Who We Are

Helen Brew established the first Parents Centre in New Zealand in 1952, in Wellington. By 1994, the Wellington Parents Centre had become so big, it split into two centres - Wellington South (WSPC) and Wellington North (WNPC).

WSPC is a not-for-profit incorporated society. We provide information and networks for people at different parenting and child development stages - all by volunteer parents, for parents. Our "territory" stretches from Brooklyn to Seatoun and Miramar, and from Island Bay to Thorndon. We currently have over 250 families as members.

In 2011, we provided 18 childbirth education classes for over 187 prospective mothers and their support partners. In 2012, we plan to hold 15 classes. We also have a full programme of (mostly) evening parenting sessions on a wide range of topics.

There are about 50 separate Parents Centres throughout New Zealand (each run by volunteers). All Centres are affiliated to Parents Centre New Zealand, the national body which is responsible for providing the individual Centres with support and national co-ordination of the Centres' work with and for their members.

Wellington South Parent Centre is run entirely by a committee of volunteers:

Rebecca recently stepped into CBE Enrollment role - she books classes, manages new member queries and keeps an eye on billing;

Mary Borisova has taken on the role of managing our membership database

Ed is the treasurer, he also manages the website and our CRM, sends out newsletters and works hard to get volunteers coordinating classes;

Mary O'Keeffe, one of our fantastic Childbirth Educators makes sure the Childbirth Education classes happen and organises stuff like gift packs, and nametags;

Anoushka manages our parent education program;

Nick is our fabulous newsletter editor, we send our Southern Babes newsletter to 500+ subscribers;

Charlotte is our wonderful secretary; and

Kirsty is our Grant Officer role. Grants are important for keeping the year to year running of the classes and resources going and Kirsty has worked wonders already.

WSPC AGM Centre Report 2011 (PDF, 57Kb)
WSPC Financial Statements 2011 (PDF, 156Kb)
WSPC AGM Minutes 2011 (PDF, 41Kb)