Mia-Rose Farmer, 4, Ryder Pomare–Tahan, 3, teacher Shavaurn Bennett and Olly Lythe, 3, want their kindy to stay open. Photo: Alisha Evans/LDR
Mia-Rose Farmer, 4, Ryder Pomare–Tahan, 3, teacher Shavaurn Bennett and Olly Lythe, 3, want their kindy to stay open. Photo: Alisha Evans/LDR
One of Tauranga’s oldest kindergartens is facing an uncertain future as its lease on council land will be terminated.
Over more than 50 years the Avenues Kindergarten has taught thousands of young children, but Tauranga City Council said it won’t be renewing the facility’s lease in 2027 so it can increase the useable greenspace.
Teacher Shavaurn Bennett said ending the lease “seems very short-sighted” and it wouldn’t just affect the children and their families.
”You’re not just shutting a building, you’re ripping a heart out of a community.”
The donation-based kindy is built on the Scout Reserve in Botanical Rd and has a full roll of 40 children aged two to five. Bennett said they had a waiting list and receive two enquiries a week from families eager to enrol their children.
Head teacher Catherine Geddes said the closure won’t affect the pre-schoolers at the centre now, but it could affect their siblings.
”We’ve got families where the grandparents right through to the grandchildren have come through the kindergarten.”
The kids are invested in keeping their kindy too. One child crafted a letter to the council asking them not to close the kindy because they had just finished building a bug hotel and they didn’t want it taken away. The youngster gave this to Shavaurn during Local Democracy Reporting’s visit.
Avenues Kindergarten, previously known as Botanical Road Kindergarten, is one of 16 Inspired Kindergartens in Tauranga.
Amara-Ann Martellli, 4, Winter Hawan, 2, and Prue Marshall, 5, having trolley loads of fun at Avenues Kindergarten. Photo: Alisha Evans/LDR
The not-for-profit early childhood education service operates 25 kindergartens and a home-based early learning service in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel. Principal Peter Monteith said if they need to relocate the estimated cost to replace the building and outdoor play area would be $1.75 million, which could take years to raise.
Eight of 16 Tauranga Inspired Kindergartens are on land leased from the council, making them the “largest community user” of TCC land, said Monteith. He was concerned that if the council was ending the lease of one their kindergartens, it could do it to others. Monteith said Inspired Kindergartens was keen to work with the council on a “mutually beneficial” way forward.
Council spaces and places manager Sarah Pearce said it confirmed in October that the kindergarten would need to relocate when its lease expired.
”While kindergartens are clearly of community benefit, [the] council faces a limited land resource and increasing pressures on open space.”
Scout Reserve is a key reserve for play and relaxation in an area of Tauranga where those types of spaces are relatively rare.
”The neighbourhood around the reserve is expected to undergo significant change over the coming years, with higher density development being enabled along the Te Papa peninsula to accommodate our growing population and provide better housing choice,” said Pearce.
”This will increase the need for local reserves to deliver greenspace and recreation opportunities for the existing and future community there.
“Our intention is to expand the useable space at the reserve to accommodate growing demand – and to do so will require the space occupied by the kindergarten.”
Another reason given was to “create better visual and physical access to the reserve” after a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design report recommended that the kindergarten location should be reviewed because it “adversely affected the visibility into the park”.
Pearce said the council offered Inspired Kindergartens a possible site for relocation, but Monteith said the site was not big enough for the kindergarten’s needs.
The council was keen to work with Inspired Kindergartens on further options for relocation, either on council-owned land or otherwise, said Pearce.
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
