BestStart Abacus

Abacus - kites
Abacus - Reading
Abacus - art
Abacus - outside
Abacus - Reading
Abacus - BMX
Abacus - chickens
Abacus - cooking
BestStart Abacus (formally First Steps Abacus) is an established childcare centre situated on a large corner plot, a short drive from the Taupo CBD. We provide education and care for children from 3 months to school entry. As we are licenced for only 37 children, we offer a home-like, welcoming and relaxed family environment.

We are proud of our spacious and inviting outdoor playground with established trees which provide lots of natural shade. Outside offers a variety of areas for children to explore including the sandpit, nature garden, vegetable/fruit/herb garden and climbing fort with swings. We even have heaps of space left for ball games, running and bike riding!

Our experienced team of teachers are dedicated to creating a warm, friendly and fun environment where children and their whanau feel safe and at home. We are committed to providing a quality programme which includes a variety of learning experiences from which children are free to choose. Children at BestStart Abacus are encouraged and supported to learn through their play experiences, and we plan our programmes based on the children’s interests, skills and learning dispositions.

Our Be School Ready initiative weaves through our curriculum, engaging and encouraging children through their everyday play and routine experiences to develop the skills they will need when they start school. When children from BestStart Abacus start school they have a strong foundation on which to build their future learning journey. We value independence so it is important for us to empower and support children to achieve things for themselves. We encourage children to work together, learn alongside and from their peers and most importantly to enjoy being a child and have fun!

We respect children and their individual strengths and interests, their diverse cultural heritage and background. We understand that parents know their children best and we value partnership with parents/whanau and encourage them to contribute to our programme and share their aspirations for their child’s future learning and development. This provides our teaching team with valuable information with which to enrich our programme. We love getting out into the community to visit interesting people and places, including visiting primary school new entrant classes to support our 4 year olds with transition to school.

Abacus has an open door policy and we would love you to come and visit us for more information.

kind words from our parents

Parent

My son joined Abacus at 9 months old and right from the word go we were made to feel welcome. Being new to Taupo we didn’t know anyone to ask about childcare, so we went to visit a few and First Steps Abacus was the one with the right feel, we were so happy to have been able to enrol there. Our boy is now almost 2 and absolutely loves his time at Abacus, he is absolutely thriving and all of the teachers really do a wonderful job. You can easily see they teach from the heart. I love picking him up and hearing about his day, each day is different and each day he grows and thrives.

Parent

n a time of need I was knocking on doors looking for under two care and I visited First Steps Abacus. Lesley and the Abacus team welcomed us in and ensured I felt we had a place. Our place wasn’t full time to start with, I felt everything they could have done was done, the communication was excellent, and I really felt like I had a hand on the situation. My daughter Lilly settled into the Babes room without a glitch, three amazing full-time teachers and within a couple of weeks they felt like family. Everyone has such an interest in not just Lilly but my 4-year-old son as well. Throughout the year we have been so grateful for the care and education that Lilly has received, including teaching us baby sign language so she could better communicate with us in her nonverbal days. Lilly continued to grow and flourish, and every step of the way we were updated on her developments and asked for our input. Thus ensuring we knew exactly what Lilly was up to in the Koru Room. I also appreciated that they took interest and knew what she was up to in her home life. Lilly then became a two-year-old, her transition was smooth, again a flawless communication throughout the process. When Lilly started in the Fern Room after the holidays, I could see she was already so settled and happy talking about the new teachers she was getting to know. Only four weeks of being in the Fern Room I was once again talked to about Lilly’s planning. And to my delight she said that ‘Lilly is already singing, dancing, talking and making friends.” Showing Lilly is as confident and loud there as she is at home. Thanks, soo much for all the amazing work you do, not just for Lilly but all of the children in your care. Ka pai to mahi.

Parent

To all the wonderful staff at Abacus, thank you so much for the amazing job you have done caring for Matthew over the past 4 years. Your positive influence and support has shaped Matthew into the confident social boy he is and has set him up for a great start to school.

What we're proud of

Read our latest ERO report Read our latest ERO report e-Portfolios e-Portfolios

LATEST STORIES FROM OUR BLOG

Reuben the bear visits

Today we had a very exciting visitor in the Fern Room named Reuben the Bear.

READ MORE
Our new outdoors

We are so excited to have our new sandpit and climbing deck up and running here at Abacus!

READ MORE
Visiting Taupo Museum

Recently a group of tamariki from First Steps Abacus went to the Taupo Museum to experience the Mirror Exhibit. They had a great time with the interactive displays, looking at themselves and their friends change size and shap...

READ MORE