About Us
The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed..
Company Overview
ABC New Zealand (ABC NZ) commenced business in July 2003. We own and operate 127 early childhood education (ECE) and preschool childcare centres throughout the country. Our centres operate 171 separate childcare licences as issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
ABC NZ is one of the largest privately owned operators of early childhood services in the country.
Historical Timeline:
- July 2003
ABC NZ established and commenced business with 6 centres in Auckland. - August 2003
ABC NZ acquired 5 centres in Christchurch from Mother Hubbard’s and 1 in Invercargill. - October 2004
ABC NZ acquired 5 more centres, all located in Christchurch. - 2005
ABC NZ established 5 new purpose-built centres in the South Island. - Late 2005
ABC NZ acquired another 4 Christchurch centres - December 2006
ABC NZ acquired 6 Daphne’s centres in Tauranga and Rotorua - February 2007
ABC NZ acquired Forward Steps Holdings Limited (NZ) with 49 centres - March ‘07 to March ‘08
ABC NZ acquired an additional 42 centres from a range of independent operators across the country. - December 2007
ABC NZ acquired the New Zealand College of Early Childhood Education. - April 2009
An additional 4 newly built centres were developed by 123 Operations (NZ) and fully acquired by ABC NZ.
10 Key Facts about ABC
- We have a total of 127 centres, operating 171 licences. Of these centres, 44 are purpose-built with the remainder mostly being converted former residential dwellings.
- We are licensed to educate and care for a maximum of 6,453 full time children daily; our earliest opening time being 6.30am and latest closing time being 6.30pm.
- We have 84 centres in the North Island and 43 in the South Island. Our centres are based in large cities and small provincial towns, and are located from Kaitaia to Invercargill.
- We run teacher:child ratios of 1:4 for under 2’s, and 1:10 for over 2 years. MoE regulations are 1:5 and 1:10 respectively.
- Each centre is managed by a Centre Director who reports to an Area Manager. We operate 18 geographical areas across the country.
- Te Whāriki , the national Early Childhood Education curriculum, is used in all centres. We also offer the computer based educational programmes Letterland (literacy skills) and Broadlearn (for numeracy, colours, shapes, literacy and communication skills).
- We have over 1,000 permanent teachers nationally. In addition we have a pool of approximately 200 casual (temporary) staff.
- Over 90% of our permanent teaching staff are either fully qualified with a Diploma or Bachelor of Teaching (ECE), or higher, or are in training. These figures are very high by national standards within the ECE sector. In addition, we provide a two year Advice and Guidance Programme for all recently graduated teachers so that mentoring and further training is provided post graduation; this supports teachers from provisional registration to full teacher registration with the NZ Teachers Council.
- We have spent over $18 million on capital expenditure over the 2008 to 2010 financial years. Almost $12 million of this relates to building and playground renovations eg. new interior / exterior painting, flooring, roofing, exterior cladding, air conditioning units, kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, playground shade sails, soft-fall underlay matting, Astroturf, gardens, fences, and outdoor resources. We have invested heavily in the quality of our facilities.
- We are a values–based organisation placing strong emphasis on 9 company values: Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Communication, Performance Excellence, Fun, Making a Difference, Respect, and Partnership with Families / Whānau.