Piccolo Park daycare Botany is located in the historic Guy Homestead at 415 Ti Rakau Dr on the border of Botany Downs, Dannemora and East Tamaki.

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Piccolo Park Botany

Welcome to Piccolo Park Early Learning Centre – where we foster the drive to learn, grow, create and explore.

We are a purpose built Early Childcare Centre committed to providing the best quality care and education for children from three months to five years of age. The indoors and outdoors are designed and set up with a range of resources that will encourage a child’s interest and inspire their creativity as they learn and grow.

Our centre’s rich history revealed

It’s hard to believe looking at our fantastic centre today, that it was once a derelict and burnt-out historic house. While the path to get here wasn’t an easy one – it was definitely worthwhile. Guy’s Homestead, also known as Sadia House, was built in 1898 by Andrew and Rose Guy on an orchard and dairy farm they had bought. Over the years it was divided into small farms, and with dairy farming ceased in 1986. The former Manukau City Council bought the homestead and surrounding 0.9 ha in the early 1980s to allow for the extension of Ti Rakau Drive. The property was sold in 1997 and it sat empty and neglected until it was bought in early 2014 with the aim of converting it into a childcare centre.

We’re In the News

Homestead complete

“A visionary – that’s how JP Singh, the owner of Guy Homestead, is being described by architects, an historian and a real estate agent. Many paid tribute to businessman JP Singh at the formal opening of the Piccolo Park farm-themed child care centre, the culmination of 15 months’ work on the Guy Homestead Restoration Project on Ti Rakau Drive.”

Howick & Botany Times, Thursday, 28 May 2015

Historic East Auckland homestead gets a new life

“The Guy Homestead is beginning a new chapter as the centrepiece of an early learning centre. The historic building in East Auckland was left abandoned and unsellable for more than a decade, even being gutted by a fire in 2012.”

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Eastern Courier, Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Graceful old girl rises from ashes

“A man who lived in the historic Guy Homestead in Ti Rakau Drive for the first five years of his life was visibly overcome as he took in progress on the ambitious renovation project of his old home. ‘It gets you inside after all these years,’ Graham Guy said. ‘I congratulate you all for what you have done to make it what it is – thank you.”

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Howick & Botany Times, Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Push for tighter controls

“A Howick resident who publicly campaigned to have Guy Homestead restored is calling for changes to legislation involving foreign ownership of heritage homes.”

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Howick & Pakuranga Times, Thursday, 22 May 2014

Bright future for historic homestead

“A historic landmark in Auckland’s East Tamaki – almost gutted by fire over a year ago – is set to enjoy a bright future thanks to the vision of an Auckland businessman.”

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Heritage Quarterly, Autumn 2014

Home to relive rural past

“A country-inspired rustic theme providing urban children with tactile activities, such as growing their own organic veggies, will be the aim of the operators of a new child care centre planned for the historic Guy Homestead.”

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Howick & Pakuranga Times, Thursday, 06 March 2014

Guy Homestead’s new life

“The old lady of the landscape, 116-year-old Guy Homestead, has new owners who want to give it a new lease of life, with the fresh breath of preschoolers. Marrianne Kelly meets the new owners.”

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Howick & Botany Times, Wednesday, 05 March 2014

Fire raises heritage issues

“A blaze at an historic homestead has left its owners and civic officials working out how the property, protected by two covenants, can still be classified as a heritage building. Police are appealing to the public for information about who may have started a fire inside the 114-year-old Guy Homestead in Botany last Saturday evening.”

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Howick & Botany Times, Wednesday, 05 December 2012

Bright future

With the restoration of Guys’ Homestead, the best of the old and new have combined to create a unique haven in which young children can thrive in beautiful surrounds.

The new barn-style building which house our children over two, complement the rejuvenated farmhouse where the infants are located –taking cues from the property’s rural past. Our centre incorporates an agricultural theme as a tribute to its rich history and aims to offer children the experience of being on a ‘working farm’, where growing vegetables and other farm type activities are a part of the centre life. We’re proud to have given Guy’s homestead a new lease on life and look forward to nurturing children from here, for generations to come.

Quality care & education

We follow the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki, and have a well-rounded approach covering intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development.

Our teachers foster a love of learning so we can maximise each child’s potential in these important early years. We focus on your child’s interests and create opportunities to problem solve, which builds character. We help your child develop important life skills using patience and the understanding that it’s okay to make a mistake – that’s how you learn!

Highly resourced

We are so well resourced at Piccolo Park that kids get really excited about their learning. From stimulating educational toys, creative art materials, and very cool play areas, right through to technology such as iPads that the children can use to help them research those many whys, whats, when, wheres, and hows about the world around them.

