About Us

Kay and Richard took over as owners of Children First Early Childhood Centre in 2017 and this is a wee blurb about who they are.  The Burn Whanau or to be more true to our heritage - Clan herald originally from the North East of England.  Despite our accent, we are technically not Geordies but proud Northumbrians.

Although we see Northumberland as our home county we as a family never lived there because we traipsed around the UK and North West Europe living at various Royal Air Force Bases for nearly 20-years.  We then emigrated as a family to NZ in 2005 and have lived in Upper Hutt ever since.

So, who are we?  Kay, is the friendly face who can be found in the office.  Then there is her devoted husband Richard an ex Air Force Engineer who now works for the Ministry of Defence in Wellington.  Our son Sean works as a policeman in Porirua. He is married to Ayesha and they live in Titahi Bay with their handsome sons Tahua and Te Kanae.  Our daughter Lisa lives in Trentham with her husband Enrico and their beautiful daughters' Ariana and Raniesha and son Matteo.  Lisa is a registered Early Childhood teacher and you may have seen her as the Centre Manager before taking parental leave and Enrico works as a printer in Porirua.  

We took on the responsibility of Children First Early Childhood Centre pretty much as a family venture.  Richard has an engineering and technology (IT) background and works behind the scenes (alongside his MOD role) to help keep the business ticking over.  Kay, as the holder of the license, is the ‘service provider’ and is the ‘contact person’ responsible for running the office on a day to day basis.  Kat, as the Centre Manager (Lisa's on parental leave) will be directly involved in, and primarily responsible for, the day-to-day education, care, comfort, health and safety of the children.