Preparing For School

The little girl at top left with the wistful expression on her face, is Catherine Coote. Every morning between 9 a. m. and noon she stations herself at the back fence of her home which looks into the Grove Street Free Kindergarten to watch the kiddies at play. Very shortly, however, Catherine will be on the inside of that fence, for at long last her name is close to the top of the waiting list kept by each of the kindergarten association's four kindies at Grove Street, Nelson South, Stoke and Richmond. Here New Zealand's smallest citizens take their first organised educational steps. The association has been operating for about 13 years, but only in the last five years have these beautiful new kindergartens been built, and another, at Tahuna, will be commenced shortly. To secure these facilities, the association has raised £6000, but lack of finance has prevented the erection of more buildings in fast-growing areas. At present, the four kindies cater for about 320 kiddies, but there are waiting lists of well over this figure. "Photo News" visited all four recently to see the work being done.