Waikato Kindergarten Association was formally instituted in 1946, with Early Education Waikato being formed in 2005 to operate early education centres and, later, homebased education for the organisation. Between them, that's more than 100 years of service to Hamilton and surrounding communities!
Waikato Kindergarten Association was formally instituted in 1946, with Early Education Waikato being formed in 2005 to operate early education centres and, later, homebased education for the organisation. Between them, that's more than 100 years of service to Hamilton and surrounding communities!
The Waikato Kindergarten Association (WKA) was set up as a training organisation for kindergarten teachers in the 1920s. This society went into recess after only a few years. It re-formed in 1946 as an incorporated society and began establishing kindergartens throughout the region, the last being established in the 1970s. The Association’s early development was driven by some extraordinary women, who worked in a largely volunteer basis to establish and grow the organisation and lobby for government recognition. Some of our Waikato leaders played significant roles in the kindergarten movement at a national level.
In 1998, WKA changed to a charitable trust, which allows much greater operational flexibility than an incorporated society.
Our competition originally came from individual private owners. Private childcare centres, operating outside the state sector, have been around since the 1970s. However, they were expensive and this limited their impact on services like kindergartens, which traditionally offered more limited hours. In 1989 all ECE services were brought under the same regulatory framework and this opened up government funding to private providers, triggering massive growth in the sector and some big challenges for kindergartens. The introduction of 20 hours ECE funding in 2007, while a fantastic incentive for parents, further increased the competitive challenges for kindergartens.
In 2004, in response to these challenges, the Trust established Early Education Waikato (EEW). EEW opened its first centre in 2006 - EEW Rototuna. That same year - the Association was gifted Te Rapa Community Kindergarten. In 2007 the Association closed this as a kindergarten and re-opened it as an EEW centre.
In 2007 the Association was gifted Te Kowhai Community Kindergarten. In 2015, the Association was gifted the Lintotts Centre at 17 O’Neil St and a property in Camellia St by the historical Hamilton Childcare Services Trust. The Association sold the Camellia St property in 2015 and the O’Neill St property is run as Claudelands ECC by EEW. Hamilton Childcare Services Trust also gifted its home-based care networks to WKA at this time and passed over the lease to a property at 12 Richmond St used for home based playgroups. Both are run under EEW.
Since then, the Association has continued to focus on establishing new centres in key city growth areas, as well as land adjacent to existing kindergartens with a view to future expansion.
