Toddlers queue to learn

By BRONWYN SELL education reporter

Thousands of Auckland preschoolers are on waiting lists for state kindergartens.

Some have been in the queue for nearly two years.

Figures released yesterday show that a record 4500 children aged over 3 are waiting for places in the 104 Auckland Kindergarten Association centres.

Some will have to wait until they are 4 years and 8 months old - months before they start school. The generally accepted starting age is 3.

Worst affected are children in fast-growing suburbs such as Howick and Greenhithe, and in Mt Eden.

Playcentres in some areas also have waiting lists. Many parents are taking children to neighbouring suburbs or enrolling them in private preschools, which charge almost seven times the low voluntary fees of state kindergartens or playcentres.

The Auckland Kindergarten Association and the Playcentre Federation want more Government money.

Association president Victoria Carter said waiting lists had grown steadily over the past ten years, and the end-of-year surplus - $288,000 last year - was not enough to build more kindergartens.

One of the longest waiting lists in Auckland is at the three-year-old Somerville Kindergarten in Howick, a suburb undergoing a building boom.

Head teacher Gayleen Blakeman said 160 children aged over 3 were on the list. Many had to wait until they were 4 years and 2 months old for one of the 90 places, or go elsewhere.

Parent Karyn Gradon, who is the chairwoman of the kindergarten committee, said the waiting times were frustrating and teachers often bore the brunt of parent anger.

It was important for children to spend as much time as possible in a stimulating, social, learning environment such as a kindergarten, she said.

"At the moment we've got them for eight months, and it should be a lot longer."

The association says 1300 children in East Auckland are on waiting lists.

It is lobbying the Ministry of Education to build another kindergarten next to a school planned in Browns Ave, Pakuranga.

New Zealand Kindergartens president Averill Stephenson said Auckland was probably the worst area for waiting lists, although there were also long lists elsewhere.

Playcentre Federation president Candy Smith said some Auckland playcentres had waiting lists, depending on what else was available in the neighbourhood. Fees were kept low, but Government bulk funding - which was shared out among centres partly according to need - did not cover costs.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard has established a working party to assess whether more money should be available to preschools in lower socio-economic areas.