Geelong West Kindergarten, the region’s oldest kindergarten marks a significant milestone this weekend – it’s 100th birthday.
The region’s oldest kindergarten, Geelong West Kindergarten, was opened in 1922 and on Sunday will mark the occasion with a celebration featuring children’s entertainer Nicholas Ridiculous, games and craft activities, a historic photo gallery through the decades, the opening of the kindergarten’s time capsule, a barbecue.
The kindergarten has invited anyone with a history with the facility, whether as a pupils, staff or their families, to celebrate the milestone from 10am to 3pm.
Geelong West Kindergarten committee of management director Marisa Manganelli said the celebration would allow the kindergarten to thank all of the people who had given their time and effort over the years.
“As we celebrate 100 years, the kindergarten prides itself on a strong sense of community which was established all those years ago,” she said.
“All families continue to be welcomed, and we value all the people in our children’s lives – staff, committees, parents and carers work in partnership to enhance the learning potential of each of our students.
“As we enjoy this year of celebrations we want to acknowledge the First Nations people who came before us, as well as all of the committees of management, staff, parents, families and community members that have come together over the last 100 years and contributed to this very special community kindergarten.
“On [Sunday] we would like to say ‘thank you’ for these contributions by offering an invitation to come back and walk through the grounds and reminisce about their time here.”
The birth of the Geelong West Kinder came in 1921 when the Geelong branch of the Free Kindergarten Union bought four blocks of land in O’Connell Street for 173 pounds to build a free kindergarten for Geelong West residents.
Construction work began in November, with the funds raised by the Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria, the Kindergarten Committee, the Mayoress’ Committee and public donations.
Its construction was completed on time, by February 1922, with the building including two small classrooms, a large circle room, a verandah porch, a kitchen and notable casement windows at both ends.
It had 55 pupils enrolled during construction and was officially opened on March 20, 1922 by Victorian governor, Earl Stradbroke.
The kindergarten grew quickly, with another 12 pupils enrolling on opening day, while the building also accommodated Geelong’s first baby health centre.
The biggest challenge the kindergarten faced came during the Great Depression in the 1930s, when parents were unable or unwilling to take their children to the kindergarten.
The kinder responded by having staff collect pupils from their homes, all linked together by rope, and introduced the five-hour program, to ensure children would be fed at least one meal during the day.
The Second World War then saw the kindergarten’s enrolments drop by almost half, while trained staff and volunteers went off to fight for the country.
The end of the war led to a scholarship being formed, which allowed girls interested in teaching to study at the Kindergarten Training College.
Throughout the years, thousands of children have started their education at the kindergarten.
Among those are kindergarten teacher, Ornella Di Rocco, her husband Dominic and their two sons, Julian and Carl.
Ornella said the kindergarten had a special place in her heart.
“It’s a special place for me, it’s where I learnt to speak English,” she said.
“My parents were migrants and my mum didn’t work – she didn’t speak any English.
“So I came here for two years and this is where I learnt English – I was really fortunate for that.”
Dom added that for him, the kinder brought back memories of childhood friends.
“A lot of what I remember from then was that I met a lot of my friends here and we all went to St Patrick’s together,” he said.
“I remember mainly playing together in the old cubby house, it was a really good time.”
“I remember the building mainly,” Ornella said.
“It was a long time ago but everything came back to me when our children started coming here.
“Both our boys came and then I was on the committee. And then eventually, I became among the staff now and I’ve been here for about 25 years.
“I love this kinder and that’s why it’s really hard for me to retire.
“I love our families and our little community. It was really tough through COVID when you couldn’t have families on site.
“It’s been nice getting to know the families again and seeing them all get involved where they can.
“That’s what special about this kindergarten, it’s always been a community kindergarten, so it’s always been run by committee of management and the families have always been involved.
“100 years is a long time to remain independent and having that connection with the families and building partnerships with the community has been vital to that.
“We had our AGM [annual general meeting] a couple of weeks ago and the turnout was fantastic. And whenever we have a working bee, everyone gets involved to help out however they can.
“I think that’s the main reason the kinder has managed to last for as long as it has – because everyone involved is doing what they can with the children’s best interests in their mind.”
The kinder still uses the same building it originally did in 1922, although it has undergone some modifications since.
It went untouched for more than 50 years, until in 1982 it was expanded to double its size.
It was since expanded again about 10 years ago, to accommodate up to 150 children.
Ornella’s son Julian, who attended the kindergarten in the 1990s, said he hoped to carry on the family tradition.
“I have my own son now and I would love to see him go to the kinder as well … it’s a wonderful place with wonderful memories,” he said.
“I have fond memories – to this day I can’t smell a pine tree without thinking back to those days of climbing in the trees there.
“It’s unbelievable that it’s been around so long in that original building.”
