WildHeart - Makuru Mātā

“Wild heart have gone above and beyond for our little ones and have been open and supportive throughout our journey. We truly feel connected and part of a community. Our children have built strong connections with teachers who truly care and keep us informed and involved in their development.”

“It was a privilege to participate in the Play Therapy professional development session offered at this centre earlier this month, led by Joseph Driessen. I was deeply impressed by the ideas shared across the team and the thoughtful, caring responses from the kaiako throughout the session. The staff demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting tamariki through challenges and emotional difficulties—both in their current practice and in future planning—reflecting a genuine dedication to fostering healthy development and nurturing positive relationships with our tamariki.”

“Our family has had a great experience with Wildheart. The teachers consistently go above and beyond to create a nurturing environment with lots of learning opportunities- we’ve never felt like just a number. They take the time to understand each child’s personality and interests and support their growth in meaningful ways. Every week brings something new and exciting for our boys. The team creates topics and resources based on what the tamariki are interested in, which makes learning so engaging. They also celebrate different cultures and regularly invite people from the community to share their knowledge—like teaching fire safety, water safety etc 😊 We especially appreciate the collaborative approach between parents and the centre. In our experience, communication is always clear and respectful, and we have always felt listened to. We’ve had challenging times and, in every situation, the team handled things with professionalism, empathy, and respect. Mix all of this with lots of outside play, nutritious meals (yay for no stress of packing lunches) and making friends with other parents (so building a community)- it’s been a positive journey so far. From our perspective, Wildheart has been exceptional, and we highly recommend them to any family seeking a preschool 😊”

“As a daycare whose philosophy is valuing relationships and extending compassion, I would say that they do not live up to their standard. My sister had met with the centre manager as her child had been attacked multiple times by the same kid. Ofcourse you would be upset if your child had a swollen cheek with very visible bite marks. While expressing her concern the centre manager Courtney has the audacity to say my sister was “not in the right mind to speak”. That does not show compassion, that is gaslighting. Dismissing her concerns for her child and flipping it around as if my sister was not in the correct mindset. Trust is a big part when it comes to choosing a daycare. Would you trust a daycare that would say they would keep any eye out and then less than 24 hours another bite and attack happened? A solution they offered was to move her child the victim down to the younger class. But the child who attacked would stay? Why discipline and move the victim while the other child gets away with biting and no consequence of his actions? Would you tolerate and enable this behaviour? Overall disappointing service from the staff who’s supposed to look after the kids and their safety.”

“I am writing this review due to the complete negligence shown by this childcare centre toward my nephew’s safety. On two separate occasions, my nephew was bitten on the face by another child. These weren’t minor marks - these were visible cuts and bruises just smaller than the size of golf balls. On top of this, the centre has failed to create a safe environment for him. Instead of addressing the issue or putting stronger supervision in place, they even suggested that he should move to a younger class, rather than managing the behaviour of the child who repeatedly bit him. They made no effort to accommodate him, and offered no alternative solutions. Essentially, they stated that nothing could be done to keep him safe. When my sister-in-law raised her concerns and met with the centre manager, Courtney, there was no reassurance, no accountability, and not even basic empathy. Courtney even said that my sister in law was “not in the right mind to speak” at that time an extremely unprofessional response when discussing a child’s welfare. What makes this even worse is that the 2nd biting incident happened the very next day, immediately after that meeting which offered no solutions, no plan, and no responsibility taken. The centre simply claimed they were “doing everything correctly” according to the Ministry of Education, despite the repeated harm and lack of supervision. There has been zero ownership, zero compassion, and zero proactive action to ensure my nephew’s safety. No parent should have to send their child to a centre where injuries happen repeatedly and nothing changes.”