More than 100 years young…

With a history going back over 110 years, we’re proud of our past and the generations of tamariki, kaiako, parents and caregivers, educational experts, committee members and people from our local communities who have passed through those gates.

From humble beginnings our kindergartens have thrived over the decades…

Across the years, through good days and more challenging times, kindergarten has been a staple of our communities. Generation after generation have come to kindy, as something that kiwi kids like to do. Many of our kindergartens today tell of multiple generations of the same family that have gravitated towards the sandpit, drawn pictures, laughed and played. It’s that special kindergarten experience.

All our kindergartens have stories to tell.

We’re working on a brief history of some of those on our new history site, which will be launched soon.

Most are still in the process of being updated (you can imagine how much we need to sort through, as we dig into deep cupboards and long unopened photo albums) but have a smattering of images from their past.

Our first kindergarten was Sunbeam, which opened in Edgeware back in 1911 with Miss Helena Hull as Principal.

Through prosperity and good times, wars, earthquakes, floods, and depressions, we’ve been there, doing what we can for the children and their whānau.

Every year is different, but so many bring their own challenges.

Many decades ago, after the war years and the austerity that followed, our Kindergarten Principal noted that, once again, the Association had endured another ‘very tough’ year and how she longed for an easier one.

She had no idea of the earthquake sequence that would devastate so many of our kindergartens around the time of our centenary, the tragedy of Pike River on the West Coast, or the horror of Christchurch’s mosque shootings, floods, and fires – not to mention COVID.

Yet, in some small way, kindergarten has been a world of its own, a sanctuary from much of what is happening outside the kindy gates where children (and their families) can take a breath and enjoy some time together away from so much of the stress that so often surrounds us.

This is what we refer to as te ao kindy – the world of kindergarten.

Everybody is welcome here, and we’re pleased to see you. Nau mai, haere mai, tauti mai.

While times have changed, so much has been familiar over the years, with tamariki enjoying the same things, discovering their world and interacting with their teachers and friends. Likewise, our values, those core principles on which we were founded, have remained consistent – and, as our name so proudly states, we put kids first. It’s the way it has always been and our commitment to the future.