BestStart Hillcrest
Education & Care
26 Puriri Crescent, Hillcrest · Rotorua District
ERO assessed BestStart Hillcrest as Not well placed in 2018. Our analysis of the ERO report identified strengths in children's wellbeing, whānau partnership, health and safety, and leadership, but noted that bicultural practice required further development to deepen culturally responsive understanding.
AI-generated summary of this centre's ERO review data — verify against the ERO report below. How summaries are generated.
Roll breakdown
By age
By ethnicity
Note: a child may be counted under multiple ethnicities (total may exceed roll).
Operator
BestStart Educare Cultural & rohe
ERO operator-wide review
Education Review · 2025-09-11 · covers the wider operator group
ERO's most recent review for this centre is an operator-wide review — ERO has chosen to review the parent group rather than this centre individually. The findings apply across all centres in the group.
Source: Education Review Office operator-wide review dated 2025-09-11, licensed CC-BY 4.0.
Earlier individual centre review
ERO review · 2018-03-16· superseded by operator-wide review above
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"Leaders and staff provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all children, including those with additional learning and development needs, which contributes to children's wellbeing and belonging."
Welcoming environment, strong transitions, responsive practices; positive relationships evident.
"Parent input to their child's learning and development is being further enhanced through the use of online sharing."
Regular communication and parent involvement in learning; online sharing platform implemented.
"Leaders and staff are strengthening bi-culturalism in the centre. They have worked in partnership with whānau to develop a pepeha appropriate to places of significance in the area. There is evidence of increasing use of te reo and tikanga Māori in authentic contexts, with a teacher fluent in te reo Māori taking a lead role."
Developing bicultural practice; identified need to deepen culturally responsive understanding.
"Reported ratios of staff to children Under 2 1:5 Meets minimum requirements Over 2 1:10 Meets minimum requirements"
Ratios meet minimum requirements; compliance with legal requirements attested.
"BestStart provides effective governance for the centre. A key guiding document is the annual QEC, which drives a model of continual improvement. The QEC is a well-established aspect of self review that informs strategic and annual planning, identifies priorities for professional practice, centre operations and improved outcomes for children."
Effective governance, strategic direction, and professional learning; heads appointed to support assessment.
Source: Education Review Office review of BestStart Hillcrest dated 2018-03-16, licensed CC-BY 4.0. The 4-point overall judgement is ERO's; the 6 dimension grades are our analysis of ERO's prose (see methodology). · Centre has 2 individual reviews on file — showing most recent.
Composite score
How this is computedOne or more dimensions missing from ERO data
Where BestStart Hillcrest hasn't been graded on a dimension, the composite uses the national average for that dimension as a placeholder. Each affected axis below is flagged est. When a new ERO review lands, the placeholder is replaced and the score may shift.
The composite is a weighted average of six ERO dimensions, each scored 0–100 (A=90, B=70, C=50, D=25). The "(p47)" style suffix shows where the centre sits within its EQI band (peer percentile, when ≥10 comparable centres in band). See methodology for the formula + limits.
Location
26 Puriri Crescent, Hillcrest. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is BestStart Hillcrest a free kindergarten?
- BestStart Hillcrest is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at BestStart Hillcrest?
- 40 children attend BestStart Hillcrest (roll year 2025).
- Where is BestStart Hillcrest?
- 26 Puriri Crescent Hillcrest Rotorua District
How much will this cost you? Use our FamilyBoost + Childcare Subsidy calculator to estimate your weekly out-of-pocket after government support.
Nearby & related
Compare BestStart Hillcrest side-by-side with another centre →
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Sources & verification
Every fact on this page links back to its government source. Verify directly:
- Centre identity, contact, roll, ethnicity, 20 Hours ECE flag: MoE ECE Directory record (Service #30064) ↗ · CC-BY 4.0 via data.govt.nz
- ERO reviews: ERO institution page ↗ · Crown copyright (reuse permitted with attribution)
- Suburb safety & demographics: SafeSuburbs ↗ · crimestats.co.nz ↗ · NZ Police RCVD + Stats NZ 2023 Census, CC-BY 4.0
- Funding policy (20 Hours / Childcare Subsidy / FamilyBoost): parents.education.govt.nz · WINZ · IRD · Crown copyright (policy only — we cite parameters, don't republish)
- Map tiles: © OpenStreetMap · © CARTO · ODbL + CC-BY 3.0
- Machine-readable formats: facts.json · markdown.md
Full source list, licence text, refresh cadence: /sources. How we match, clean, and rank: /methodology.
Data sources & freshness (4 sources · last refresh 12 July 2026)
Service type, address, roll, ethnicity, Equity Index, 20 Hours, Takiwā, lat/lng
Annual financial returns (community-based + umbrella orgs)
Per-centre review reports + 6-dimension letter grades (curriculum / wellbeing / whānau / bicultural / health & safety / leadership)
Safety score, crime/1k, 2023 Census demographics
Last build refresh: . See full methodology + data sources pages for licences, refresh cadences, and known gaps.