History of Hospital Play Specialists in New Zealand
1960s: saw the development of hospital playgroups run by volunteers, usually under the auspices of the NZ Playcentres Federation
1967: Greenlane had a full-time supervised programme.
1972: full time paid supervised programmes were established at Greenlane hospital in and also in Christchurch and Dunedin.
1979: the first conference, which focused on the provision of play programmes in NZ hospitals, was jointly run by the Department of Education and the Hospital Liaison Group
1982: Employment of preschool activities officer at Auckland Hospital (Princess Mary Unit).
1984: Preschool Activities Officer position established at Hastings
1989: Massey University's Certificate in Early Childhood Education provided a paper on play in hospital
1989: Publication of Issue 1 of "The First Newsletter for Hospital Play Specialists in Australia and New Zealand" announcing the formation of the Australasian Association of Hospital Play Specialists.
1989: October the first annual conference of NZ hospital play specialists
1989: Hospital Play Specialists working in the Auckland Hospital Board made a name change.
1990: The Play and Recreation service at Princess Mary Unit (later, Starship Children's Health), Auckland Hospital, became the first hospital service to be licensed, chartered and part-funded by the Ministry of Education as an early childhood education service.
1996 February: A steering committee was established for a New Zealand Hospital Play Specialist Association.
1996 September 29: The first annual general meeting of the Hospital Play Specialists Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand was held
1998 June: Newsletter of the Association was revamped and given the title "Chapters", incorporating the words, Children, Hospital, Adolescents, Play, Therapeutic, Education, Research, and Support.
1998: the Association successfully negotiated a contract with the Ministry of Education to provide professional development support to Hospital Play Specialists working in licensed and chartered hospital early childhood services.
2002: The Association's First Pacific Rim Conference was held in Auckland
2003: 15 hospitals provide play and recreation services to hospitalised children and young people:
2003: Certification of New Zealand hospital play specialists introduced
2004: Representation on the working party that developed the Health and Disability Sector Standards (Children and Young People) Audit Workbook, SNZHB 81344:2004 which was developed to guide healthcare providers in ensuring that their services are responsive to the particular needs of children and young people
2006- present: Representation in Wellington on the Education Childhood Advisory Committee
2007- present: Representation on the Early Education Federation. Although a member for several years representation in Wellington was achieved once EEdFed and ECAC combined meetings on consecutive days.
2008: Specific Licensing criteria for hospital based education and childcare services established.
2010: Inaugural Conference - Distinguished service awards to Marianne Keyes, Carol Bolton and Kate Smith
2012: Revamp of certification into a comprehensive registration process.
2013 –present: Association representation on Allied Health Aotearoa New Zealand
2013: Start of National hospital play specialist awareness week. HPSAANZ began promoting HPS week in the month of march
2014 May:
Representation at the inaugural international summit:
The State of International Pediatric Psychosocial Services
Theme: A Global Perspective on Play and Psychosocial Care for Children in Hospital
2016: Sandy Adsett a lecturer at Te Wananga O Aotearoa- Toi mai rangi who is an internationally renowned Māori visual artist and cultural leader, modified our HPS kowhaiwhai with a contemporary koiri design, exclusive to the HPSAANZ. Kowhaiwhai is a unique art to our culture in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. It is symbolic, curvilinear painting that depicts elements of nature such as koru placing meanings and stories upon the formed patterns relevant to Māoritanga.
2016: Association members part of working group for reviewing Education Review Office’s He Pou Tataki. This is the review framework and the evaluation indicators for education reviews in early childhood services.
2017: 21st year of the Association. At the annual AGM Association facilitated discussion groups looking at the future direction of the Profession and the Association
2018-19: Representation on the reference group established by the ministry of Education to develop a Strategic Plan for Early Learning
March 2018 Hui: Facilitated by consultant Jennifer Pelvin to develop vision and mission statements and following lengthy consultation to decide on an updated logo incorporating our unique gifted Kowhaiwhai.
1967: Greenlane had a full-time supervised programme.
1972: full time paid supervised programmes were established at Greenlane hospital in and also in Christchurch and Dunedin.
1979: the first conference, which focused on the provision of play programmes in NZ hospitals, was jointly run by the Department of Education and the Hospital Liaison Group
1982: Employment of preschool activities officer at Auckland Hospital (Princess Mary Unit).
1984: Preschool Activities Officer position established at Hastings
1989: Massey University's Certificate in Early Childhood Education provided a paper on play in hospital
1989: Publication of Issue 1 of "The First Newsletter for Hospital Play Specialists in Australia and New Zealand" announcing the formation of the Australasian Association of Hospital Play Specialists.
1989: October the first annual conference of NZ hospital play specialists
1989: Hospital Play Specialists working in the Auckland Hospital Board made a name change.
1990: The Play and Recreation service at Princess Mary Unit (later, Starship Children's Health), Auckland Hospital, became the first hospital service to be licensed, chartered and part-funded by the Ministry of Education as an early childhood education service.
1996 February: A steering committee was established for a New Zealand Hospital Play Specialist Association.
1996 September 29: The first annual general meeting of the Hospital Play Specialists Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand was held
1998 June: Newsletter of the Association was revamped and given the title "Chapters", incorporating the words, Children, Hospital, Adolescents, Play, Therapeutic, Education, Research, and Support.
1998: the Association successfully negotiated a contract with the Ministry of Education to provide professional development support to Hospital Play Specialists working in licensed and chartered hospital early childhood services.
2002: The Association's First Pacific Rim Conference was held in Auckland
2003: 15 hospitals provide play and recreation services to hospitalised children and young people:
2003: Certification of New Zealand hospital play specialists introduced
2004: Representation on the working party that developed the Health and Disability Sector Standards (Children and Young People) Audit Workbook, SNZHB 81344:2004 which was developed to guide healthcare providers in ensuring that their services are responsive to the particular needs of children and young people
2006- present: Representation in Wellington on the Education Childhood Advisory Committee
2007- present: Representation on the Early Education Federation. Although a member for several years representation in Wellington was achieved once EEdFed and ECAC combined meetings on consecutive days.
2008: Specific Licensing criteria for hospital based education and childcare services established.
2010: Inaugural Conference - Distinguished service awards to Marianne Keyes, Carol Bolton and Kate Smith
2012: Revamp of certification into a comprehensive registration process.
2013 –present: Association representation on Allied Health Aotearoa New Zealand
2013: Start of National hospital play specialist awareness week. HPSAANZ began promoting HPS week in the month of march
2014 May:
Representation at the inaugural international summit:
The State of International Pediatric Psychosocial Services
Theme: A Global Perspective on Play and Psychosocial Care for Children in Hospital
2016: Sandy Adsett a lecturer at Te Wananga O Aotearoa- Toi mai rangi who is an internationally renowned Māori visual artist and cultural leader, modified our HPS kowhaiwhai with a contemporary koiri design, exclusive to the HPSAANZ. Kowhaiwhai is a unique art to our culture in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. It is symbolic, curvilinear painting that depicts elements of nature such as koru placing meanings and stories upon the formed patterns relevant to Māoritanga.
2016: Association members part of working group for reviewing Education Review Office’s He Pou Tataki. This is the review framework and the evaluation indicators for education reviews in early childhood services.
2017: 21st year of the Association. At the annual AGM Association facilitated discussion groups looking at the future direction of the Profession and the Association
2018-19: Representation on the reference group established by the ministry of Education to develop a Strategic Plan for Early Learning
March 2018 Hui: Facilitated by consultant Jennifer Pelvin to develop vision and mission statements and following lengthy consultation to decide on an updated logo incorporating our unique gifted Kowhaiwhai.
