We help Before & After School Care providers around the Southern Hemisphere do what they do best! Fun Zone Out of School Care in Wellington, New Zealand is one of our amazing Enrolmy Providers who are passionate about bringing value to their communities.
We spent an enjoyable day with Fun Zone, learning more about the story behind their success, core values, and how they utilise technology to make their operations more efficient.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself and why you started Fun Zone
Rangi Esson: “Well, hi! My name is Rangi, and this is my wife Motu. We live on the Kapiti Coast (yep, where Kapiti ice cream comes from) just North of Wellington. We've been living here for 12 years and run multiple before and after school/holiday programmes”.
What started as a personal quest to find suitable after-school care for their daughter evolved into a full-fledged business that now operates across multiple locations.
"Fun Zone originally started as Kids Own. Our daughter had just finished early childhood and we needed after-school care for her. However, there were no after-school care programmes in the area, so we sort of thought, why not? I had always wanted to start a business myself." - Rangi.
“Although our professional background had nothing to do with children or education, Motu and I came from finance and management environments. We're both just big kids at heart. We're also very family-oriented and it was really important to us that we could somehow involve our daughter in as much of our work lives as possible. We come from large families too, so that kind of worked in with our experience regarding working with kids. It all kind of came together once we started looking at it”.
Core Values That Drive Success
"We value our kids, their families, our staff, And our communities and schools we're involved in." - Motu Esson.
At the heart of Fun Zone are its core values that resonate through every aspect of its operation – from how they interact with children and parents to how they engage with their staff and the broader community.
For Kids: Letting Children Be Children
"We basically want kids to be kids and have fun! Even with our staff! For our kids to have fun, we want fun employees!" - Rangi.
Fun Zone is built on the belief that childhood should be about fun, exploration, and learning through play. This philosophy guides their program design, ensuring that activities are engaging and diverse and encourage positive social interactions among kids.
Rangi: “The kids need someone who's relatable. So we have our mothering types, and then we have our younger ones who say, Let's go and play this, and Let's go and do this.”
For Parents: Building Trust Through Care
"Our parents are also very important to us. Motu and I always reinforce that the parents are our customers, and the service we provide is looking out for their kids." - Rangi.
Understanding that parents entrust them with their most precious beings, Fun Zone prioritises building strong relationships with families. Through open communication and genuine care for each child’s well-being, they’ve become more than just a service provider; they’re part of the family.
“When we meet and greet them [parents], our frontline team becomes like a second ear. They share what's happened in their day. Parents trust us”.
For Staff: A Relatable And Diverse Team
Q: What qualities do you look for in your staff?
Motu: “One of the biggest things that we look for is people who have an affinity for kids. It's funny when we interview people; we ask them certain questions. And it's hilarious. I'll ask, ‘What do you do if a child is yelling really loud or being naughty?’ And we get some people who respond saying, ‘Ah, I'll do this and I would talk to them and blah blah blah.’ But the people that we end up hiring are the ones who say, “We tell them off, what else are we supposed to do?"
"It's important that our team are relatable; relatable to our families, our kids, and also to each other. It creates a tight team environment where we bounce off each other”- Motu.
“We love the eclectic group of employees that we have. We're not about fixing people into a box. Our kids are not all the same, our schools are not all the same, and we're not the same. So, we value having different people on our team. I always like to describe it as everyone bringing an ingredient for the cake!”
For Community: Giving Back Is Key
"One of our core values is based on the idea that it takes a village to raise a child. We regularly communicate with classroom teachers, support them and find out how the kids are doing in school. We also love to financially support the schools and communities that we're a part of”.
Rangi: “We make an effort to give back to the community by providing sponsorships at primary schools that we're based in. These sponsorships go to children's sports fees, camps, etc. Our staff also volunteer at school galas wherever possible. So it's a win-win opportunity for the school and for ourselves to get our name and what we do out there as well”.
Running Fun-tastic Programmes for Kids at Fun Zone!
Q: What kind of programmes can parents book their children into at Fun Zone?
