BestStart Waihopai Kindy
Education & Care
168 Kelvin Street, Invercargill Central · Invercargill City
ERO assessed BestStart Waihopai Kindy as Not well placed in its 2020 review. Our analysis of the ERO report identified strengths in bicultural practice and curriculum delivery, with developing leadership and governance. Whānau partnership was graded lower, with communication present but partnerships needing further development and improved responsiveness to feedback.
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
Governing Organisation Evaluation · 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ERO review · 2020-03-30· superseded by operator-wide review above
"Centre managers have identified, and the ERO onsite evaluation has confirmed, that the service needs to continue to strengthen aspects of assessment, planning and evaluation."
Effective practices evident; assessment and planning need strengthening.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"The service needs to further develop learning partnerships with families/whānau that recognise and reflect family aspirations, languages, cultures and identities. This includes improving the responsiveness to family/whānau feedback, to enhance outcomes for children."
Communication present but partnerships need development; feedback responsiveness needs improvement.
"Bicultural perspectives are evident in practice and within the learning environment. Children have opportunities to participate in wider community events that celebrate culture and identity."
Bicultural approaches embedded; māori and Pacific children supported in programme.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"New centre leaders are collaboratively developing an understanding and use of best teaching and learning practices that align with the centre's philosophy. Leaders are supported by managers in further strengthening teachers' abilities to reflect on their practices and to engage in evaluations that improve outcomes for children."
Developing collaborative leadership; internal evaluation strengthening underway.
Source: Education Review Office review of BestStart Waihopai Kindy dated 2020-03-30, 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 Waihopai Kindy 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
168 Kelvin Street, Invercargill Central. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is BestStart Waihopai Kindy a free kindergarten?
- BestStart Waihopai Kindy is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at BestStart Waihopai Kindy?
- 42 children attend BestStart Waihopai Kindy (roll year 2025).
- Where is BestStart Waihopai Kindy?
- 168 Kelvin Street Invercargill Central Invercargill 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
Compare BestStart Waihopai Kindy side-by-side with another centre →
Find your zoned schools near Invercargill Central
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 #80049) ↗ · 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.