Call for interest in new kindergarten

Parents in Oamaru are being urged to register their interest in enrolling their children at a new kindergarten, before it opens next year.

The Oamaru Kindergarten Association expects to open the town's fourth kindergarten in mid-to-late 2013, and association general manager Julie Craig said the planned facility in Torridge St would have room for about 30 children.

"We are very excited about the proposed new kindergarten and believe it is a positive project for children and families, the community and the association.

"We thought it was time to offer something different, and we will certainly be looking at supporting some of the families that are on our waiting list, but mostly offering it to families who haven't taken up the option of kindergarten yet," Ms Craig said.

The association would apply for grants and community support to fund the building, Ms Craig said.

"There is already an existing building that we will do up, and that will go out to tender early in 2013."

The new facility would also run school education programmes during the holidays, she saidOamaru Kindergarten Association Board president Neil Jorgensen said having another kindergarten in the town would help ensure more families had access to high-quality early childhood education.

"A new kindergarten service in Oamaru will help realise this goal and will support families and children within our local community."

-andrew.ashton@odt.co.nz