If you were familiar with the old location of Hagley Preschool you will be well aware of the big open space that now spans from the staff carpark out to Waller Terrace.

It was with some sadness that we watched the demolition of our old preschool at the end of January. We now watch the empty space with a growing amount of excitement – the remaining building you can see (our staffroom) is to be moved onto the empty site of the old garage, and the new preschool building is expected to appear on site very soon.

In its former life, the new preschool building was a Kidsfirst Kindergarten located in North Kaiapoi. Unfortunately for that community, it closed, but we are privileged to be able to breathe new life into the building as Hagley Community Preschool. We have, of course, needed to make a few alterations to the indoor layout to accommodate our under two-year-olds. The main entry point will be positioned facing Waller Terrace with a pathway from the current car park area, so we will have a street presence. Once in the building our roll size will increase to a maximum of 50 tamariki, compared to 42 previously. Many families will be delighted to hear this because while in our temporary premises our Ministry of Education license limits us to 26 tamariki.

We are all enjoying the temporary use of Simpson House. It is a very calm environment, with wonderful shade trees and easy access to the outdoors from every room. We are operating at full capacity with a number of tamariki now on a waiting list to enrol once we move to our new premises.

We are planning for an opening ceremony and will be sure to send out invitations nearer to the time.