BestStart Lemon Street
Education & Care
158 Lemon Street, Strandon · New Plymouth District
ERO assessed the service as Not well placed in 2018. Our analysis of the ERO report found strengths in bicultural practice (grade A) and solid performance in whānau partnership, health and safety, and leadership and governance (all grade B), though opportunities were identified to deepen responsiveness to cultural identity and strengthen evaluation practices.
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ERO Review · 2018-02-15· superseded by operator-wide review above
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"Strong relationships with parents and whānau are prioritised by teachers. Teachers acknowledge the need to build their understanding of fostering educational success for Māori and for children of Pacific heritage."
Strong relationships established; opportunity to deepen responsiveness to cultural identity.
"The bicultural programme is a centre strength. Teachers demonstrate high levels of commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Bicultural perspectives, tikanga me te reo Māori are meaningfully embedded throughout the programme."
Exemplary bicultural commitment with meaningful embedding of te reo Māori and tikanga.
"Reported ratios of staff to children Under 2 1:4 Better than minimum requirements Over 2 1:8 Better than minimum requirements"
Staffing ratios exceed minimums; all compliance systems assessed and attested.
"Distributed leadership is evident. Leaders and teachers regularly share and discuss professional learning. Leaders have successfully built a positive team culture."
Effective distributed leadership; professional learning systems in place; evaluation practices being strengthened.
Source: Education Review Office review of BestStart Lemon Street dated 2018-02-15, 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 Lemon Street 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
158 Lemon Street, Strandon. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is BestStart Lemon Street a free kindergarten?
- BestStart Lemon Street is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at BestStart Lemon Street?
- 70 children attend BestStart Lemon Street (roll year 2025).
- Where is BestStart Lemon Street?
- 158 Lemon Street Strandon New Plymouth 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 Lemon Street side-by-side with another centre →
Find your zoned schools near Strandon
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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 #50508) ↗ · 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.