NURSERY PLAY CENTRES

Press, Volume C, Issue 29469, 22 March 1961, Page 2

NURSERY PLAY CENTRES

Increased Grants For Maintenance The Christchurch Nursery Play Centres’ Association will allocate increased maintenance grants to individual play centres at the rate of £25 a year for each weekly session up to a maximum of four sessions a week, says a report from the association. An increase in maintenance grants for the Nursery Play Centres’ Association in New Zealand was announced by the Minister of Education (Mr Skoglund) last year. Because of the increase, each play centre in the Christchurch association will now be responsible for its own supervisor’s travelling expenses, which vary in every district, the report says. Equipment Checks Equipment checks in all town centres will be made this month by members of the equipment sub-commit-tee. Because of the large area covered by country centres, extending from Seddon in the north to Tirnaru in hte south, country centres carry out their own checks on a specially prepared form, says the report. The checks are carried out in March of each year to ensure that centres maintain the standards of equipment required to qualify for a maintenance grant from the Department of Education. The Christchurch association displays equipment in a room at Riccarton House on Wednesday mornings. Members, working on a duty roster, are in attendance to sell equipment and advise centres. This equipment shown covers all aspects of play. The object of the association’s committee is to supply centres with strongly made constructive toys at a reasonable cost. The equipment is also sold, on request, to the Health Department for its children's clinics: for school classes at Christchurch Public Hospital and Burwood Hospital. to the Christchurch Parents’ Centre and the Riccarton League of Mothers. The Harewood Centre, which will be officially opened on March 22, held its first session last week. A request for affiliation to the association has been received from a group of parents at Belfast, says the report. £3O Stolen,— A sum of £3O in money, and £9 worth of tobacco and cigarettes, were taken from the premises of Hugh Brown, Ltd., general merchants, of Dunsandel, some time during Monday night Entry was gained by forcing a door.