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CPS 65th Birthday
Toward 2020 Review
CPS 65th Birthday
These are the CPS 65th Birthday Events!
Preschool Party Day Sunday 16 November | Where each and every ACT Preschool Parent Association will hold a "birthday party" on the same day, Group Members have suggested that Sunday the 16th of November as the suitable date for fourth term. If your preschool or playschool are planning an event - plese let the CPS know - so that we can place it on our website and notify the media. | ||
CPS 65th Birthday Art Exhibition Monday 10th to Friday 14th November | To be held at the Legislative Assembly from 10th - 14th November 2008. The theme of the Exhibition will be ''growing'' or ''growing children''. The Canberra Gallery and Museum have agreed to host up to 5 children's paintings on their website. The exhibition and morning tea were covered by WIN News. | ||
A Morning Tea at the Legislative Assembly Wednesday 12th November A very yummy cake - but what? No candles! Mr Andrew Barr, the ACT Minister for Education and Training, Planning, Children and Young People, Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Carolyn Harkness, CPS Acting President. Carolyn remarked to the Minister, that his new portfolio is basically what is described in the 1952 Commonwealth Government Publication as what it will take to ensure that "... cities and towns may be developed as good places for
children to live in." Carolyn welcomed the Minister's public acknowledgement of the work undertaken by the CPS to support and promote the wonderful preschool system that we all enjoy. | Preschool Parent Association Representatives, Past & Present CPS Council members and various stakeholders to enjoy a morning tea at the Legislative Assembly, Wednesday 12th November. The Minister for Education & Training will officially open the exhibition and mark the 65th Anniversary of our organisation. This event is entirely sponsored by the ACT Legislative Assembly in recognition of the work undertaken by Preschool Parent Associations to support and deliver the ACT preschool program. Thank you for coming to join us today, on the occasion of the 65th birthday of a Society that represents not only a pioneering past – but also the image of community spirit at its very best. I wish to thank the people who have come today and applaud your commitment to our cause – the quality care and education of children before compulsory schooling. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) preschool program serves over 90% of eligible 4 year-olds. It is a significant phase of family life where, in Canberra, parents often make an enormous effort to be involved in the delivery of the program – often choosing to scale back work or opting to juggling shift rotations to become involved in an extraordinary display of volunteer effort and community spirit. Parents contributed, in 2007, approximately $1.3 million to the delivery of the program and managed an asset base of almost $6.7 million in teaching resources – their contribution and responsibility in the delivery of the preschool program. It is an honour to represent you here today. The era of the suburban Pre-school came to the fore in the wake of the Nursery Kindergarten movement in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. In a period of post-war reconstruction, the Australian community experienced a significant shortage of resources: human, material and financial. Simultaneously, developments in the value of the early years of child care and education stimulated public demand for young children to participate in a program that would be of benefit whilst mothers were freed up to undertake other duties. Canberra’s social and economic situation, surprisingly, was little different to that of today, and in 1944 the Ministry of the Interior commissioned the development of a program that would extend the benefit of the Canberra Nursery Kindergarten into the fledgling suburbs that surrounded the civic region. The ambitious proposal incorporated a collaborative “agreement” that effectively split the day-to-day fiscal management and ownership [of the entity] between the government and the parents of the young children enrolled in each suburban pre-school centre. Throughout a series of significant changes regarding the governance of the ACT, the suburban preschool “agreement” remained relatively undisturbed. It appears that, being a small-scale, successful program that met the demands of high population growth in the 1970’s and 1980’s – preserved the original arrangements – or kept it “under the radar”. In the 1990’s, under ACT self-government, the ACT preschool program experienced a number of attempts to modify and reduce the amount of government expenditure – whilst expecting more of the Preschool Parent Association. Throughout the past decade, further attempts to alter the preschool program revealed the presence of unidentified - yet disparate views regarding the nature, purpose and power of the two participants: the government and the Pre-school Parent Association. This gives rise to some questions, like: why are parents willing to make enormous domestic changes in order to manage their responsibilities in program? What can the original ACT preschool program teach us about developing successful community programs? And, finally, can those lessons be translated into the questions of the development of future early childhood initiatives to support the growth and development of human and community capital? I
want to leave with you an extract of 1952 Commonwealth Government
publication, “Before School: the story of the Canberra pre-school
centres.” Community education is considered the foundation of any pre-school programme, and its scope should be wider than parent education. Its aim should be to develop a community which will be alive to the needs of children and be prepared to take steps to meet them. It should stimulate the interest of government authorities, town planners and architects, manufacturers and retailers, so that cities and towns may be developed as good places for children to live in … Depending on community approval and community participation, a pre-school programme must make a positive and continuing effort to interpret its principles to that community. People should understand what is being done, and feel convinced that it is important.This vision is not lost on the Canberra Preschool Society or its member Preschool and Playschool Parent Associations. We rise to the challenge of change. This year, virtually all Preschool Parent Associations have taken the opportunity to review their role, some have decided to stop their original historic partnership, whilst others have decided to remain, all have renewed their vision, to work together to nurture and grow our children – and to continue to build a strong community that is “alive to the needs of children.” Carolyn Harkness CPS Acting President | ||
Developing an ACT Preschool Heritage group | CLICK HERE to register your interest (including your name, and contact details)
to form a group to work on gaining a heritage listing for those
preschools outlined in the original 1944 Ministerial Pre-School
Extension Project Approval: | ||
Background and details
How to enter.
Preparing the entry
Dates to remember
Confirming, delivering and returning the entry
© Canberra Preschool Society Inc. 2007