Topcare Early Childhood Centre

It’s true – at Gilligan Sheppard we like to brag and we know we have some amazing clients. One such client is Topcare Early Childhood Centre and I had the extreme pleasure of going out to the Portage Road Centre to meet with Jackie. What an experience, even more so as this was a home I owned and lived in for approximately eight years! Our three children all attended the local kindergarten and started their schooling at the local primary school. As a family we extended the size of the house and enjoyed the huge space we created indoors and outdoors.
Topcare have turned this once family home into a great purpose built childhood centre while still retaining the warmth and nurturing this home possesses. The design and building of the centre was started from scratch by Jackie and what an achievement!

Topcare puts the children first – balancing the play time
and building relationships.

Jackie is the founder of Topcare Early Childhood Centres. She is positive, caring and knowledgeable towards the children in the centre and the Topcare story speaks for her success. Topcare‘s philosophy is “RESPECT, CARE and FUN”. Topcare puts the children first – balancing the play time and building relationships. Jackie has a passion for business in early childhood education. With her incredible desire for upskilling and vision in education, Jackie has achieved success in awards, honours, diploma, a bachelor degree, and a master’s degree.
Topcare would like to franchise the model they have and use Gilligan Sheppard for financial advice and improvement, tax planning, corporate structure and efficiencies. Yi Ping and Gilligan Sheppard’s relationship with Jackie has been one of trust and understanding on her business.
The children in the centres start from two years old and they learn excellent self-help and academic skills. Family cultures are celebrated with individual national culture days which give the children a real sense of belonging, identity and pride. Topcare recognises the importance of the academic curriculum expected from the school on the children. It connects with Papatoetoe North Primary School and helps the transition from early childhood education to primary school. They also visit Kidz First Hospital, Papatoetoe Private Hospital, the local police station, and the Papatoetoe RSA regularly to encourage a sense of community involvement. Moreover, Topcare has organised two fund raising dinners for Kidz First Hospital in order to raise the public awareness and support for the local children’s hospital which will continue as an annual event. For these successes, Jackie wants to express her thanks to the Topcare teachers and her neighbours – especially John and Roma Smith. John and Roma are indeed great community role models for being generous, caring, and supportive towards Topcare.
Jackie was recently photographed in the New Zealand Herald with Michael Barnett, CEO of Auckland Chamber of Commerce at the Westpac Auckland Business Awards: South Gala Dinner 2015. For this Award, Topcare is a finalist in Excellence in Customer Service Delivery. In 2013, Topcare was a finalist in Best Emerging Business from this Westpac Auckland South Business Awards competition and a finalist in ECC-Telecom Innovation & Improvement Awards which recognise New Zealand’s top performing organisations of early childhood education. In 2011, Jackie was nominated for the NEiTA Foundation’s National Excellence in Leadership Award that honours the teaching profession in New Zealand.