One Year of Willowsong Kindergarten

On 9 June 2025, ten tamariki walked through our doors for the very first time. The paint was barely dry, the garden was still finding its feet, and so were we — a small circle of kaiako, whānau, and children beginning something new together in Patutahi.

One year on, that circle of ten has grown to twenty-five, with a twenty-sixth tamaiti due to start this term. Behind that number sits a waitlist of families who have heard about Willowsong from others and want a place here too — the surest sign that what we set out to build is resonating with our community.

It has been a year of finding our rhythm together. We welcomed Whitsun, then Matariki as the days shortened and the nights grew longer, an Autumn/Harvest festival to give thanks for the season's gifts, a Spring Fair that brought our wider community through the gate, and a Christmas celebration to close out the year. In between, we marked the smaller, no less important moments — birthdays celebrated one by one, and the bittersweet joy of farewelling tamariki as they left us for school, ready for what comes next. These rhythms, held together across a full turn of the seasons, are what a first year at Willowsong has actually looked like.

We have grown in quieter ways too. New kaiako have joined our team. Policies that protect our tamariki have been written, reviewed, and implemented. Our website now carries information, updates, and a simple way for whānau to manage payments online. None of this is part of kindergarten life that shows up in a photo, but it is what lets the rest of it happen safely and well.

None of this first year happened by accident. Every festival, celebration, and quiet piece of progress has had our committee behind it — volunteering their time, expertise, and care to steward this kaupapa from the ground up. Alongside them, kaiako have shown up each day with warmth and consistency, and whānau trusted us with their tamariki before we had a year behind us to point to. Ngā mihi nui to everyone who has made this first year what it was.

As we look to year two, our waitlist tells us there is more room to grow — and more tamariki and whānau to welcome into this small, particular corner of Tairawhiti. We are grateful for the first year and looking forward to the next.

Ngā mihi maioha,

Willowsong Kindergarten