How it all began
I was on maternity leave with our second child, looking at returning to part time work as a Practice Nurse in a busy Health Centre in town. The Lyttelton Preschool & Nursery, where our 2 year old Meg had attended two mornings / week, had just gone bankrupt after being open only eight months in their lovely new premises at the Lyttelton West site. After public meetings to try and reestablish a community centre – plans were abandoned due to lack of available volunteers to make up a governing community committee.
Having looked around the centres close to my work, I was feeling extremely uncomfortable about leaving my children at any of them - not least for the fact I knew no-one working there or sending their children to them. How would I know what was going on there?? An opportunity presented itself for a private provider to reestablish a preschool on Crown Land at the Lyttelton West site, and I knew this was me. I had worked a lot with young children and their whanau while practice nursing, and James my partner could run the business side of the preschool with his business background (B. Com).
February 1995 and Busy C’s Preschool came to fruition. From the start we have prided ourselves in employing only wonderful and qualified kaiako (teachers), and working closely with them to create a nurturing collaborative learning community with the core values of respect and dignity. Our children (and their whanau) experience a strong sense of belonging in a child-centred, supportive environment where they are able to develop a sense of themselves as capable people and competent learners.
-- Caro Davidson
Busy C's centre & philosophy:
Busy C’s is a small preschool situated on the hillside in the port town of Lyttelton, approximately 14 minutes from the centre of Christchurch. It is a vibrant, homely centre, which reflects the close-knit community it serves.
At Busy C’s we believe in a whanau (family) approach where older and younger tamariki (children) can play and learn together in a safe and nurturing family environment. Our programme is inspired by our tamariki and allows for plenty of free play so that their interests can emerge and develop. The flexible nature of the programme allows us, as teachers (kaiako), to extend on these interests in a range of directions. The learning outcomes of our programme aim to be positive in developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes; and in fostering children’s sense of themselves as capable, confident people and competent learners.
How to find us
<-- click on the image to open a map.