The culmination of two years of plain old hard work!

Deborah van der Maas opened Earlybirds Educare on 11 November 2002, in the heart of Whakarewarewa Village, Rotorua.  It was the culmination of two years of research and plain old hard work and planning!

Coming from a background in chartered accounting, and looking for a business opportunity in a family friendly sector, I was guided and mentored into early childhood education by Kathy Hawker from Flying Start Childcare Centre in Eruera Street, Rotorua. I grew very quickly to share her passion for this industry sector, and that has continued to grow since the opening of Earlybirds Educare.

We started with a brand new purpose built facility with a capacity for 50 children, (18 under 2, the balance over 2) five teaching staff, and myself as the cook, cleaner, and administrator!

We grew rapidly, and by July 2003 we were up and running at full capacity with a staff of 14 teachers, (some part time)  a full time cook, part time office lady, and myself.

We open from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, so staff work in shifts, which means that communication is an ongoing challenge for us all. We have regular out of hours planning and general staff meetings.

We are committed to on going professional development and training for our staff, a number of whom are studying towards their Diploma in Teaching Early Childhood while holding down full time teaching positions.

We recently completed our first Education Review Office visit, and the report is now available on the ERO web site. (www.ero.govt.nz).  It was a very good report, confirming for us that we are providing a very high level of quality early childhood education and care.  

As part of the ongoing commitment to improvement and innovation in our industry, we are currently implementing the Worklinx system. We have a number of relieving staff in our centre at any one time due to study commitments and leave requirements, so to have a system like Worklinx makes that situation easier to manage.


We are currently writing our SOP’s with staff being heavily involved in that process.

It is also providing an opportunity for us to question and validate our procedures, amending or even eliminating where necessary!

Footnote:  Earlybirds Educare was a finalist in the 2004 Rotorua Business Awards.

Earlybirds Educare-
4 Tryon Street, Rotorua
Ph 07 347 7770
e-mail: Earlybirds Educare
Website: www.earlybird.co.nz

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