April.

Just nine months after the first public meeting stimulated interest in the project, the Nursery Kindergarten was opened and first groups of children admitted (Rudduck, 1960).

Much voluntary help was needed once the School was in action: on the buses (the Nursery School Special, twice a day): in the kitchen, preparing the mid-morning orange drink, the mid-day dinner, and the afternoon milk and rusk: in the garden, supplying fresh vegetables for eighty dinners a day; and in the library, choosing and obtaining books for teachers, parents and children. The Society and the growing group of parents readily gave the necessary assistance.

As the Nursery Kindergarten became established, a parents’ and Friends Association was formed in

July

July 28. 

Annual Report of the Canberra Nursery Kindergarten Society.

August.

This Association took over the responsibility for the routine help needed at the Acton Nursery School, thus leaving the Society free for further extension work in the community (Rudduck, 1960).

The society was commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior to undertake the role of the Canberra Pres-school Advisory Board and the group was not to be representative of the voluntary local committees, but to be comprised of members who were selected for their specialised knowledge of the work. Their functions were to:

• advise the Department on general policy;
• assist the Department to set up appropriate standards for all branches of pre-school work including staff, buildings, equipment, playgrounds;
• advise the Department on the registration of local groups;
• examine and make recommendations to the Department for subsidies to local committees;
• maintain supervision, through departmental channels, of all pre-school development;
• advise the Department on the issue of publications in the form of leaflets, brochures, etc., and
• act as a channel of communication between voluntary local committees and the Department (Belen-Smith, 1986).

There were, of course, many more children than there were places in the Nursery School. After a great deal of discussion, both in committee and in the local press, a method of impartial selection was evolved and approved by the Minister of the Interior.

A quota was worked out on the basis of the number of pre-school children in each district. (Statistics were available annually from the Rationing Commission, for this was War time, a time of Ration Books and Identity Cards). Where the number of applicants from any one district exceed the number of places available for the children in that district, the final selection of children was made by drawing lots.

Second Elected Council – 

• President – Mrs. Bailey; 
• Vice President – Mmes. Cumpston, Calvert and Holt (ex officio, as President of the Canberra Mothercraft Society); 
• Hon. Secretary – Mrs Crisp; Hon.
•  Treasurer – Mrs. Fanning; 
• Committee – Mmes Angell, Cook, Douglas, Firth, Hogan, Minter, Rudduck, Waterman, Woods, Misses Combes and Jones, Sister O’Rorke, Messrs. Blair, Hiland, and Mrs Haseler (subsequently replaced by Mmes. Coghlan, Helman and Moore) (Bailey, 1946).

October

October 19.  

C.S. Daley sent the final proposal for the Pre-School Extension : Canberra to Senator the Honourable J.S. Collings, Minister of State for the Interior, Canberra, ACT.

October 23.

The Minister of State for the Interior approves and signs proposal.

October 23.  

Rosamund Combes – Appointed as the Preschool Officer.

December

December 8.
G.E. Penred submits her final “Report with recommendations to the Department of the Interior re. development of the pre-school extension programme in Canberra”. This report outlines the process for the engagement of the community and further elements on how the partnership is to be managed.

References:
Bailey, K.N. (1946). How ideas grow or pre-school development in Canberra. Canberra Nursery Kindergaten Society.
Belen-Smith, P. (1986).  A brief history of the Society. Canberra Preschool Archives. Available at Woden Heritage Library. Canberra.
Harkness, C. (2007) A brief history of the CPS. Personal document.
Rudduck, L. (1960). Caanberra Pre-School Society: A record – 1943-60. Canberra Preschool Archives. Available at Woden Heritage Library. Canberra.