Children watch their kindy get flattened

Jonathan Rhodes Kindergarten children put down their sandpit toys yesterday to watch the real thing in action.

More than 30 children, parents, teachers and committee members gathered to watch the 58-year-old kindergarten get flattened by a big yellow digger before rebuilding.

"It's been quite a build-up. When you're going to demolish a kindergarten, you have to talk the children through it," Dunedin Kindergarten senior teacher Jill Cameron said yesterday.

"Children love real-life experiences, so today they went down to see the old building go. It was quite emotional, really."

Jonathan Rhodes Kindergarten opened in 1953, but was in desperate need of maintenance and had become too small for the needs of the Northeast Valley community.

"There are lots of memories there for a lot of people. We had a lot of old parents and committee members come down. A lot of children have been through that kindergarten since in was built in 1953," Mrs Cameron said. "It's the end of an era."

The 60 children who attend the kindergarten have been moved to temporary premises in the Northeast Valley School hall since the kindergarten closed last Friday.

"We're going to build on the footprint of the old kindergarten and the playground will stay where it is, too."

The Port Chalmers Kindergarten was also demolished last week and has been temporarily relocated in a nearby converted house.

Both kindergartens are scheduled to reopen in January.

- nigel.benson@odt.co.nz