Kaitiaki Kindergartens’ mahi recognised as one of the world’s Top 100 education innovations
Kaitiaki Kindergartens is celebrating international recognition after its sustainability kaupapa, “Ripples of Kaitiakitanga: an Enviroschools Approach,” was selected for the HundrED Global Collection 2026. This award recognises Kaitiaki Kindergartens’ deep commitment to sustainability, community, and holistic learning at its 14 kindergartens across the North Shore, Rodney, and West Auckland. It also highlights how early childhood education in Aotearoa can lead globally through values of kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, and ako (guardianship, respect, and reciprocal learning).
Based in Helsinki, Finland, HundrED is a mission-driven education organisation working to ensure every child flourishes through equitable access to quality education. Each year, HundrED seeks out, validates, and curates the most impactful and scalable education innovations from around the globe. In 2025, more than 3,000 innovations were reviewed by 253 education experts before the final Top 100 were chosen.
“To be selected through such a rigorous and inspiring international process is a huge achievement and honour,” says Tara Solomon, Kaitiaki Kindergartens’ chief executive. “It acknowledges the everyday mahi of our kaiako and the leadership of our tamariki, whose learning is grounded in care for people, place, and the planet.”
While the global recognition is new, the values behind the work are absolutely not. Kaitiaki Kindergartens began in 1954 as the East Coast Bays Free Kindergarten Association, opening its first kindergarten in Torbay. Over time, it expanded across the North Shore, becoming the Northern Auckland Free Kindergarten Association, before adopting the name Kaitiaki Kindergartens in 2019.
“Kaitiaki means guardian,” Tara explains. “It reflects our responsibility to care for tamariki, our communities, and the environment, and it speaks to the role our kindergartens play in nurturing those connections from the earliest years.”
Rooted in the Free Kindergarten movement, Kaitiaki Kindergartens has always been community-driven. Local whānau are still instrumental in fundraising, building facilities, and creating safe, welcoming learning environments.
This people-centred approach is guided by the whakataukī “He tangata, he tangata, he tangata” – It is people, it is people, it is people. Human connection sits at the heart of Kaitiaki Kindergartens’ kaupapa, shaping how learning is experienced and shared.
Central to the HundrED-recognised innovation is the embedding of the Enviroschools kaupapa across everyday teaching and learning.
The early years are a critical time for shaping values, habits, and dispositions, and Kaitiaki Kindergartens has embraced this by aligning Enviroschools principles with Te Whāriki, New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum.
Five guiding principles (Empowered Learners, Learning for Sustainability, Te Ao Māori, Respect for Diversity, and Sustainable Communities) are woven into daily experiences. And it is the children who take the lead in real-world projects such as restoring local waterways, monitoring water quality, planting native vegetation, gardening, composting, and reducing waste.
The “Ripples of Kaitiakitanga” are already being felt well beyond the kindergartens themselves. An internal survey found that 81 per cent of whānau said their child’s learning about sustainability had influenced their family and/or community. Parents described children reminding adults to recycle, turn off lights, pick up rubbish, and think creatively about reuse. One parent shared, “My preschooler tells me off for not recycling.” While another said, “We now have a compost bin and recycle soft plastics.”
Children also bring deeper conversations home, talking about Papatūānuku (the Earth Mother) and the shared responsibility to care for her.
These everyday moments show how sustainability learning becomes lived practice, not just a classroom concept.
Kaitiaki Kindergartens has strengthened this work by developing a locally grounded theory of change, aligning Enviroschools kaupapa with strategic goals and measurable outcomes. This approach ensures sustainability is not a standalone programme, but a living, evolving practice embedded across the whole organisation.
“Our kindergartens are places where tamariki lead, communities engage, and environmental responsibility is lived and shared,” observes Tara. “Being recognised by HundrED affirms that this way of learning -grounded in values, respectful relationships, and action – has relevance far beyond our shores.”
