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Childspace was founded by wife and husband team Toni and Robin Christie. The first Childspace centre was opened on Valentines day in 1994, and was situated in Christchurch at Toni and Robin's first home. That centre was sold when they relocated to Wellington to begin raising a family of their own. Toni and Robin have two school-aged children, Max and Tui, who both attended Childspace centres throughout their early childhood.

Toni is the Principal of Childspace Early Learning Centres. She oversees the educational programmes, personnel, management and administration. Robin, with both an Early Childhood Education and Fine Arts background, is responsible for all the design and maintenance of the Childspace environments. As a team, Robin and Toni have presented seminars and workshops to both national and international audiences on the topics of environment design, management, leadership and early childhood education curriculum and programming.

"Childspace management is very positive and supportive of staff, resulting in open communication and stable staffng. They embrace new ideas and initiatives, celebrate achievements and have created strong feelings of community and culture. Managers are an integral part of the day-to-day life of the centre, which develops their knowledge of families and children. This partnership is enhanced by social occasions."
Education Review Office.

"The Principal has sound professional knowledge and is well recognised within the early childhood sector. Her effective leadership and mentoring underpins good teacher performance and promotes the high levels of morale and security among her staff ."
Education Review Office.

"Childspace provides a high quality education and care programme with a well developed system for curriculum planning, implementation and review. Children are settled, happy and confident in their interactions with their peers and with adults. Teachers provide a well-resourced and comprehensive programme of activities within a warm, caring and safe environment. They are highly responsive to children's needs and interests and engage with them in a respectful and affirming manner."
Education Review Office.