This week, Coastlands Preschool celebrated being open for 20 years.

The school’s beginning can be traced back to May 2006 with a single classroom, now known as Rūma Kiwi, 22 tamariki and three kaiako.

The preschool is now a home away from home for 113 tamariki from 84 families and has 29 permanent staff members on its team.

The preschool, formerly known as Rangitaiki Early Childhood Learning Centre, was opened by Gay and Greg West who, at the time, also owned and operated the adjoining Rangitaiki Independent School.

In 2008, a second room was opened, Rūma Pukeko, catering for older tamariki and in 2020, recognising a need in the community for quality care for infants, the centre grew again with the opening of Rūma Tui, a purpose-built room for under twos.

The year 2020 also saw Coastlands Preschool begin its ‘Beach School’ - weekly excursions to the local beach for its older tamariki. Over the years this has grown from once a week to three times a week, allowing 24 of the oldest tamariki to spend one morning a week at the beach.

Throughout 2021 and 2022 the centre went through a revamp and renovation to ensure the two buildings adhered to “best practice”, which meant no more bright green and blue walls.

This allowed for a big shift in the centre at the beginning of 2023 when the preschool disestablished its toddler and preschool room and created two “mixed aged” rooms, both catering for tamariki from two years old until they headed off to school.

Staff say this brought immense benefits for both tamariki and kaiako.

Now, the team are excited for what lies ahead this year – the redevelopment of their over-two outdoor play spaces.

Coastlands Preschool has a history of staff remaining at the centre for long periods of time. Over the past 20 years, the centre has had only two managers - Brenda Stewart, for the first 16 years (who even now can still be found in the centre as a reliever) and Jacqui Johnston, who took over as manager in 2022.

Several of the staff are nearing their 10-year anniversary at the centre, and are still just as passionate about the tamariki, families and their job as when they started.

Sam Regan is in her 13th year at the centre, albeit with a five-year break when she relocated to Christchurch before returning to be the team leader when Rūma Tui was opened.

Mr West is grateful to the managers and teachers who have shaped the pre-school into what it is today.

“It’s the staff that make the school as they are the ones that care, support and help our tamariki become who they are. We never thought the school would expand the size it is and we look forward to another 20 years,” he said.

Having both spent most of their lives in education, the Wests know that the most important factor in a child’s success is the relationship with their kaiako.

With this in mind, Coastlands Preschool has always maintained kaiako to child ratios far better than what is required by the Ministry of Education.

This allows kaiako to really get to know the tamariki in their care, and ensure solid relationships are developed with both the tamariki and their family.

The introduction of the mixed-age rooms has seen these relationships flourish even more as tamariki are now with the same kaiako for up to four years.

Another stand out feature of the centre is the space.

All three rooms at Coastlands Preschool have nearly, or in some cases, more than twice the space required by the Ministry of Education. The preschool is grateful to all those in the community who have supported it in the past 20 years and excited for the years ahead.