Initially the Manaaki Nursing Service identified a group of young Mums in the Gore area whose young children were not attending an Early Childhood Service.
Southern REAP established a Playgroup for these Mums at the local Kindergarten, during these sessions we also offered informal learning opportunities such as budgeting, budget cooking and crocheting. Following these classes, the girls indicated they were considering more formal study options if they were available. Together with the Community Trust of Southland, we now offer a two hour session per week (a crèche is provided) with a tutor where the girls come and they work through correspondence material.
Jonelle McDowall, our Eastern Southland coordinator organises the work material for them, and the tutor provides on-going motivation, and support. We have nine enrolments to date.

We received some really positive feedback on Helen Reid’s classes here in the Wakatipu. Helen has been running both cooking classes and sewing workshops with attendance numbers high for both. Helen has been a busy lady coordinating so many lessons: Kid’s Cooking (Arrowtown), Cooking with Youth Booth (Queenstown – run with the support of the Salvation Army), Sewing Bee (Queenstown), and the Nutritious Cooking Series (Queenstown – run with the support of the Lower Shotover Country Women’s Institute and the Foodstuffs Community Trust - Southland).