World’s Best Kids’ Programmes - Aim Of Conference

V2 REGIONAL WELLINGTON

ADVANCE MEDIA INFORMATION
On behalf of the OSCAR FOUNDATION
Release Date: 17 May 2010

World’s Best Kids’ Programmes - Aim Of NZ Conference

Five hundred organisers of school age child care & recreation programmes will gather at the Wellington Convention Centre for the weekend May 21-23 with aim of making New Zealand a world leader in providing programmes for school age children outside school hours.

The OSCAR Foundation will host a weekend of intensive workshops run by local and overseas experts demonstrating what’s possible and what the best in the world are doing in other countries.

OSCAR – Out of School Care and Recreation - is the term used to describe services that provide regular care for 5 – 14 year olds before and after school hours and during the school holidays.

Denmark and Australia are among those most recognised for their out of school programmes and leading authorities from both countries will play a major part of the weekend’s activities.

They include European-wide child care magazine Danish editor and expert Stig Lund, Australian National Childcare Accreditation Council CEO Denise Taylor….and other leading figures from the OSCAR sector in Australia as well as leading local authorities.

In New Zealand OSCAR programmes are funded by parent fees and the Ministry of Social Development and administered by the OSCAR Foundation.
Programmes vary with the type of community in which they are run. All focus on recreation and “care” – with the people supervising the programmes responsible for the children's safety and well being.

Conference organiser, The OSCAR Foundation CEO Murray Upton says while we have a high standard of programmes in this country, coverage lags well behind OECD countries.

He says OSCAR is crying out for more people and organisations to train and run programmes that deliver physical, social, creative, emotional, and cultural support through play and having fun in a safe environment.

The OSCAR Foundation was established in 1995 to ensure all New Zealand children have access to quality, affordable before school, after school, holiday programmes and camps.

OSCAR programmes cater for some 100,000 children around the country. But that’s small numbers compared to the pre-school early childhood sector that that receives significantly greater Government support and funding, and is better known among parents.

Mr Upton says demand is growing with more women working, more single parent families, and families relocating away from traditional sources of help such as extended family, friend and neighbours.

How to meet that demand and deliver world leading quality care and recreation programmes is the underlying theme of the conference.

Workshops will cover a diverse range of subjects and activities ranging from reviews of overseas programmes to child psychology and behaviour, responding to child abuse, child involvement in music, drama, art and sculpture, Internet video production, and outdoor activities.

ends

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