Celia King began her teaching career as an Early Childhood kaiako at Hagley College 18 years ago.

Celia enjoys working at Hagley and said she couldn’t teach anywhere else. Celia said the Early Childhood Education (ECE) course allows her to be creative in her teaching and she loves the support she receives from colleagues. The ākonga do theory and practice together, with learning happening both in the classroom and in their ECE centre placement where they go once a week for a day’s practicum. It is a course that either pathways to tertiary study or ECE centre-based teaching.

Before coming to Hagley, Celia had studied for a BA in Geography, Economics and English. Celia taught at St Marys, Aranui, Christchurch Girls’ High and Blue Mountain College. Celia taught for three years and had two beautiful daughters, who were the catalyst for Celia to return to study and retrain as an Early Childhood Educator. Celia went on to work as a supervisor for Playcentre (working both at Shirley and then the University of Canterbury) and later for Barnardos, who continue to support, protect and educate thousands of New Zealand children. Celia was a parent educator through Barnardos and involved in the “Parents as First Teachers" programme and enjoyed the work by making a real difference for these families.

It was while Celia was working for Barnardos that the position of Early Childhood Educator came up at Hagley College. Celia was very keen to return to te kura and so applied for the position and was successful. Celia says "ākonga at Hagley are positive, honest, very diverse and everyone gets along with each other."  Celia likes the collegiality and especially the way the kaimahi support each other.

Celia has many interests, including hosting exchange rangatahi for six years, especially from Sweden and Germany where she has formed many lasting relationships. One of Celia’s biggest loves is caring for the environment so our bird species can survive. Bird watching has taken a lot of Celia’s time over the last 10 years and has also taken her all over the world to Africa, America, and Europe, allowing her to follow her passion. Celia is quick to point out that we have our own owl on site here at Hagley in our trees at the front of the kura. The support for the environment and sustainability has encouraged Celia to run a recycling “swap meet” once a year for the College where you get to give a piece of clothing and in return you take a piece of clothing. It is this extra commitment to the environment that I admire in Celia, as she says we all need to do our bit to make our planet fit for our mokopuna and their mokopuna.