Rangi: “So we're currently based in eight different schools. We run breakfast clubs in two of them and after-school care in all of them. And then we have the school holiday programmes. Each school that we're based in is very unique and we design our programme to best meet each need of the parents and kids. As we mentioned before, we love letting kids be kids.”
“We're all about providing fun activities and off-site opportunities. We really want our students to explore new things that they may have never experienced before in their life”
“We also believe that to have a productive and effective programme, we need strong relationships with the school principal, the office staff, the teachers and also the caretaker!”
Q: How has technology helped you do what you do?
Motu: “Everything used to be on paper, and it was everywhere. Paper for this, paper for that. And with our backgrounds, we thought, well, surely we could consolidate this and create a paperless environment. With a handful of apps and things, I was able to make all our processes paperless, other than our sign-in and out system. Compared to the amount of time I would originally spend on administration, my new systems were better, but it still wasn't effective enough for what we wanted to do.”
Rangi: “With our backgrounds, we're big on good processes and maximising our time. Especially as we manage multiple locations, each one is quite unique and actually coping with the culture of each one, but also having the systems in place to support that was one of our biggest reasons as to why we switched over to Enrolmy”.
“We wanted one administrative system to meet our diverse needs. Enrolmy works really well to fit our multiple site organisation”
Streamlining Tasks with Enrolmy
“The one thing I really like [about Enrolmy] is that all the customers are in one database but split up by location”.
“It makes it really easy to find and email parents with any relevant information or changes in the programme”.
“The attendance section inside the app is awesome as well”.
“I can see how many kids are attending on what day and who has food allergies and my team can prepare well in advance the afternoon tea and breakfast for the kids”.
“My site managers also love the quick view of who's signed in and out on the tablet attendance”.
“Our booking calendar also carries through parents’ and students’ details to the following term. So now my parents and I don't need to rebook the kids every term”.
“Dealing with the marketing side of Fun Zone, I love that Enrolmy is visually attractive for our parents.”
Rangi: It's a consistent programme across all the schools we're in and even creates less work when it comes to training our different team members.
Q: So if you had to pick ONE Enrolmy feature, what would it be?
“For me, I find the automated invoicing process so valuable. The fact that I don't have to fill out most of the detail on an invoice saves me hours of work” - Motu.
“Enrolmy automatically itemises the children’s booking calendar on an invoice. So parents have a good reference to exactly what they're paying for. The clarity for both of us makes administration so much simpler. When we enabled our parents to pay by credit card via Enrolmy, the record of that payment was also automated as Enrolmy syncs with Xero. So I no longer have to backtrack and double-check who has paid and what cash connects to what invoice. It's done. Another thing I love is being notified of new enrolments.”
“Haha, I actually had to get used to the quickness of people paying!”
What's next for Fun Zone?
Rangi: “So we don't know why, but people just keep having kids, ha! So there's always a need for what we do! We're looking to continue developing relationships with the schools in our region and continuing to open up programs that meet the needs of our local parents.”
“We're focusing on developing our branding a little bit more and we can see how Enrolmy can play a valuable part in that”.
For Fun Zone, adopting Enrolmy wasn’t just about simplifying admin work; it was about refocusing on what truly matters—delivering quality care that meets the needs of their local families. With Enrolmy taking care of bookings, attendance, and other repetitive tasks, Fun Zone can now dedicate more time to creating enriching, fun experiences for the kids. By leaving the admin to us, they're able to make an even bigger difference in their community.
This is why we love supporting amazing providers like Fun Zone to deliver high-quality before and after-school care that brings value to their community.
We know parents choose activity providers based on many factors—from safety and trust to the variety of programs on offer. More than just keeping their children safe, they want providers who actively contribute to their child’s growth during those valuable hours spent outside of home. If handling the administrative side of things feels like a challenge, Enrolmy is here to streamline the process. Our platform makes managing programs a breeze, so you can focus on what matters most—creating meaningful and memorable experiences for the kids.