Meet our PLD team

Ko Kara Daly tōku ingoa, nō Waikato ahau.  I am the Pedagogical Lead on the National Management Team and support mātauranga (adult learning) across Aotearoa through Playcentre Education and Playcentre PLD. 

I have been involved in Playcentre as a parent since 2005, as a tutor since 2008 and a PLD Facilitator since 2013.  

Since the late 1990s I have worked in the adult education sector in various facilitation and curriculum development roles, and have combined this with my passion for children’s learning and whānau support to move into ECE.

I work from home in the Waikato and regularly travel throughout NZ (when COVID levels allow) to support adult learning in Playcentres across the country.  

My passions with early learning include outdoor education, maths and supporting tamariki nui (big kids) at Playcentre.

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Nō Ingarangi, nō Kōtirana ōku tūpuna 

E noho ana au i Te Raki Paewhenua. 

Ko Amanda Phillips tōku ingoa.  

I love Playcentre! I went to our local centre myself as a child, and was excited to be able to attend again in recent years with my own tamariki. Although they have finished their Playcentre haerenga, I am lucky enough to be able to stay on and work as part of the PLD and the education team.  I have a background in health and wellbeing and adult education, and am passionate about supporting parents in their role as Playcentre kaiako! I love the philosophy that we are all learning and growing together – te whānau tupu ngātahi! I enjoy getting lost in the play and having adventures with the tamariki on session – and I especially love a good waiata and kanikani!  

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Tēnā koutou katoa 

Ko Karina tōku ingoa 

Playcentre has been a huge part of my life, I am a playcentre child and have been a playcentre parent since 2001, being a part of the PLD team for the last 8years has given me the opportunity to see, hear and feel what Playcentre looks like for individual Centre’s all-over New Zealand, I feel privileged to have been able to and continue to share this journey, support and also encourage empowerment, all the while learning something from every Centre I visit, there is so much value in tuakana teina. 

I have a huge passion for music and love to sprinkle this joy wherever I go. I believe Playcentre is the most amazing environment to foster inquisitive tamariki who are empowered to guide their learning journey. 

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini. 

I come not with my own strengths but bring with me the gifts talents and strengths of my family tribe and ancestors. 

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Tēnā koutou 

Ko Judy Gore ahau, no Tauranga ahau. 

Playcentre has been in my life for a while now, starting back when i joined with my first boy in 2001. When my youngest left Playcentre for school, i found i carried on with Playcentre, both as a volunteer at the WBoP Playcentre Association, and as employee (CSW, Facilitator, Tutor, and Session Support) and now with the PLD Team.  I love being part of the Playcentre Community and believe that Playcentre provides a perfect environment in which whanau thrive together.

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Tena koutou 

Ko Amelia tōku ingoa, nō Waikato ahau. 

As a member of the PLD team I really enjoy visiting centres and having a chance to work with centre members both kaiako and tamariki. I joined Playcentre 9 years ago as I had fond memories of being a Playcentre child myself. I have held many roles in Waikato including tutor, commentor, education team member as well as many different roles at my own centre. I have been a member of the PLD team since 2020 and I enjoy being a part of this fantastic and inspiring team. 

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!  

What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people! 

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Tēnā koutou, Ko Tainui te Waka, Ko Taupiri te Maunga, Ko Waikato te Awa, Ko Ngāti Tamaoho te Hapū, Ko Mangatangi te Marae, Ko Kieran taku hoa rangatira, Ko Olive rāua Ko Riley āku tamahine, Ko Jean taku ingoa, he Te Reo PLD  kaiako taku tūranga, no reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.  

 Kia ora Im Jean one of the PLD Facilitators based in the Waikato, and I have an interest in the ways kaiako and kohungahunga can be supported through their Tikanga me ona reo journey.  

