Grow Active Balfour is a purpose-built early childhood centre at 3 Balfour Terrace in Christchurch Central, right next to the Metro Sports Centre. Open 7:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday, the centre offers nurturing, engaging spaces designed around two central ideas: sustainability and active early learners. Its whole approach begins with secure, healthy and welcoming environments that build a sense of belonging for children and their families, with care grounded in trusting, respectful relationships and consistency.
The centre was created by people who know early learning from the inside. Grow Active was established in 2017 by business partners and friends Cathy Sherwood, Claire Rolls and Rob Farrell, merging their experience in childcare, business, construction and inner-city Christchurch commercial development. Cathy and Claire, who co-founded Launch active early learning in 2016, bring a combined 40-plus years in the childcare industry, while Rob — a Christchurch local of 30 years — brings a commercial background across property, construction and banking and a mission of creating authentic one-off spaces that add value to the community.
Day to day, Balfour Terrace is built for moving and discovering. Children are inspired through a variety of sensory rich experience spaces that spark curiosity, creativity and discovery, and they have plenty of room to move and explore thanks to extended outdoor play spaces and natural environments suited to growing, inquisitive bodies. Fundamental Movement Skills and Physical Literacy sit at the heart of the programme, alongside named focuses on nutrition and sustainability.
Families can reach the centre on 03 366 2260 or [email protected]; Centre Business Manager Kim Grant is the local contact for fees and enrolment. Grow Active also runs sister centres on Welles Street and Essex Street in Christchurch, all sharing the same straightforward vision: creating the best opportunities to enrich the lives of the children and families who attend.
Walk down Balfour Terrace in central Christchurch and you'll find an early learning centre built around a simple idea: young children learn best when they're free to move, explore and belong. Grow Active Balfour, at 3 Balfour Terrace right beside the Metro Sports Centre, is one of three Grow Active centres in the city, and it carries the company's distinctive approach into the heart of the CBD.
Grow Active was established in 2017 by business partners and friends Cathy Sherwood, Claire Rolls and Rob Farrell, who merged their skills and experience in childcare, business, construction and inner-city Christchurch commercial development. The result is a company with a straightforward vision: to keep creating the best opportunities to enrich the lives of the children and families who attend its centres.
Cathy and Claire bring deep experience from the early childhood sector — more than 40 combined years between them. The pair co-founded Launch active early learning in 2016, and both are passionate about providing quality spaces for children, families and teachers. Cathy has spent 22 years in ECE, six as a teacher and 16 in management and consultancy roles, and has established and managed 10 successful early childhood centres across Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Christchurch. Claire has 25 years in the sector, with a career built around learning communities, organisational culture and developing teaching teams and leaders. Rob, a Christchurch local of 30 years with a commercial background spanning property, construction and banking, brings a mission of helping make Christchurch the most liveable city in the world by creating authentic, one-off spaces that add value to the community.
Every day at Grow Active starts from the same place: secure, healthy and welcoming environments that build a sense of belonging for children and their families. Care is based on trusting, respectful relationships and consistency — the foundations, the team believes, for lifelong learning.
From there, the centre is designed to get children moving and discovering. A variety of sensory rich experience spaces inspires curiosity, fosters creativity and supports discovery, while extended outdoor play spaces and natural environments give growing, inquisitive bodies plenty of room to move and explore.
Two ideas sit at the heart of the programme. Fundamental Movement Skills give children the core movement patterns they need, and Physical Literacy builds the confidence and competence to stay active for life. Sustainability is threaded through the concept too — Grow Active's centres are designed around sustainability and active early learners, and nutrition is one of the company's named values alongside its team, spaces and overall approach.
The Balfour Terrace centre's CBD position is part of its character. Sitting next to the Metro Sports Centre, it is easy to find for families who live or work in the central city. Kim Grant is the centre's Centre Business Manager and the first point of contact for new families.
Parents considering enrolment can ask the centre for its fees and enrolment information, and Grow Active's parent information covers the team, values, nutrition, spaces and sustainability. Getting in touch is straightforward: phone 03 366 2260 or email [email protected]. The centre is open 7:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday.
Grow Active Balfour is one of three centres run by the company, alongside Welles Street — located in the Smith City car park — and Essex Street, off Fitzgerald Ave. Each has its own centre business manager and its own contact details, but the vision is shared across all three: nurturing, engaging spaces, positive and trusting relationships, and the best opportunities to enrich the lives of the children and families who walk through the door.
For Christchurch families looking for early learning with movement at its heart, Grow Active Balfour offers exactly what its name promises — room to grow, and every encouragement to stay active.