ECE Assistant Manager | Busy Bees Hardy Street

Do you want to grow your leadership while still being right there in the thick of the learning, and also step into centre-wide leadership when it counts? We’re looking for an Assistant Centre Manager to join Busy Bees Hardy Street, bringing heart, clarity, and strong pedagogy to a centre that’s warm, well-resourced, and genuinely good to be part of.
 

About us:

Busy Bees Hardy Street is a Nelson centre built for teaching well, with five rooms, strong indoor–outdoor flow and loads of undercover space so play doesn’t stop when the weather turns. The garden is a standout and gives you a rich, ready-to-go environment for meaningful learning. You’ll get to take tamariki out on excursions and local park adventures, and you’ll have Storypark and portfolios that actually support partnership with whānau. With a centre chef preparing daily meals and our team working toward the Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award, wellbeing is practical and visible. And because we’re part of Busy Bees Aotearoa, you’re backed by strong systems, PLD and values-led support, so you can focus on great teaching and leading a thriving team.
 

About You:

You’re a qualified, registered ECE kaiako with current NZ Teaching Council certification and proven leadership experience in New Zealand ECE. You know Te Whāriki in practice and assessment, and can keep planning, documentation and internal evaluation sharp, culturally responsive, and improvement-focused. You build strong relationships with whānau and colleagues, lead with clarity and kindness, and you’re confident mentoring others and teaching across all age groups. You’re organised, resilient, and comfortable holding compliance and licensing requirements while keeping the day running well.
 

The Mahi:

As Assistant Centre Manager, you’ll work alongside the Centre Manager to lead centre-wide practice and keep quality moving forward, while still being present in the learning. You’ll lead the planning, implementation and ongoing evaluation of our child-led curriculum, mentor and coach kaiako to build a collaborative, reflective team culture, and strengthen genuine partnerships with parents, whānau and the wider community. You’ll oversee assessment and documentation so it remains culturally responsive and aligned with Te Whāriki principles and outcomes, contribute to strategic goals and internal evaluation (including improvement actions), and step into the Centre Manager role when needed to maintain high standards of care, education, and compliance.

Why you’ll love it here:

• Full Pay Parity!

• A comprehensive induction program with regular and ongoing mentoring and professional development

• Discounted childcare

• First Aid certification, annual flu vaccination and staff uniforms

• A generous PLD budget where you can choose PLD for your own learning

• A monthly staff wellbeing budget and access to EAP services

• A supportive and highly skilled team to work alongside

• Focused leadership development programme

If you're a Registered Teacher who is ready to take the next step in their ECE career, we want to hear from you!

Applicants for this position should have NZ residency or a valid NZ work visa

We are an Accredited Employer

Why Work for Busy Bees?
If you’re passionate about early learning, Busy Bees is the place to be. Although we are part of a global organisation, our company was founded by three families looking for better, more enriching childcare. Three decades later, we still keep the same values at heart.

We know that we couldn’t do what we do without the important people in our teams. We invest in our people and work with them to build career pathways that inspire.