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Welcome from our The Lakes Centre Manager
Kath Andrew
My name is Katherine (Kath). I am the Centre Manager alongside the amazing passionate staff we bring you Busy Bees The Lakes. I am a fully qualified Early Childhood teacher, holding both a Diploma and a Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood Education. With over 30 years of experience in early childhood education, I feel incredibly privileged to lead a profession that plays such an important role in shaping children’s early learning journeys.
As a mum of six children and a proud nana to eight grandchildren, I bring both professional knowledge and personal understanding to my role. My family has taught me so much about the importance of nurturing environments, strong relationships, and supporting each child to grow in their own unique way. These experiences influence the way I lead our centre, ensuring that every child and whānau feels valued, supported, and welcomed as part of our Busy Bees community.
Originally from Auckland, my husband and I moved to Ngongotahā in 2025 seeking a community that offered a strong sense of belonging and connection. I was fortunate to find exactly that at Busy Bees, The Lakes. I joined the team in January 2026 and feel incredibly proud to be part of such a passionate and dedicated team. As the Centre Manager, I am passionate about supporting and guiding a team of educators who are committed to providing high-quality early childhood education. Together we create an environment where whanaungatanga, strong relationships and meaningful connections sits at the heart of everything we do. Our teachers take great pride in creating a warm, inclusive space where tamariki feel safe to explore, learn, and develop confidence in themselves and their abilities.
"I strongly believe that quality early childhood education is built on trusting partnerships with whānau. By working closely with families, we can support children’s learning and wellbeing in a holistic way, ensuring they feel secure, confident, and ready to take the next steps in their educational journey."
One of the most rewarding parts of my role is watching children flourish. Seeing them arrive each morning excited to begin their day, building friendships, discovering new interests, and developing the confidence to explore the world around them is incredibly special. I feel very fortunate to lead such a wonderful team at Busy Bees The Lakes and to be part of a centre community that is dedicated to giving every child the very best start in life.
We believe to get quality care your child needs to form a secure attachment with a primary teacher, and think this relationship assists children in settling into their environment which reduces stress for both the child and their parents.
Seeing this in action is very cool – before long children feel so comfortable within their new environment they are off exploring and gaining many learning opportunities because that important foundation of feeling safe and secure has been met.
O U R P H I L O S O P H Y
Our philosophy is guided by the principles of Te Whariki...
Empowerment, Family & Community, Holistic Development and Relationships.
We are inspired and influenced by the philosophies of Reggio Emilia, Dr. Emmi Pikler & Magda Gerber.
Communication is important to us and we look forward to building strong reciprocal relationships with you and contributing to your child’s development.
One example is the Storypark family communication app where we share regular updates on activities and learning stories about each child.
We regularly run in-centre events with our families and we encourage all parents/whanau to read the notices and newsletters which will be displayed via Storypark.
At Busy Bees The Lakes we recognise the importance of children’s nutrition and its link to educational outcomes so provide a 2 week revolving menu that is structured to promote and support this.
As well as taking one more thing off the to-do list for parents in the morning, providing meals onsite helps us to give children an understanding of healthy food choices through being part of growing and preparing food.
We provide morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and a small late snack throughout the day – if your child is on formula you will need to supply this.
In the preschool room, part of the daily programme is to give children the opportunity to be involved with preparing the food, refining self-help skills with opportunities to serve their own kai. We believe this is a great initiative for this age group, teaching children about healthy lunch options and encouraging self-help skills and independence before heading to school.
Busy Bees The Lakes is a warm, open plan, purpose-built learning space for children that will spark imagination, curiosity and wonder! We encourage children to explore the natural environment and enjoy a range of learning experiences in a safe space which is a fun and exciting place to be. Our passionate teachers love working alongside children while supporting and extending their learning. We recognise the importance of communication with families and enjoy working alongside them to ensure we achieve the best outcomes for their children.
Busy Bees The Lakes supports Free Movement Theory from Dr. Pikler and Magda Gerber where children are encouraged to move at their own pace, in their own time, when their bodies are ready. We are creating an environment that supports this by offering many gross motor activities that will help with strength, balance and co-ordination.
Our teaching team reflect this philosophy allowing the children time and respect in an exciting learning space which enables them to explore and reach their goals.
Our Programmes
Bee Curious, our Busy Bees Curriculum Framework, has been created to guide and inspire kaiako in supporting tamariki through rich, interconnected learning experiences. Built on the strong foundation of Te Whāriki, it reflects the principles of Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum and the aspirations we hold for our children as they grow.
Nutritious food is the foundation for healthy growth and development in our children. Our Nourish menus fuel our children and support full, healthy tummies enabling clear minds to focus on the learning and set children up to thrive at our centre.
Our MOVE programme deliberately sets out physical activities that give children the opportunity to learn, practice and master physical skills whilst developing their resilience, perseverance, patience, co-ordination, gross-motor skills, teamwork and much more, all while having loads of fun!
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