Playcentre moving to new home at Remarkables Park

A new home and a new name are on the way for one of the Wakatipu's oldest playcentres.

Frankton Playcentre president Rebecca Tanner said that after the Easter school holidays, the parent-led preschool education facility would move to the original Porter home at Remarkables Park, to be located on the southeast corner of the new Wakatipu High School site, and would be known as Wakatipu Playcentre.

Parents had helped refurbish the home, which looks over the school playing fields and had indoor and outdoor space for the children.

A 20-year lease had been negotiated with the Ministry of Education ``with no option for them to break early'', along with additional space to remain so the playcentre could generate income through hiring out rooms if it wished.

``These two things together have provided even greater long-term security,'' Ms Tanner said.

The Otago Daily Times reported in February the move had cost the Ministry of Education about $1.5million.

Early last year the ministry asked the playcentre parents to break their lease early to enable Remarkables Primary School to take control of the building and increase its capacity.

``As Frankton Playcentre only had less than two years left on their lease, together they agreed to end the lease voluntarily and at the same time negotiated with the Ministry of Education to ensure that Frankton Playcentre was looked after and its future secured.

``The process, while rigorous, has been a positive experience and the parents are happy with the outcome.''

Ms Tanner said the playcentre moved to its current location, beside RPS, seven years ago but had been providing early childhood education services in the area for 45 years.

It had a close relationship with the primary school and it was important to ensure those ties were strengthened and the playcentre's future was secured.

Given the new location and the growing geographical catchment of playcentre families, parents decided to open in the new site as Wakatipu Playcentre.

``We owe a lot to the families before us, who have worked hard to ensure we've survived to this point, and we will do what we can to ensure [the] playcentre continues to thrive and that many more children now and in the future will have the opportunity to create wonderful childhood memories and lifelong friends through this amazing centre.''

RPS board chairwoman Jane Hughes said the former playcentre buildings would be remodelled to become two open-plan classrooms - capable of holding between 23 and 30 pupils, depending on their age groups - which would be linked to the ``Taumata pod''. An outdoor learning area was also planned.

``We're not imagining it'll be open next term, unfortunately, because Frankton Playcentre's just moved, so we don't know the timeframe. We're reliant on the ministry to do that work for us.

``We're aiming to be open term three, if not sooner,'' Mrs Hughes said.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz


 

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