Grow Active Essex Street is part of Grow Active, an early childhood education group established in 2017 by business partners and friends Cathy Sherwood, Claire Rolls and Rob Farrell. The trio merged their combined experience in childcare, business, construction and inner-city Christchurch commercial development to create centres designed around sustainability and active early learning.
Grow Active's approach starts by creating secure, healthy and welcoming environments that build a sense of belonging for children and their families, based on trusting, respectful relationships and consistency of care. Children are given sensory-rich experience spaces to inspire curiosity and creativity, along with extended outdoor play spaces and natural environments to support growing, inquisitive bodies.
The Essex Street centre, located off Fitzgerald Avenue, is one of three Grow Active locations in Christchurch, alongside Balfour Terrace and Welles Street, and is led locally by Centre Business Manager Nikki Perkins.
Located off Fitzgerald Avenue, Grow Active Essex Street is one of three Christchurch centres run by Grow Active, an early childhood education group built around the idea of sustainability and active early learners.
Grow Active was established in 2017 by Cathy Sherwood, Claire Rolls and Rob Farrell — business partners and friends who merged their combined experience in childcare, business, construction and inner-city Christchurch commercial development. Cathy and Claire had already co-founded Launch Active early learning in 2016, bringing a combined 40 years of experience in the childcare industry between them. Rob's mission, meanwhile, has been to help make Christchurch the most liveable city in the world by creating authentic, one-off spaces that add value to the community — a vision that shaped how Grow Active's centres were designed.
Claire Rolls brings 25 years of experience within the early childhood sector, with a particular skill set in building learning communities, organisational culture and successful teaching teams. Cathy Sherwood has spent 22 years in the ECE industry — six as a teacher and sixteen in management and consultancy roles — and has established and managed 10 successful early childhood centres across Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Christchurch. Rob Farrell, a 30-year Christchurch local, brings 15 years of commercial experience across property, construction and banking, working to develop and execute the strategic vision that keeps Grow Active's centres running at a high standard.
Grow Active's approach starts with creating secure, healthy and welcoming environments that build a genuine sense of belonging for children and their families. Care is based on trusting, respectful relationships and consistency, giving children a stable foundation from which to explore and learn. The centres are designed to inspire curiosity, foster creativity and support discovery through a variety of sensory-rich experience spaces.
A defining feature of Grow Active's centres, including Essex Street, is the emphasis on physical activity through Fundamental Movement Skills and Physical Literacy. Children are given extended outdoor play spaces and natural environments to accommodate growing, inquisitive bodies — reflecting the group's broader belief that active early learning supports lifelong development, not just academic readiness.
Grow Active was designed around the concept of sustainability from the outset, reflected in how centres are built and run. This ties back to Rob Farrell's commercial background in construction and property, applied to create spaces that are both environmentally considered and genuinely useful for the communities they serve.
The Essex Street centre is led locally by Centre Business Manager Nikki Perkins, who oversees the day-to-day running of the centre and serves as a point of contact for families in the Linwood area. This local leadership structure means each Grow Active centre, while sharing the group's core values, is managed with an understanding of its specific community.
Grow Active Essex Street sits alongside two other Christchurch locations — Balfour Terrace, next to Metro Sports Centre, and Welles Street, located in the Smith City car park — giving Christchurch families multiple Grow Active options across the city, each built around the same core philosophy of active, nature-connected early learning.
Grow Active Essex Street is located at 29 Essex Street, off Fitzgerald Avenue in Christchurch, open Monday to Friday from 7:30am to 5:30pm. For families in Linwood looking for an early childhood centre that combines nurturing relationships, physical activity, and a genuine sense of belonging, Grow Active Essex Street offers a values-driven option backed by decades of combined early childhood expertise.