Welcome to Rutherford Street Kindergarten
Our Vision is to be a centre that provides high-quality early childhood education, engaging with children, whānau and the wider community.
About us
Operating since the late 1950s, Rutherford Street Kindergarten provides high-quality early childhood education and care for children living in Nelson city and surrounding suburbs.
We are a small, welcoming, community-minded centre with a maximum of 30 children enrolled at any one time.
Our centre manager and the team of qualified teachers are committed to high-quality relationships that are child-centred. Our centre is community-based and is governed by a dedicated board made up of parents and community members.
Why Rutherford Street Kindergarten
- Fun, high-quality education and care
- Qualified teachers with excellent ratios
- Fantastic facilities
- Great flexibility
Our sessions
We are licensed for opening from 8 am – 5:30 pm every weekday. Children can attend anytime during these hours. While our preferred minimum time is six hours for Government funding purposes we happily offer shorter sessions by arrangement. Children are encouraged to attend a minimum of two full days per week so they have lots of opportunities to settle well. Children bring their own lunchboxes and while we eat a rolling morning and afternoon tea, we all sit together for lunch. We keep crackers, and cheese in the kitchen so if children run out of food in their lunch boxes they won’t go hungry! We like children to bring a spare change of clothing for their wet and messy play. We do have a few spares but know that children usually prefer their own. We are open all year except for two weeks over Christmas/New Year, and we close for weekends and public holidays.
Enrolment
We are always happy to welcome new children and their whānau to Rutherford Street Kindergarten.
If you are interested in enrolling your child or simply would like to have a look around please get in touch.
Fees
We can offer 30 free hours of ECE for children aged three years and over (conditions apply.)
Our current hourly rate is $6.75.
The Government has 20 hours of free ECE available for 3 – 5-year-olds (up to 6 hours per day) – we ask for a voluntary charge of 50 cents per each ECE hour claimed. WINZ subsidies are available depending on family income.