NEW KINDERGARTEN

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 208, 30 May 1936, Page 7

NEW KINDERGARTEN

Opening Ceremony at Wellington South HON. P. FRASER ATTENDS The seventh kindergarten in Wellington was ollicially opened by the Minister of Education, Hon. I'. Fraser, yesterday afternoon. Situated in Owen Street, it is to lie known as the Wellington South Free Kindergarten, and is the fourth regarded by the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association as its own. Actually this kindergarten has been working since Easter of this yea r.

Tim president of the association, Mrs. J. A. Doctor, presided. Associated witli her were the .Mayor and Mayoress, Mr. and Mrs. T. C. A. Hislop. Lady Luke, the Director of Education, Mr. N. T. Lamboiirne, the architect, .Mr. W. Gray Young, the contractor, Mr. Faulkner, Miss Nancy Jones, who drew the plans for tiie building, the director of the school, .Miss .Stewart Hamilton, and the principal, Miss E. Wilson, as well as representatives of the Wellington South Mothers’ Club. Mrs. Doctor said the kindergarten was the result of many years’ hard work. For years the school had been held in the Constable Street Congregational Church. Then in 1922 it was decided to make a special effort to obtain a section and build a kindergarten. At the end of the first year £56 had been collected; this amount had been increased by £lOO nt the end of the next year. In 1930 the Governmeat decided to grant a subsidy on the money collected for the section. The slump intervened, but efforts were continued and last year the foundation stone was laid. The building bad been occupied since Easter.

She said she wished to thank various Wellington firms for the material assistance they bad given, Mr. Gray Young and Miss Nancy Jones for their work in designing the building, Mr. Faulkner for his excellent work as contractor, the Unemployment Board for the subsidj’ it had provided, .Mrs. Robert Gibbons, through whose offer of £lO a sum of £l4O had been raised, the city council for its support, Mr. B. Sutherland, of Karori, for his offer io have the lawns laid out, and all those others who had given the association their assistance. .Mrs. Doctor drew attention to the memorial window, at one end of the main classroom, which had been given by Lady Luke and her relatives in memory of Sir John Luke, who had taken a keen interest in the association’s work.

.Mr. Hislop and Mr. Lambourne congratulated the association upon the results of its efforts to open the kindergarten. Mr. Hislop said lie thought there was no more important movement in education than that of the free kindergarten which looked after children from the age of three to the age of five.

Mr. Fraser congratulated the council of the association, the local committee and the Mothers’ Club for their wonderful co-o[>erative effort. Their work was of real social importance apart altogether from its educational value. The kindergarten movement, he said, embodied the spirit of goodwill and cooperation which was to be seen throughout New Zealand. The kindergarten was most important, because it gave the child a chance of developing along its own natural lines, of expressing itself in its own way. .Members of the .Mothers’ Club gave several glee songs both before and after the Minister had formally declared the kindergarten ojien. (Picture on Page 9.)