Healthy Minds & Healthy Bodies

At Smart Start we believe in fostering lifelong healthy habits for our children, ranging from nutrition to physical activity. Because so much of your child's day is spent with us we want to do our part in providing your children with natural and nutritious foods that will give them the energy to learn, discover and play!

Healthy & Nutritious Meals

At Smart Start we provide healthy and nutritious home cooked meals that include all the food groups necessary for a healthy diet. We believe that this is essential for growing minds and bodies and helps with children’s development and learning. The children are actively involved in helping to prepare the meals and also take pride in growing their own produce for our menu in our Centre gardens.

Smart Start follows the guidelines provided by the New Zealand Healthy Heart Foundation on encouraging physical health through exercise and nutrition in an early childhood setting.

As a busy parent, you don’t have to prepare lunchboxes everyday, or worry too much about what you serve for dinner, as you can rest assured that after a day at Smart Start, your children have had all their nutritional requirements.  Nutrition is the key to help your child make the best possible start in life.

All meals in our seasonal rotational menu are prepared onsite daily by our chef.  Weekly menus are displayed on our Parent Noticeboard.  

We support all individual children’s dietary requirements.

Physical Activity & Excursions

Play is the foundation of our learning process, and takes place both indoors and outdoors, from summer to winter. Our specialised teaching curriculum incorporates and makes room for music, dance, plays, and games, which encourage our children to keep active throughout the year.

Our staff routinely take the children on short day trips and walks in order to promote healthy habits that will stay with the children long after they’ve left us.

We value the important role the wider community plays in the education of children and utilise excursions as a means of extending individual children’s learning.

 For excursions requiring travel, permission slips will be issued detailing the excursion and outlining any costs to parents. Permission for local excursions is obtained in your child’s enrolment form.