In a meeting last Thursday, staff at Little Wonders Oanaka informed parents the centre would be closing permanently on Friday, September 15 because of its inability to meet the Ministry of Education’s minimum staffing requirements.
Danielle Stillwell, a parent whose son attends the centre, said the decision had left 28 families scrambling to make alternative arrangements at very short notice.
"It’s disappointing, the lack of communication and transparency," she said.
"If the owners had come to the parents earlier, we could have worked together as a community to sort of help solve the problem. And we were never given that opportunity."
The centre is owned by Evolve Education Group, a national corporation whose childcare brands include Little Wonders, Lollipops, Pascals and Little Earth Montessori.
In a letter sent to parents last Friday, Evolve chief operations officer Barry Sadlier said Evolve "sincerely regret the short notice regarding the closure".
"We acted promptly once we received a resignation on Monday, 28 August to evaluate the other options to us and then prepared for a confidential consultation process with our team, which started on Friday, 1 September."
While a "temporary closure" of the centre had been considered, this was ultimately deemed unfeasible, he said.
"We believe it is highly unlikely that we could recruit staff to open the centre again in the near future and therefore we are not in a position to provide sustainable, stable service in the community."
The letter also included a list of 12 other education centres in Wānaka for parents to call.
In a spot check by the ODT yesterday, all seven that responded confirmed they had waiting lists of varying lengths.
Kanuka Corner Early Childhood Centre, for instance, said it had a waiting list of more than 70 children, while Riverside Educare did not expect to have any available space until late-2025 at the earliest.
Another centre, Wanaexcel B4 School, confirmed it had received "over 30 inquiries" about potential vacancies over the weekend.
Amanda Greer, education co-ordinator for the charitable society Central Otago Reap, said she was saddened by the closure "in a region with already long wait lists for education and care spaces".
For Mrs Stillwell, her son’s future education prospects remain unclear.
"We’re not really too sure what we’re going to do, whether we just try and get some kind of babysitting or support from the family ...
"Evolve is a for-profit corporation. They’ve made a business decision, which I guess is their prerogative, but it’s a decision that affects a whole community and it makes an existing problem in the community even worse."
- By Regan Harris and Milo Long
