This year is a golden one for St Mark's Kindergarten at South Hurstville, which has been educating children for the past 50 years.
The kindergarten, co-located with St Mark's Anglican Church, has had quite an interesting history, and notable children have passed through the ranks including Oatley MP and Minister for Multiculturalism, Mark Coure.
Things have changed dramatically since its early beginnings in the 1970s. In 1975, there were three groups of children - four-year-olds who had the choice of attending either four afternoon or three morning sessions per week, while three-year-olds were there on two morning each week.
The cost of sending a three-year-old to the Kindergarten was only four dollars per week and six dollars per week for a four-year-old.
At the beginning of the eighth week of operating, there were 35 children enrolled.
Bronwyn McGrane was the director since its inception in May 1970. She resigned three years later.
The Kindergarten was a top centre of education within the Child Welfare Department and also a training centre for kindergarten union students.
Former staff helper and long-time member of St Mark's Church, Betty Dayes, 88, has been a member of the church since she was 21 years of age.
"I started in the first year, but not at the very beginning, when they had sessional kindergarten," she said.
"I remember loving the children. I loved being with them and interacting with them. I would make playdough and glue with cornflour and water, and help the children with painting and puzzles. Wherever you were needed, you were there."
One of her fondest memories was making Christmas pudding with the children's mothers.
"Every mother would bring in some ingredients, and we would put it in a cloth and hang it from the ceiling, and share it with the mothers," she said. "It was a lovely thing to do with them."
The kindergarten is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a spring fair on September 10.
