Hillmorton Nest is the Tankerville Road branch of Nests, a small family of owner-operated early learning centres founded in Christchurch in 2010. The name is the philosophy: NESTS stands for Nurturing Environments & Sustainable Teaching, and each centre is run deliberately as a home rather than an institution. Children — tamariki — spend their days in a single licensed, homelike setting where self-esteem, love, learning and respect for others are prominent, with the goal that every child leaves each day feeling secure and loved in their special environment.
Rather than splitting children into separate age rooms, Hillmorton Nest embraces the tuakana–teina concept, where children of all ages play and learn together in their home away from home. Every child is matched with a primary kaiako — a dedicated teacher who takes a special interest in them for their whole time at the centre and liaises with parents so home and centre connect. Teaching is led by qualified kaiako working to high ratios and built on Te Whāriki, New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, with waiata, te reo Māori and tikanga woven through daily life so children value their bicultural heritage.
Environmental learning sits at the heart of the Nests model. Centres have large backyards with vegetable gardens and fruit trees that tamariki harvest and turn into snacks, plus play areas with climbing equipment, sandpits and native bush. Sustainability is considered in everything, from recycling to sourcing equipment — children learn by example. The team can also guide families through the Government's 20 free hours and available childcare subsidies.
Tucked down Tankerville Road in Hoon Hay, Hillmorton Nest is the Hillmorton branch of Nests, a small family of owner-operated early learning centres that began in Christchurch in 2010. The name is the philosophy: NESTS stands for Nurturing Environments & Sustainable Teaching, and each centre is run deliberately as a home rather than an institution. Children — tamariki — spend their days in a single licensed, homelike setting where self-esteem, love, learning and respect for others are front and centre, and where the aim is for every child to head home feeling secure and loved.
That model came from deep experience. Founder Cathy Hide spent more than 30 years training early childhood teachers and, having visited over a thousand centres, had a clear idea of what an ideal centre looked like. Top of her list: a centre that operated as one home, not separate areas where siblings were kept apart. In 2010 she and her husband Peter set about converting houses into small centres so teachers could own and operate them. More than a decade on, over 200 Christchurch families are part of the Nests family at any given time, with hundreds of past nest families beyond them.
Hillmorton Nest runs on the tuakana–teina concept: children of all ages play and learn together and interact with one another in their home away from home. Because each Nests centre holds one licence, there are no separate baby, toddler or preschool rooms — pēpē, toddlers and young children share the same environment. That matters especially for families with more than one child, who can attend together, and for only children, who gain something like siblings for the day.
Every child is also matched with a primary kaiako, a dedicated teacher who takes a special interest in them for their whole time at the centre and liaises with parents, so home and centre pull in the same direction. Teaching is led by qualified kaiako working to high ratios and built on Te Whāriki, New Zealand's early childhood curriculum. The centres celebrate being New Zealanders, weaving waiata, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori through the day so children grow up valuing their bicultural heritage.
Environmental learning — taiao — sits at the heart of Nests. Each centre has a large backyard with a vegetable garden and fruit trees that tamariki harvest themselves and then prepare into snacks: a very hands-on way to learn where food comes from and to respect the environment. Outdoors there is a big play area with climbing equipment, a sandpit and a small native bush area, along with regular excursions to explore the natural world beyond the gate.
Indoors, the taiao continues. Rooms are decorated to be homelike and restful, offering a variety of spaces and equipment to play with, plus a separate, enclosed sleep area for babies. Sustainability is considered with everything the centres do, from recycling to how equipment is sourced. The belief is simple: children learn by example, and modelling good practice inspires them to think about how we use our resources.
Hillmorton Nest is at 52 Tankerville Road, Hoon Hay, and enquiries go to centre lead Sarah at [email protected] or on (03) 338 8888. The Nests website includes practical pages on the Government's 20 free hours and on childcare subsidies, and the team can talk you through how both apply to your family. As with all Nests centres, prospective parents are warmly encouraged to visit, meet the kaiako and see the garden for themselves.
For parents after something smaller and more personal than a big-centre experience, Hillmorton Nest offers a genuinely home-based take on early learning: qualified teachers, one nest of mixed ages, a productive backyard and a culture where respect for people and planet is taught by doing. It's early childhood education the way Cathy Hide imagined it — as a home.