Oanaka Educare at Riverside has opened a year ahead of schedule because of pressure on waiting lists at other facilities and support from the Albert Town community, where many young families live.
Oanaka Educare at Riverside is the second facility built by Oanaka directors Dot and Chris Macfie and Sandie and Barry Dodds - they opened their first in Connor St, Wanaka, in February 2008.
Mrs Macfie said yesterday she was amazed at what she and her fellow directors had been able to achieve in such a short time.
The Connor St Oanaka Educare Centre has a licence for 65 children and a similar licence will eventually be applied for at Riverside, Albert Town.
Mrs Macfie said many Albert Town families using the Connor St centre had chosen to switch to the Riverside facility, but the spaces at Connor St had been filled quickly by other families on the waiting list.
Oanaka Educare at Riverside has had to limit some sessions for under 2-year-olds because of staffing ratios but there is still space in the over 2-year-olds classes.
When another teacher has been appointed, more spaces for under-twos would become available, Mrs Macfie said.
Albert Town, 5km from Wanaka's town centre, last had a school in 1870.
It closed in 1876 for lack of pupils.
Now, following a decade of rapid growth, the Upper Clutha's permanent population is at least 7000 and Albert Town is virtually a suburb of Wanaka.
The projected permanent population in 2026 is 14,500.
When developer Infinity Group recently designed its new Riverside subdivision at Albert Town, it obtained designation for an early child care facility near the new wetland reserve in Rifleman St and invited Oanaka Educare to build.
The centre is employing three full-time registered teachers and three part-time teachers-in-training, plus an office worker and cleaner.
Mrs Macfie, a qualified primary school teacher, quit her job at Mt Aspiring College last year to job-share with her sister, Sandie Dodds, at Oanaka's Connor St premises.
Mrs Macfie is also studying through Massey University for her early childhood teaching qualifications.
Mrs Dodds remains the director of the Connor St centre.
Wanaka early education centres have struggled at times to find registered teachers because of changes in national standards, forcing many long-standing staff to retrain.
Staff retention has also been a problem because of Wanaka's high living costs.
But Mrs Macfie said the situation should improve.
"It is still a struggle to find registered teachers but by the end of this year it should be a lot better. There are a lot of one-year courses now," she said.
Mrs Macfie said the two Oanaka centres were now satisfying the needs of most enrolled families, whereas previously they had sometimes struggled to provide full-time care for the children of working parents.
The design and teaching philosophies at the Riverside centre were very similar to the Connor St centre, which had made setting up the new centre relatively straightforward, she said.
Between now and opening day, Mrs Macfie will organise an opening ceremony for families and complete the last of the paperwork before a Ministry of Education inspection later this month.
The Central Otago Kindergarten Association opened the Hawea Flat Kindergarten in January 2008.
Other facilities are: Aspiring Early Beginnings Centre, Wanaka Preschool, Montessori School, the Upper Clutha Playgroup (St Andrews Church) and Tarras Playgroup.
Land has also been earmarked for an early child care centre in development plans for part of the Kirimoko Block near the Holy Family School.
