allows stories and photos to be shared between teachers, parents and children. Families can access their child’s online profile and receive regular updates via email, and can submit stories as well. Events and milestones should be celebrated and we love sharing them with you. To create a stable and calm environment, strong relationships are imperative. Our three day minimum attendance ensure that our children are settled and their relationships with their teachers and peers are strong.

Time to explore
Safe but exciting play is the order of the day, and our outdoor spaces have been designed to maximize learning opportunities. We also have a vegetable garden, enabling children to get their hands dirty, learn about nature and grow produce for their meals. Waterview reserve, Oakley Esplanade and the Waterview shared path are all a stone’s throw away, so our timetable will include lots of field trips and adventures.

Nutrition and Food
Because we know food fuels the mind and full tummies equal content children we provide plenty of healthy and delicious morning tea, hot lunch, afternoon tea and late snacks. We cater for a wide variety of dietary requirements and we are very aware of the impacts of food allergies and intolerances. Please talk to us about your needs.

Our babies area is a second storey oasis with decks on both side of the centre to get all day sun and light. We wanted a space that was nurturing, safe and tucked away, nest like up in the trees, but still maintained a connection with the older children. The Nest re-uses the beautiful rimu floor boards from the old church located on the site and has a huge outdoor partially covered play space with a glass balustrade so that the children can see and learn from the older children downstairs while safe in their own area.

The nest playground features a huge sandpit and a real grass area to make sure the babies are getting all important contact with the natural environment. The separate sleep room provides a bed for each of the children to ensure that home routines can be followed and sleep times don’t need to be structured to the needs of the centre. The Nest has its own kitchen where the meals and snacks are prepared and the children can take part in baking and creating with the teachers.

The Fledglings have inside and outside play spaces which can be entirely separated off from the older children or opened up to allow all the children to come together. The Fledglings have a lounge area which can be closed off from the other play areas during sleep time and opened up fully at other times to use as additional play space.

The centre is designed to combine the look and feel of a home with great learning spaces that be changed easily to make sure the children’s interests are being reflected and the space stays fresh.

The Explorers area allows the older pre-school children to have a separate area in which to have the time and space to pursue their own interests, and some great outdoor play features, but again can be opened up to allow the two groups to work together or experience the different learning environments.

The Explorers have been working with their Kaiako to design their own tree hut around the Kanuka trees which will begin construction soon.