Rural Whanganui playcentre celebrates 50 years of family education

Margaret McBride (left) and Marlene Cooper at front with Rapananui-Brunswick Playcentre families ready to celebrate the upcoming 50th Jubilee. Photo / Bevan Conley

The doorstep at Rapanui-Brunswick Playcentre is covered with Red Band gumboots rather than the lightweight multi-coloured varieties seen outside city centres.

It is one of the hallmarks of the rural playcentre west of Whanganui where they will celebrate their 50th jubilee on Sunday, October 16, and there are likely to be a few generations of local families in attendance.

"We are hoping to see a big turnout of families that have been involved over the decades," centre president Margaret McBride said.

"We have a great afternoon tea and lots of fun and games planned."

The centre had humble beginnings in 1972 when a group of local families with 24 pre-schoolers between them came together to discuss opening a playcentre in their area.

The first session was held in the Brunswick Hall on October 17, 1972, overseen by supervisor Frieda Cameron.

Sessions were held up to four mornings a week and all play equipment had to be packed away to leave the hall available for other activities.

Eventually, families wanted a home of their own for the playcentre and identified the long-closed Rapanui School as a suitable venue.

The Department of Education wanted assurance that there was not likely to be community demand for the school to reopen.

Nearby Westmere School was deemed to be adequately meeting the demand and, after six months of negotiations and some essential fence upgrades, the playcentre moved to its current home in August 1986.

Welcome to Rapanui-Brunswick Playcentre. Photo / Supplied

Marlene Cooper, a young playcentre mother at the time, remembers it well.

"I was a parent when we set up here in 1986 and I have been involved ever since as my mokopuna have attended as well," she said.

"Over the years, we have done a lot of fundraising to build an extension and maintain the outdoor areas."

The extension included a safe sleeping area for babies, more inside space for essential messy play areas, extra storage and a disabled persons' toilet.

Cooper remembers the efforts by playcentre parents, community volunteers and property officer Cindy Maddox who put in "countless hours" to fundraise and ensure the best contractors were hired to complete the renovations.

Cooper's youngest grandchild will soon turn 5 but she will remain involved to assist with the administration of the centre.

Another family with three generations of involvement with the centre are Kerry Terrey, her daughters Syndi Harrex and Raewyn Fialele and her grandchildren.

In the 1980s, Terrey was a young mother who had recently arrived from Scotland after marrying a Brunswick local.

"When I first came here I didn't know anyone in the community," she said.

"Playcentre was just what I needed - I found friends and got the support I needed as a parent."

Harrex said playcentre offers high ratios of adult-child interactions that you don't find anywhere else.

"If I'm facing challenges as a parent, I have this incredible support from others who can give me the benefits of their experience and training," she said.

"I'm not saying there is anything wrong with other early childhood education because I know parents need to work and be away from their children but playcentre has a vital place in the sector."

Harrex said her own experiences of early childhood learning at playcentre left her with great memories, life-long friends and confidence as an adult.

Easter egg hunts at Bason Botanic Gardens are an annual event on the playcentre's calendar. Photo / NZME

Current president McBride, a mum of four, said her youngest child will head off to school soon.

"There's a cohort of us here who all have children starting school soon," she said.

"We're relatively new here as we moved from Napier a few years ago. I've been involved with playcentre since my eldest child was small and there are other parents here who moved to Whanganui and wanted to find a local playcentre."

Rapanui-Brunswick is the only preschool centre in the rural western area apart from the kindergarten at Maxwell.

"Some families chose this centre because it is a playcentre and others because of the location.

"Either way, it's a special place and I will find it hard to leave when the time comes."

McBride said the playcentre ethos of providing education and support for parents alongside their children still had immense value despite many societal changes over the decades.

Playcentre started in New Zealand in the early 1940s and the first centre opened in 1948 when the organisation was named the New Zealand Federation of Nursery Play Centre Associations.

The word "nursery" was dropped from the name in the early 1960s and "playcentre" became a single word shortly after the Rapanui-Brunswick centre opened.

Playcentre was essentially a women's organisation during its first decades, although men have always been involved with renovations and fundraising and they have gradually become more involved with day-to-day education.

Tikanga Māori values were increasingly incorporated into playcentre practices throughout the 1980s and in 1989 the organisation publicly endorsed the Treaty of Waitangi at its national conference.

In 1990 the organisation published the booklet Whānau Tupu Ngātahi: Families Growing Together and the motto is still used today.

In 2018, the organisation was renamed Playcentre Aotearoa.

The playcentre has been offering early childhood education to rural families for 50 years. Photo / Bevan Conley

McBride said playcentre membership numbers had decreased nationally as more parents needed to join the fulltime workforce.

"It's not a possibility for a lot of people and that's a pity because it builds self-esteem and skills for parents alongside their children," she said.

"Playcentre still holds a vital place in early childhood education and it would be fantastic if it can become a possibility for more families in future. There will always be the need for different early childhood options but playcentre offers something unique."

Despite the declining numbers, playcentre still teaches more than 7 per cent of Aotearoa New Zealand preschoolers.

In 2020 when the Government provided a funding boost $280 million to the early childhood education sector, Playcentre was allocated less than a 1 per cent share. The increase amounts to about $675,000 a year, or just $1685 per centre per year.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has said the Government wants to see Playcentre survive and thrive into the future but many centres are struggling.

Whanganui is home to four of New Zealand's more than 400 playcentres. Around a third of those serve rural areas like Brunswick where they often provide the only centre-based service. Springvale Playcentre celebrated its 50th jubilee in 2018.

To contact Rapanui-Brunswick Playcentre visit the Facebook page or call Margaret McBride 027 3246532.