An early childhood centre has been officially opened in the small Bay of Island town of Kawakawa.
The centre has been set up and will be run by the Ngati Hine Health Trust. it opens on Tuesday.
So far about 32 tamariki have enrolled in the bilingual centre - which uses both Reo Maori and Pakeha.
Chair of the trust's education service Maxine Shortland says the centre was needed to meet demand in the area.
She says there are, on average, 200 births each year at Kawakawa hospital and most of them are of children living in the immediate area. She says the existing Kohanga Reo and one early childhood centre are not enough to meet demand.
