About us - Dunedin Kindergartens

Dunedin Kindergartens is the umbrella organisation for 24 individual kindergartens in the Dunedin area. We are a non-profit community based organisation governed by an elected Board. We belong to a national organisation New Zealand Kindergartens with whom we network and share national expertise. This national perspective is strength of the kindergarten movement.

Our Structure

Dunedin Kindergartens is governed by a Board who collaboratively use the knowledge and resources of the 24 kindergartens and their communities to deliver an educational service that we are proud of. The Board oversees the strategic direction and purpose of the association with teaching and learning as the core business, with the ultimate outcome for children. To contact the board chair, click here for details.

Dunedin Kindergartens employs a General Manager to oversee the management of the service and act as licensee for all kindergartens. The Senior Teacher team provides teaching and curriculum support to the teaching staff, along with overseeing and facilitating professional learning. An administration team provides the business function of the organisation, supporting and managing the day-to-day structure activities for the organisation.

Each kindergarten has a team of teachers ranging from three to five, including a head teacher, whose responsibility is to ensure the delivery of teaching and learning that reflects the principles and strands of the curriculum document – Te Whaariki.

Our History

We are the original Pioneers of early childhood in Dunedin. The kindergarten movement began here in Dunedin in 1889 and we are proud to be the home of kindergarten in New Zealand. The first kindergarten opened on 10th June in the Mission Hall, Walker St (now Carroll St). Rev Rutherford Waddell, the Presbyterian minister, began planning an organisation to take children off the street in the very poor areas around his church. He asked the advice of Lavinia Kelsey, who had begun doing ‘something in the kindergarten way’ in her own private school, as well as that of Rachel Reynolds, a community leader who was concerned about the waifs of the notorious Walker St area, and Mark Cohen a social reformer interested in the Californian Free Kindergarten system. After a public meeting in March 1889, the Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association was set up with Rachel Reynolds as President and Lavinia Kelsey as the first honorary secretary. www.otago.ac.nz/education/otago045231.pdf
Five of our Kindergartens are named after people who believed in children and the Kindergarten movement. (Helen Deem, Jonathan Rhodes, Kelsey Yaralla, Rachel Reynolds and Richard Hudson Kindergartens). Dunedin Kindergarten’s Pioneers!
Building on over 100 years of tradition as leaders in the early childhood sector Dunedin Kindergartens prime focus is the children and their families.
Dunedin Kindergartens as an umbrella organisation will provide governance and management expertise to ensure excellence in teaching and learning for all children. This will be through the provision of professional leadership, the careful application of resources, and the development of policies and procedures in partnership with teachers, children, parents, whánau and beyond.

“For how the children grow, so shall be the shape of Aotearoa”
Dame Whina Cooper

Our team

Board

Dagmar Polson

Board Chair

Dagmar has been on the DK board since 2020 and was also previously a member and secretary of the Mornington Kindergarten Committee.

She is an experienced commercial executive, with a background in strategy, product management, marketing and communications in the healthcare/pharmaceuticals sector. She holds a BSc and BCApSc (Otago) and an MBA (Auckland).

Since returning to New Zealand in 2019 after a decade working in senior roles in the UK, she has been supporting a variety of Kiwi companies across the broader life-sciences sector.

Alongside this, she is committed to supporting charitable organisations whose goals align with her own, namely improving health and wellbeing, and championing diversity and inclusion.

Her approach is collaborative, constructive, and mindful of how to get the best out of others at the table.

A mother of two active children, she enjoys getting out with her family to explore the outdoors.

Narelle Jakeway

Deputy Chair

Narelle has been on the Dunedin Kindergarten’s Board since 2021 and prior to her Board role was President of Grant’s Braes Kindergarten Committee. She is a proud Kindy mum of three children who are now at primary and intermediate school.

Narelle has a broad understanding of the wider DK membership and stakeholders due to her tenure with this organisation (beginning in 2014).

Narelle is a financial adviser and mentor by day; she also sits on the Grant’s Braes School Board of Trustees and is Chair of the PINC women in business networking group. Narelle has a range of skills to bring to the Board table including communication, financial analysis and critical thinking.

