Branch Agreement

The following process has been recommended by our lawyers to ensure that centre whānau and their decision is protected.

1. Arrange a hui (resolution hui) allowing for 10 more working days’ notice to discuss the Branch Agreement and resolutions.
2. Ensure that at least 75% of Centre whānau enrolled with the Centre attend (which can be held kanohi ki te kanohi or via communication technology).
3. Arrange a second hui (voting hui) to make a decision 10 days working days or more after the resolution hui.
4. Ensure that at least 75% of Centre whānau enrolled with the Centre attend (which can be held kanohi ki te kanohi or via communication technology).
5. If your centre chooses to make your decision using a different method, please use the Participation Resolutions – contrary to legal advice template available to download on this page.  Centres can use consensus or a simple majority vote (being 51% of all Centre whānau enrolled with the Centre) to either pass or reject each of the motions set out in the Resolutions document.
6. Email the signed Branch Agreement and completed Participation Resolutions to [email protected]
7. The original signed Branch Agreement and Resolutions can be posted/couriered to Porirua, given to your Centre Advisor or dropped at your Regional office.

Once received, Playcentre Aotearoa will confirm receipt and can begin planning for the next steps. If you have any questions speak to your Centre Advisor, Regional Support Lead or Regional Manager.

Many Playcentres are unincorporated societies so don’t have any specific legislation that sets out how they operate. This means that those signing on behalf of the centre are doing so in their personal capacity and that others involved with the Centre could have a right of indemnity. To protect our whānau, the approach outlined in the ‘Participation Resolutions’ is considered the safest option for these individuals. The recommended approach is not mandatory, and a centre can make their decision in a way that follows centre tikanga/centre practise.

Ultimately, we recommend that the process suggested in the ‘Participation Resolutions’ is followed. Some centres have considered other ideas to protect whānau. 

1. Agree and minute the decision-making process for this decision. Ensure you can provide evidence of this.
2. Hold a number of smaller hui for discussion, minuting what was discussed and any questions.
3. Have those that are unable to attend hui to email and confirm that they are happy to go with the decisions of the group.
4. Allow for proxy votes (where Centre whānau choose someone to vote on their behalf) – have this confirmed in email prior to the hui.
5. Have Centre whānau email in their vote prior to the hui.
6. Have all Centre whānau sign the resolutions document to confirm their agreement.

Some centres have whānau enrolled that only attend from time to time. This might be because the centre has decided to have casual enrolments, or there are whānau that attend from time to time, but not consistently.  They are not involved with the cooperative running of the Playcentre. In this case the Centre may agree that these whānau do not need to be included in the decision. Centres might decide to send an email asking if they would like to be involved and that the Centre will assume not unless they hear back from them by a certain date. A follow up phone call would support our values of kaitiakitanga, generosity of spirit, respect, tika and aroha.

When the new Trust Deed was adopted, the Trustee Board presented the organisation with concepts of what kind of support they need to introduce into centres. Becoming a branch finalises the decision already made in 2022, whereby centres and rōpū decided to adopt the new Trust Deed to secure the future of Playcentre. Becoming a branch means that Playcentre Aotearoa will provide a framework that will allow Centre’s whānau to: 

1. Lead the delivery of children’s learning and education,
2. Focus on their own education through Playcentre Aotearoa’s qualification programme, and
3. Build the Centre based community.

This is outlined in clause 1.3(d) of the branch agreement and this will be through the introduction of a Kaimahi to support centres. Playcentres will then remain in place as branches thereafter and future generations may need this support to look different as social, political, economic environment evolves and changes overtime. Our long-term plan for growth is to ensure that Playcentre allows for tamariki can have their parents and whānau as the first and best educators for generations to come.