Our Organisation

Kidsfirst Kindergartens is one of New Zealand’s largest early childhood education (ECE) providers. For almost a century, the Canterbury Westland Kindergarten Association - Mo Nga Tamariki Me Nga Whanau O Waitaha Me Tai Poutini - has introduced young children to a world of wonder, play and learning.

A long-standing not-for-profit organisation, we have undergone some big changes in recent years to give Kidsfirst the strong base necessary to remain a pre-eminent provider of early childhood education.

Today, Kidsfirst is the largest ECE network in the South Island with over 60 centres catering for around 4,500 children, with more than 300 staff. Our network stretches across Christchurch, Canterbury and the West Coast. We are proud to be a successful and well-respected part of the educational environment of New Zealand.

Since our first kindergarten opened around a hundred years ago, much has changed. Today’s kindergartens are established with sustainability in mind. We operate in a much more commercial environment. The old kindergarten committees of the past would struggle with the many and varied demands of today, so we have centralised key operations to allow our teachers to do what they do best - to teach. They are then free to engage with parents, family and whanau in all sorts of constructive and positive ways. We believe our centres are better because of this.

Kindergarten has always been an innovator and we are keen to look forward, while still recognising where we have been and the special attributes that need to be protected for generations to come.

We need to ensure that we provide both the highest quality of early childhood education to today’s children, and that we are able to do the same for subsequent generations. That’s why growing our solid, professional infrastructure and ensuring a high calibre within our Board and Senior Management Team, including our Chief Executive, has been such a key focus for Kidsfirst in recent years.

With an annual turnover of many millions and large numbers of children coming to our centres, Kidsfirst has had to develop a sophisticated and robust structure - one that we are constantly re-evaluating to ensure it meets the demands of our increasingly competitive world and ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of our diverse communities, for this is where local kids come to play, learn and have fun - today, tomorrow and well into the future.