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Friday 1 December 2023
Trust aims for new ECE centre
Spearheading the Aorere Early Childhood Education Charity Trust are, from left, Savannah Smith (secretary) with Alex Smith, Brajan McAllan (chairperson), Carrol Roberts (treasurer), Lorna Pomeroy (committee member) with Tiana Pomeroy. Photo: Supplied. RONNIE SHORT
When the Little Red Fox early childhood education (ECE) centre in Tukurua closed in March this year, it left a trail of parents wanting, and teachers out of a job. But a newly-formed charitable trust now plans to establish a permanent, robust, notfor-profit ECE centre, which they say is better suited to the rural community. In the immediate aftermath of Little Red Fox's closure, the Collingwood community rallied with a hui headed by Craig Vercoe, CEO of Nelson-Tasman Kindergarten Association, and Rebecca Olney, manager of Golden Bay Kindergarten. Community action was deemed necessary to come up with a short-term solution, followed by a longer term one. In response, Brajan McAllan and a group of parents formed the Collingwood Childcare Committee (CCC). Brajan said, “It was just a bunch of parents wanting to do what they can to make something happen. After Little Red Fox there was a whole centre of families with nowhere to go. It was a crisis for Collingwood community at that time.”
Because the committee structure was not an effective entity to apply for larger grants and funding, the CCC has now become the Aorere Early Childhood Education Charity Trust (AECE). “So we can build a permanent ECE centre for Collingwood,” said Brajan, who is chairperson. Savannah Smith is secretary, Carrol Roberts is treasurer, and there are four other committee members. Two representatives from the Ministry of Education (MOE) met at Collingwood Area School (CAS) with members of the AECE Trust, CAS principal Hugh Gully, and Board of Trustees chair Brendan Richards. The MOE representatives gave their assurances of a commitment to providing Collingwood area with ECE provision. Hugh Gully stated, “Collingwood Area School is fully supportive of the establishment of a second early childhood centre in Collingwood that would complement the current provision offered by the Aorere Playcentre. It would be wonderful to have two highly effective models of early childhood education that would service the diverse
needs of our community.” Meantime, the AECE charity is raising funds with support from the Golden Bay Association Football Club, particularly Phil Smith. They are also working to engage the community, “to let them know what we’re all about”, said Brajan. “The rising cost of living means mum and dad need to work – and work more hours. Staying at home with children is not granted to everybody. I’ve heard from local businesses that it’s hard to find staff, so it is an issue and has been for a while... We should have better support for our working families.” According to Brajan, the combined waiting list for Golden Kids Early Learning Centre and Golden Bay Kindergarten contained around 150 names after the closure of Little Red Fox. She highlights the importance of achieving the trust's goal to re-establish a local ECE facility for the Collingwood community. “My son went to Little Red Fox and the sense of belonging he had there was just beautiful… teachers, friends, greetings – to have that taken away from our children twice (Kakariki Kids before that) … it’s just devastating for families and the children.”
Representation review JO RICHARDS
Tasman District Council has begun reviewing its representation structure and is seeking public feedback on the shape of the council and community boards. All local authorities are legally required to re-evaluate their arrangements at least every six years to ensure residents have fair and effective representation, a process that must involve residents and ratepayers. The review is scheduled to be completed by April 2025, in time for the next local government election, so the current engagement exercise, which opened last month and closes on 15 December, is the first step in a long journey. It’s one of TDC’s numerous “live” reviews – along with freshwater, assorted bylaws and speed limits – in which community engagement is predominantly online. TDC will use the feedback to produce an initial proposal for formal consultation in mid-2024 from which the final proposal will be developed. The review will consider whether the increasingly urbanised district should still be divided into wards, if so, how many, their boundaries, and their names, including the new Māori ward which has recently been established. Consideration will also be given to the number of councillors and whether they are elected by ward and/or by the district as a whole. There are currently five wards, each represented by a specific number of councillors. The wards (with number of councillors in brackets) are as follows: Richmond (4); Lakes-Murchison (1); Moutere-Waimea (3); Motueka (3); and Golden Bay (2). At the previous review, and during the long and complex process to decide whether a local board should be established for Golden Bay, it was pointed out that, on a strictly per capita basis, the Bay was entitled to only one local councillor. However, the community has successfully argued to retain its “extra” representative, but this is likely to be re-examined as part of the current review. The review will also look at the role of the four-member community boards in Motueka and Golden Bay and consider whether they should continue or be disestablished. It’s also an opportunity to create new boards for the district’s other communities. Feedback closes on 15 December. To find out more and to post comments, go to: https://shape.tasman.govt.nz/ and select Representation Review.
Ray White Golden Bay
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