Heidi Gray-Holland

Heidi joined the DK Board in August 2024. She has been a member of the Dunedin Kindergartens community since 2018, when her eldest child started at St Kilda kindergarten.

Heidi’s passion for early childhood education stems from her own experience as a former kindy child. Her involvement in the sector spans from roles in early childhood centres to recent education through Playcentre.

Heidi has served as treasurer of two volunteer organisations gaining valuable experience in financial management and navigating governance changes. Her professional background as a lawyer adds a depth of understanding in legal and regulatory frameworks, enhancing her skills in governance and conflict resolution. Heidi is committed to ensuring that Dunedin Kindergartens continues to offer high-quality, community-focused early childhood education.

Neresa Hall

Neresa is mum to Olive and Ada and joined the DK Board in August 2024. She has been part of the Roslyn Kindergarten community since 2022 and has loved their kindergarten experience due to the teachers who she says have continually gone above and beyond in their care for Olive.

In her professional life she is a child psychologist and currently contracting to reThink children services. Neresa retrained as a child psychologist in her early thirties and prior to returning to study she was a secondary school teacher. Alongside this, Neresa coaches netball and is on the parent committee at Roslyn.

Neresa’s previous governance experience is as the young and new teacher representative on the Wellington board of the PPTA; as a member of UNICEFs Child Friendly Cities committee; and post-graduate representative on Board of Studies, University of Canterbury.

Daniel De Bono

Dan joined the DK board in August 2024 and is a proud Dunedin kindy grad, and dad to a kindy kid. He is the Chief Executive of Dunedin Airport and is keen to give back to DK as he recognises how critical the first 1000 days of human life and experience are.

He strongly believes our kindies and kaiako are tino taonga and celebrates the fact there are thousands of DK alumni achieving great things all over the world largely thanks to their teacher and community-led kindy education.

Throughout his career Dan has worked alongside many professional directors for many organisations, and says the passion, stewardship, and special lens local board members bring to governance is invaluable.

Dan has executive experience across multiple disciplines within the aviation and healthcare sectors and has strengths in empowering teams, strategic leadership, operations and infrastructure.

He has also served as a founding member and director of the charitable society Coastguard Queenstown Inc.

Matthew Wallis

Matthew joined the DK board in August 2024. Matthew joins the board with several years’ teaching experience in Auckland. He has taught across all levels of the primary school curriculum and brings extensive curriculum knowledge and educational leadership to our organisation.

He lives with his wife and two children in St Clair and has worked as a foster caregiver for Oranga Tamariki over the past few years. Matthew is an active member of the Richard Hudson Parent Committee and a Kea Scout Leader for Anderson Bay Sea Scouts.

He is a passionate advocate for quality education and is dedicated to ensuring it is accessible for all tamariki.

Jenna McPhee

Jenna is from Central Otago, holds LLB and BCom degrees from Otago University, and joined the DK board in August 2024.

Jenna’s broad business background led to a role as a Chief Operating Officer where she spent five years coordinating teams across a large Australasian business. Her understanding and experience in working across different facets of an organisation gives her a practical approach when considering strategic direction and initiatives to align with operational capabilities.

More recently, Jenna’s latest role of being a mum of three little ones (6, 3 and 2 years) has driven her interest in the importance of nurturing children in their critical developmental years. She wholeheartedly believes in Dunedin Kindergartens’ value of providing equitable access to early childhood education and is proud to serve on a board that provides stewardship to ensure the continued impact of Dunedin Kindergartens in the community.

Jane Davis

Jane is pleased to be representing Dunedin Kindergarten’s kaiako (teachers and teacher aides) on the Board.

She has worked for Dunedin Kindergartens for about 15 years across a range of kindergartens throughout the city.

She sees the importance of putting tamariki and whānau at the front and centre of any decisions made by the board and an educational lens that ensures the best opportunities for them.

Jane also has experience on school Boards of Trustees as well as other community groups, so she is familiar with the processes and systems important for the effective functioning of community organisations.

She is looking forward to adding her skills to the board to help DK provide the very best early childhood education that this city has to offer.