Play Centres Defended

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 10

Play Centres Defended

“Educational television for pre-school children is no substitute for attendance at play centres,” said the president of the Canterbury Play Centre Association (Mrs A. Densem), in reply to a report from the annual conference of Parent • Teacher Associations published in “The Press" on Tuesday. “Children in that agerange learn through active sensory and manipulative experience,” Mrs Densem said. “Our aim is to provide for the emotional and social growth without which intellectual learning is inhibited.'’ Referring to a section in the report calling for the greater integration of play centres and kindergartens, Mrs Densem said: “The Canterbury Play Centre Association would feel that careful consideration is needed before such a move. There Is some merit in a choice being available, and to combine both services might result in losing the best features of each.

“Play centres have trained supervisors who are parents, and who understand the needs and problems of other parents. Parents come in and out of a play centre as a right We govern ourselves and are not, therefore, subject to bureaucratic controls; we can open where there is

a need, and adapt to local conditions.

“Many of our innovations subsequently adopted by other educational services were the. direct result of the independent way in which we administer our affairs. “It was stated at the conference that play centres were a hit-and-miss affair. With more financial help we could stimulate interest and help a playcentre to open where parents are not so energetic, but we certainly do not want the kind of apathy, lack of responsible involvement, and indifference to education that sometimes accrues where education is compulsory. Playcentres begin with the interest and motivation of the people who want them, and are not imposed on an indifferent or unwilling community.

“On September 9, a playcentre will be opened at Woodbank School, Clarence Bridge, in an unoccupied classroom, but using a separate outside area and the wide range of equipment required for a play centre. “It will be administered by the local parents,-who includethe headmaster and his wife, and will be affiliated to the Canterbury Play Centre Association. Here we have the advantages of close cooperation with the school without the pre-school section being an adjunct of the infant school."