Playcentre Week: a time to visit your local centre

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 44, 15 April 1986, Page 8

Playcentre Week: a time to visit your local centre

This is Playcentre Week, a time to celebrate the playcentre movement and visit your local centre. Playcentre began in 1941 in Wellington when centres opened in Karori and Kelburn. A committee was set up to coordinate these and any other centres. This was known as the Nursery Play Centres Association. The aims of the associa-

tion were "to provide leisure time for mothers and opportunities for the social development of the pre-school child through co-operative effort on the part of mothers taking responsibility for caringfor the children." The Raetihi Nursery Playcentre Committee started to work towards the establishment of a playcentre in 1958. In 1959 the playcentre opened in the Scout hall.

For the past 20 years the playcentre has had its own building in Duncan Street. Playcentres thrive on family involvement and supervisors and the management committee are parents. Parents and children both learn and benefit from attending playcentre. It is a place of welcome, a 'home away from home', an extended family. Playcentre is a parent cooperative and all parents are considered to be on the committee which meets monthly. Raetihi Playcentre is part of the central districts Playcentre Association which is a member of the New Zealand Playcentres Federation. Parents are responsible for all management at local, association and federation levels. Raetihi Playcentre is open three mornings a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9.15am until 11.45am. A trained supervisor is in charge of each session, helped by two parents. Other parents are free to stay or to leave children over 2 x/i years. Raetihi Playcentre will be open to the public on Wednesday 16 April from 10am until 11.30am and visitors are welcome. Toys from the playcentre equipment rooms will be on sale at a stall in Seddon Street from 1 0am that day to promote Playcentre Week.