About
TLC The Learning Centre™ is a early childhood centre catering for children from three months until they go to school.
TLC The Learning Centre™ is a centre dedicated to the very highest quality of care, achieving this by having small group sizes, the best teacher to child ratios, and we have 100% qualified teachers for government ratios.
TLC The Learning Centre™ has a strong philosophy which focuses upon respectful and responsive relationships between teachers and children.
Upstairs
Upstairs is our infant and toddler rooms, and has its own entrance and outdoor play space. While the whole centre is inspired by Magda Gerber's Educaring Approach, upstairs is particularly, and passionately so.
Kākano
Our Kākano room is for infants from three months to around 18 months. We aim for a group size of 7 infants with two key teachers.
Weka
Our Weka room is for toddlers from 18 months to around 30 months. We aim for a group size of 8 toddlers with two key teachers.
Downstairs
Downstairs is a mixed age environment and has two whānau groupings.
Kea
Our Kea children are from two years and three months to around three years old. We aim for a group size of 8 to 10 children, with a 1 to 5 ratio.
Tui in a Kowhai Tree
Our Tui in a Kowhai Tree children are from three years until they go to school. We aim for a group size of around 21-25 children, with three to four key teachers.
A Natural Environment
TLC The Learning Centre™'s location was chosen to provide a homely and natural environment with a big, natural outdoor area, surrounded by Vermont Street reserve. This value extends to the types of resources we choose (mostly wooden, heuristic and natural resources) to our food which is home cooked, healthy, and sometimes even grown at TLC!
For example the menu for week commencing 16th Feb 2026 is
Monday: Chicken Noodles and steamed veges
Afternoon tea: Oat cakes and seasonal fruit
Tuesday: Vegetable Korma with rice and steamed veges
Afternoon tea: Pita and marmite and seasonal fruit
Wednesday: Ham, cheese & salad sandwiches (assembled by the children)
Afternoon tea: Apple cobbler and seasonal fruit
Thursday: Beetroot bolognaise pasta with steamed veges
Afternoon tea: Carrot cake and seasonal fruit
Friday: Vegetable pastries and steamed veges
Afternoon tea: Homemade Mango & Orange ice cream & seasonal fruit
We make our own infant mash which is served to all children upstairs in Kākano and Weka. This is made with a variety of vegetables and added proteins such as beans.
Morning tea is usually toast and fruit, however we are currently looking at varying this slowly.
Community Involvement
We are blessed with a wonderful community at TLC The Learning Centre™. We have a parent voice committee which meets every month, to advise us with our communications, and who also plan our fun social events.
We use an on-line portfolio system called Educa which can be accessed by the whole whānau here and abroad, which also has a great notice board where we let the community know what is happening at TLC The Learning Centre™.