Some daycare centres think bringing toys from home is great because those daycares have so few resources. But our policy is no toys from home because we have more than enough and we don’t want our kids to go through the heartache of having their toys broken.

Care for babies

Not all daycare centres cater specifically for babies but we do. Our carefully chosen teachers are highly attuned and sensitive to the emotional and developmental needs of babies. Part of our philosophy is to put care into their education, and education into their care.

The right people

Our teachers are important and we choose them carefully. All our teachers have a real connection with children, impressive skills, and lovely warm personalities. Because at heart, it’s the people that make the centre feel warm and homely for our children.

WINZ subsidies

We support families receiving WINZ subsidies and can help you with your application for the subsidy. Visit www.workandincome.govt.nz to find out if you are eligible to receive a benefit.

20 hours ECE

All 3-5 year old children are eligible to receive 20 hours ECE while attending Piccolo Park daycare Mt Wellington. This is covered by the Government and can start when your child turns 3. For more information on the Government’s 20 hours ECE scheme go to www.minedu.govt.

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Check Out Piccolo Park Botany

We’d love to meet you and show you around! To make an appointment, please complete the form below.

Additional Information

Please contact us using the form above to learn about our current fees. We’re committed to providing a premium childcare service at a quality facility. We invite you to meet us onsite to see for yourself the high standards we’re maintaining everyday.

At our centre we believe that each and every child is a unique individual, and each needs to be treated equally and with respect.

At Piccolo Park we believe that a child’s play makes a big impact on their development and learning. A child’s play is very important and begins at the very early stage of their development. Therefore at our centre we believe in extending their play, based on Te Whariki, the NZ early childhood curriculum. We believe that Te Whariki will provide a quality and stable curriculum framework in our centre.

We believe that all children should be independent and should be encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas.

We believe in providing a safe environment where the children can discover, learn, create and explore safely on their own and alongside other children and teachers.

We believe in setting up the environment to create an opportunity for the children to acquire the skills that are needed to become confident and competent learners in their learning journey ahead.

At Piccolo Park we value the importance of the family/Whanau and working in partnership with each child’s family. We promote ongoing communication between families, whanau and teachers to ensure their child’s needs and aspirations are met.

We believe that all children should be given the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritage of both partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Together we also celebrate and embrace the multicultural diversity of our families and children at Piccolo Park. We are committed to ensuring that every child and family feels welcomed, respected and valued.

Through our online portfolio system you will be able to share in the magic of your child’s early learning journey. The stories and pictures document your child’s development and learning journey whilst here at Piccolo Park. They can be downloaded onto your own devices and printed to be put into your child’s journey book. These stories become a part of your family memorabilia long after your child has left the centre.

At Piccolo Park we understand the importance of family time together, therefore, we will allow two weeks holiday per calendar year per child free of charge. This holiday must be taken in a minimum of one week block with a minimum of two weeks prior notice. Please note that if the centre is closed over Christmas then this will be included in holiday allocation. Holiday allocations can not be accumulated and must be used within the calendar year for which they fall.

A comprehensive copy of the centre policies is readily available for viewing by everyone. Please take the time to read this and feel free to ask any questions you may have. We endeavour to review our policies throughout the year and welcome any comments that parents may have. Some key policies to note are:

Immunisation

Parents and Caregivers will be required to provide a copy of their child’s immunisation status and provide the updated certificate thereafter.

Illness

We follow the guidelines for illness and infections, which is published by Ministry Of Health and which will be available for parents and staff for reference. We kindly request that you not bring your child to the centre if he or she is unwell. The child needs to be excluded from the centre, for the best interest of the child and others in the centre.

Medication

Please ensure that all medication is handed to staff of the respective room and medicine register completed. The centre maintains a medicine register and all medication to children has to be administered by first aid certified staff. All medication will be stored as directed and returned after use.

Paracetamol and Ibuprofen (pain killers) will not be administered under any circumstance to any child.

No Smoking Policy

Smoking is not permitted at the centre either inside or outside at any time and on any day – totally prohibited.

Sun Protection

As part of our commitment to protect children from harm it is important for us to contribute to minimising the risk of exposing children to excessive ultraviolet radiation (UVR) that causes sunburn, skin damage and increases the risk of skin cancer. We require children to wear sun hats and parents are requested to provide a clearly named sun hat. Parents are also required to apply sunblock in the morning and staff will re-apply the sun block after lunch or as and when needed.

We will provide morning and afternoon tea and lunch. Our chef will prepare all meals fresh daily. The meals served each day will be displayed at the reception area and a copy of our four-week menu is available on request. Should your child have any special dietary or cultural requirements please inform us during enrolment.

Piccolo Park is a nut-free centre.