Kidsfirst The Bays

The Bays

Kidsfirst The Bays opened as Mount Pleasant Kindergarten on the 1st of February 1954.

Kidsfirst The Bays’ purpose-built backyard is located in close proximity to the sea, reflecting the Mount Pleasant community surrounding area.

Mount Pleasant kindergarten opened to serve the rapidly growing community on the Port Hills.

When the earthquake happened in 2011, Mount Pleasant’s site was badly damaged, and day-to-day kindergarten life was moved into a nearby church. While this worked for a while, soon there was a need for a new purpose-built kindergarten in the area, and Kidsfirst The Bays was born.

Designed to reflect the surrounding area, and capture some of the exciting parts of living at the foot of Mount Pleasant, the new kindergarten site was opened on the 25th of July 2017. Since then, tamariki in the area have loved spending their days with friends, living and learning near the ocean.

Tamariki from Kidsfirst The Bays have been used in a number of marketing campaigns including these images from 2010.

Kindergarten has long been the perfect place for children to develop their social competency and language skills.

Memories from our kindergarten album:

Some of the earthquake damage the old kindergarten sustained that made it unihabitable.
In and amongst the fun and excitement of a kindergarten day, there’s always time to hang out with your friends.
That gap wasn’t there before the quakes! Some of the damage done to the kindy.
Balloon Day was celebrated with a burst of colour by Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
A group of kindy kids at the temporary kindergarten in 2016.
Feeding the chickens at kindy in 2014
Beloved teacher Janny retirerd in 2016.
Recreating an old photo from the archives at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
The 2018 kindergarten Art Exhibition at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
Making waffles to take their minds off an approaching cyclone in 2018
Enjoying the 2018 ‘Cyclone Waffles’ at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
Enjoying the 2018 ‘Cyclone Waffles’ at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
Enjoying the 2018 ‘Cyclone Waffles’ at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant.
Tamariki enjoy a kindergarten disco in 2017
The 2017 Art Exhibition at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant
The 2017 Art Exhibition at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant
The 2017 Art Exhibition at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant
The 2017 Art Exhibition at Kidsfirst Mount Pleasant