The PPNS preschool was started in 1971 when Carol Naish and Judy Smith, both mothers of preschool children, decided to set up a cooperative preschool similar to the ones they had experienced in California. After a lot of research and hard work, they realized their dream in mid-October 1971 with the successful opening of the school.

For years, the PPNS preschool operated in various buildings at the Kokokahi YWCA. In 1994, PPNS had a month- to-month lease in an aging building. At that time the PPNS parents started a major fundraising campaign to purchase a permanent facility. The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation provided an extremely generous lead grant of $100,000. Other supporting foundations included the McInerny Foundation, the Atherton Family Foundation, the Frear Trust, the J. Watumull Fund, the G.N. Wilcox Trust, the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the Gannett Foundation.

Thanks to the generosity of donors and a mortgage from American Savings Bank, PPNS purchased the facility at 92 Kaneohe Bay Drive in April, 1996.