Why Adelaide?
Adelaide prides itself on providing a warm, caring environment together with quality learning experiences and a team of experienced, qualified educators. Adelaide has all the indoor and outdoor resources that young minds and bodies need - from play equipment and toys to books and gardens. It all adds up to a rich learning environment.
Adelaide has a maximum roll of 30 children per day, so there is one staff member for every six children. Such a low ratio ensures there are always enough teachers to provide quality learning experiences that suit each child's stage of development. It also enables activities such as trips into the community.
Parent cooperative
The centre is a parent cooperative. That means Adelaide is not run for profit and parents are involved in the governance and management of the centre. A New Zealand Council for Educational Research concluded that parent cooperatives like Adelaide deliver a higher quality of early childhood education than privately-owned centres.
For further information about the Adelaide experience and our great teaching team, contact the centre to arrange a visit.
History
The Adelaide childcare centre, which is now known as Adelaide Early Childhood Centre, was conceived from a playgroup meeting at an inner city Hall.
After receiving enquires from whanau wanting childcare to allow them to work and a need to support unmarried mothers and solo parents who needed childcare so they could work, a core group of motivated parents and former primary teachers set up the centre in June 1973 in a building at 97 Adelaide Road. With no direct government assistance all costs including salaries had to be met by the centre and its funds.
As a community based, parent co-op the whanau involvement was the crucial factor in establishing the centre. Through obtaining support from friends, local businesses, and after much lobbying and struggle the group was able to purchase the premises at 28 Colombo Street with a 2/3 capitation subsidy from the Dept. of Social Welfare, $7000 from the Wellington City Council and $2000 from fund raising. The mayor of Wellington, Mr. M Fowler, officially opened the centre on the 14th October, 1978.
This was a fantastic achievement and was the beginning of recognition by local and central government of early childhood education and care. Adelaide is now one of the oldest centres of it type in Wellington.