BestStart Tawa
Education & Care
85 Main Road, Tawa · Wellington City
ERO assessed BestStart Tawa as Not well placed in 2017. Our analysis of the ERO report identified strengths in health and safety practices, with staffing ratios exceeding requirements. However, curriculum and learning practices, and bicultural approaches including te reo Māori use, were assessed as developing and requiring significant strengthening.
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ERO Review · 2017-05-19· superseded by operator-wide review above
"In response to ERO's previous report, there is now consistency of assessment, planning and evaluation across the centre. Teachers notice and respond to children's interests. However, significant strengthening in this area is required. A robust planning process for individual children should be implemented, involving: specific, planned teaching strategies, based on past assessment and evaluation clear links between teaching strategies and parent aspirations, as well as children's cultures, languages and identities."
Assessment and planning are developing but need significant strengthening.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are promoted in the centre. Resources, displays and artefacts make te ao Māori visible. Some teachers use te reo Māori in their everyday interactions. Increasing the use and consistency of te reo Māori throughout the teaching team would support all children to experience the dual heritage of their Aotearoa New Zealand context."
Te reo Māori use is inconsistent; visibility of te ao Māori needs strengthening across teaching team.
"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 minimum requirements; compliance systems in place.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
Source: Education Review Office review of BestStart Tawa dated 2017-05-19, 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 Tawa 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
85 Main Road, Tawa. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is BestStart Tawa a free kindergarten?
- BestStart Tawa is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at BestStart Tawa?
- 85 children attend BestStart Tawa (roll year 2025).
- Where is BestStart Tawa?
- 85 Main Road Tawa Wellington City
How much will this cost you? Use our FamilyBoost + Childcare Subsidy calculator to estimate your weekly out-of-pocket after government support.
Nearby & related
Find your zoned schools near Tawa
Our sister site schoolsnearme.co.nz covers every NZ primary, intermediate and secondary school with ERO reports, financials, and statutory-manager alerts. Enter your address to see which schools you're zoned for.
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 #60331) ↗ · 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.