 My approach to facilitating involves sharing traditional narratives and Māori creation stories (pūrākau) that can be used in our Playcentre kinaesthetic learning environments. My role is to share Te Ao Māori; the wonderful worldview, to achieve systemic change and help build confidence and cultural competency within Playcentre.  

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E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū. Appreciate the many voices of the forest. 

Kia ora koutou, 
I tipu ake ahau ki Tāmaki Makaurau. 
E noho ana ahau ki Te Awakairangi. 
Ko Liz Neill tōku ingoa. 

Tokowhā āku tamariki, all grown now. 
I have been involved in Playcentre since 1990, when my first son was a baby. We started in Auckland Association, including being one of the founding families of the Auckland Playcentre School, later moving to the Hutt Valley. I’ve held various Playcentre roles over the years such as volunteer centre and Association roles, Education tutoring and marking, Space facilitation, Centre Support and three years in the LNI Regional Office. I’ve been a part of the Professional Learning and Development Team for well over a decade now. My passion is Play, and the Outdoors, sharing the importance of unstructured and uninterrupted Play for our tamariki as they learn and grow. I’m loving exploring some of this through pūrakau and story telling. 
No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. 

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Kia ora koutou. Ko Viv Butcher toku ingoa.  

I live in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island. I have been involved in Playcentre in many roles locally, regionally and nationally. I have always been passionate about the adult education on offer for Playcentre parents and have tutored the Education programme for many years and joined the PLD team in 2018. 

I also enjoy creating with fibre –especially wool and harakeke and love to spend time in my workshop felting, dying, weaving, spinning, knitting, making, fiddling –ie playing! 

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” 

George Bernard Shaw 

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Kia ora e te Whānau  

Nō Wānaka ahau. Kei Ōtepoti (Dunedin) tōku kāinga ināianei. 

Ko Helen ahau. 

 When I became a Whaea (Mum) in 2005, I knew I would take my Tamariki to Playcentre! I had such very fond memories of my own time at Wānaka Playcentre with my Mum being the supervisor. 

While being at Playcentre with my sons, I went through the training, and started as a paid Facilitator at my own Centre (Mornington, Dunedin). 

I found my time as a member, and an employee, very inspiring and when the new role of Centre Support Worker (CSW) was initiated, I took on this role for some of the Ōtepoti (Dunedin) Playcentre’s. 

What I loved the most about this mahi were the strong nga hononga (relationships) I was able to grow with my Centre Whānau. They all taught me heaps! 

I stopped working as a CSW at the start of 2021 and joined the PLD team. 

I am currently attending Sawyers Bay Playcentre in Dunedin with my mokopuna, Juni, who is 16 months. That is keeping me pretty busy. 

Ka kite ano. 

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Kia ora koutou  

My oldest child took me to Playcentre in 1995 and that opened up years of wonderful opportunities for me. Over the next twenty years I took on Playcentre roles locally in Dunedin, regionally and nationally, including SPACE facilitator and Otago centre advisor. After time recently in the wider early childhood education sector I am delighted to be back working with Playcentre whānau.  

My wife Ruth and I live in central Dunedin. Our three children are currently to be found in Wellington, Kingston, and California.  

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Papaki kau ana ngā tai o mihi ki a koutou katoa.  

Nō Āwherika ki te Tonga, nō Kōtirana hoki ōku tīpuna. E noho ana mātou ko tōku whānau ki Ōtepoti, nō reira mokori anō kia mihi ki te mana whenua o Kai Tahu.  

Tēnā koutou, my name is Sacha Harbott, I live in Dunedin with my husband and three children. My passions are Te reo me ōna tikanga Māori, equity, education, research-based practice and helping and seeing young people thrive.  

I have been fortunate enough to have worked over many different sectors of education from tertiary and adult education, secondary schools, kura kaupapa Māori and Playcentre.   

I love working with people, encouraging us all to be better treaty partners who work towards equality of outcomes for our diverse tamariki through biculturalism in Playcentre and wider society.