For Release 19 March 2008
Playcentre at Parliament
Paint, playdough and collage are just a few of the “16 areas of play” on offer to MP’s at Parliament today, with MP’s
invited to join Newtown Playcentre for a special Wednesday session in Parliament’s Grand Hall.
The event has been organised as part of Playcentre Awareness Week and this year’s celebrations of 60 years of Playcentre
in New Zealand. “We’re pleased to be able to offer MP’s a chance to participate in a real Playcentre session, said
Rebecca Miller, Newtown Playcentre President. “We’re also honoured that NZ Playcentre Federation President Marion
Pilkington can be with us.”
“Whilst many MP’s themselves are Playcentre children or Playcentre parents, there are some who haven’t got that
background. This is a chance for them to see for themselves the magic of Playcentre, where parents learn how to extend
their children’s play, and therefore their learning, whilst learning from, and supporting each other,” said Rebecca
Miller. Families from other Playcentres will join Newtown for the event.
“Playcentre is a real kiwi institution – over the past 60 or so years – and longer in Wellington – Playcentres have
educated tens of thousands of kiwi kids and their parents, and provided invaluable community support and friendship to
young families at the same time,” said Kate Whitwell, Co-President of Wellington Playcentre Association.
“Playcentre is envied internationally for this unique combination of high quality early learning, parent education and
family support,” said Kate Whitwell. “Early pioneers of Playcentre, such as Gwen Somerset who first documented
Playcentre’s ’16 areas of play’ and identified the links between these different types of play and child development,
head up a parade of former Playcentre parents who have gone on to become internationally recognised leaders in the field
of early childhood education,” said Kate Whitwell.
“We are lucky in New Zealand to have Playcentre and we will be urging all the MP’s who come along to ensure that
successive Governments continue to recognise and value the huge contribution Playcentre makes to New Zealand families
and communities – so that we can continue playing this valuable role for our next 60 years,” said Kate Whitwell.
Playcentres cater for children from birth to school entry. Sessions are run by trained parent teams. To facilitate this,
parents are offered free NZQA approved training in child development, positive discipline, communication, and management
skills. For information about the Playcentre nearest you, visit www.Playcentre.org.nz, or call 0800 Playcentre.
ends