Scaling quality family connection across New Zealand

"If you sit back and wait, you've lost the wave." That’s how BestStart Chief Information Officer Sean O’Donoghue describes the organisation’s decision to move early with AI‑powered documentation.

After reviewing the rapidly evolving EdTech landscape, BestStart selected Mana. It stood apart from other AI tools as a teaching intelligence platform purpose‑built for the early childhood sector, designed by people who understand the demands and requirements unique to ECE teachers.

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The challenge: Quality at scale is a different problem

There has been increasing pressure around documentation on teachers, who balance planning and reporting with the realities of engaging with children on the classroom floor. For larger organisations, those pressures are amplified.

"One of the biggest challenges I've seen, not just in New Zealand but across pedagogy throughout the world, is time for teachers and the overburden of compliance, of documentation, of regulation," observes Sean O'Donoghue, Chief Information Officer.

What compounded the issue was the market’s response. A surge of tools promised to ease documentation pressure, but few were designed with early childhood pedagogy at their core. "There was a plethora of tools out there," Sean notes, "but those tools would most likely be better described as being an inch wide and a mile wide." While many offered broad functionality, they lacked a deep understanding of how ECE educators think, work and plan for children’s learning.

With a clear strategic objective to delight and inspire families, BestStart needed a solution that could protect teaching quality and intentional practice while operating consistently across 260 centres.

Choosing the right partner: Walk the walk

For a CIO evaluating platforms at enterprise scale, trust matters as much as functionality. Technology evolves quickly; but enduring partnerships optimise the use of these tools.

"Mana seemed to talk the talk," Sean recalls, "and over the years we can see that they can walk the walk, which is great." What built that trust was not just delivery, but the way Mana engaged in the design process and the fact that its team comes from an early childhood background.

National Education Leader Clair Edgeler describes that collaboration: "We were really clear in our communication with Mana around the things that were important to us…[to] work in design of making this really fit well"

That collaborative approach, with Mana genuinely listening, building to BestStart's requirements, and maintaining open feedback loops throughout, became the foundation for confidence at scale. "Those feedback loops are really important when you're scaling," Clair explains. "The Mana team wanted to hear positive sentiments and the reservations."

“That gives real trust to any platform that you’re using and the people that you’re partnering with.”

Clair Edgeler, National Education Leader

The family engagement gap: From months-long waits to real connection

BestStart's organisational strategy is explicit: delight and inspire families. Before Mana, the gap between that aspiration and daily reality was wide.

What changed wasn't just the speed of delivery. It was the quality and depth of what families were receiving.

Teacher Dzidzai Masunga describes what's now possible in her room: "Parents are particularly interested in how we are supporting their child, the methods we're using, how we're responding to learning." Through Mana, she's able to suggest strategies that extend from the centre into the home, like a specific counting and sequencing method, creating a genuine bridge between educator and family.

Teacher Rubeena Govender has watched this shift play out in real time: "Families reading our stories, they implement some of the things we do here at home. It's a real connection and working together, and it improves children's learning a lot more."

“One of the things we know about our families is they want to be communicated with around what their child’s learning. And for us at BestStart, we have a strategy that is about delighting and inspiring our families.”

Clair Edgeler, National Education Leader

Teacher time redirected: Less documentation, more intentional presence

For centre manager Jessie Xu, the impact on teachers shows up most clearly on the floor.

"With Mana, teachers' workload is a little bit less. So they will have more energy on the floor, and the teacher will focus on planning and focus on intentional teaching."

That shift from reactive documentation to intentional practice is precisely what Clair's team has been building toward. Mana creates the conditions for teachers to work thoughtfully and then "to be able to share with families their more thoughtful pieces," she explains.

The efficiency gain isn't just about time. It's about redirecting where teachers' professional energy goes, away from administrative catch-up and toward the children in their care.

Security that holds at enterprise scale

When you're managing data for children across a national network, security isn't a feature: it's the foundation.

"Privacy around children is of utmost importance," Sean states plainly. For a CIO responsible for that data, meeting ISO standards is the baseline. But the question goes deeper than certification.

IT Support Manager Chloe Wood puts it directly: "Not everyone realises how unsafe AI can be if not used properly. There are a lot of tools out there that are just wide open, nothing's private. Whereas Mana, it's all enclosed."

That distinction, a closed and private AI environment rather than an open system, was essential for BestStart's confidence. In an era when "AI" has become attached to tools that treat data as an open resource, the ability to point to genuine containment matters.

“As caretakers of child data, privacy around children is of utmost importance.”

Sean O'Donoghue, Chief Information Officer

Moving first: What BestStart has learned

Sean's philosophy on emerging technology is direct.

"If you sit back and wait, you've lost the wave, the momentum, the things that we are learning along the way, not just on what to do, but also what not to do. I'm a big believer that getting first feet into the ground with this type of technology is really important."

For BestStart, moving early hasn't just meant efficiency gains in documentation. It's meant building institutional knowledge: about implementation, about what educators need, about how families respond. That learning compounds.

And it's learning that benefits not just BestStart, but the broader early childhood sector. The organisations moving thoughtfully with AI tools right now are shaping what good looks like for everyone who follows.

For networks evaluating AI documentation tools at scale, the BestStart story points to several clear principles.

Pedagogy-specific beats general AI. Broad platforms built for general use can't serve the niche demands of early childhood education. The right tool understands how ECE educators think and work, not just how to process text.

Partnership matters more than product. At enterprise scale, it's not enough to have the right features. You need a team that listens, co-designs, and builds the roadmap with you. That's what trust at scale requires.

Family engagement is the real measure. Reducing teacher documentation burden matters. But the outcome that matters most is what that freed time and energy produces: richer learning stories that families read, value, and act on at home.

Security has to be foundational, not an add-on. Closed, private AI environments aren't optional when you're responsible for children's data at scale. Ensure any platform treats this as non-negotiable from day one.

First movers learn what followers can't. The organisations moving now with thoughtful AI tools aren't just more efficient. They're building the institutional knowledge and feedback loops that will define best practice for the sector.