It was a treat that brought families together to give children a chance to make new friends and experience a larger social setting.

Hunter Prelude Early Intervention Centre hosted the event at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Beresfield on June 19 as part of its annual excursion program.

The event also featured Ruby the Clown who captivated children with a range of musical activities and games. 

Community activities coordinator Teineka Silva said the Kurri Kurri based organisation, which runs community playgroups across the Hunter, held the disco after families flagged the idea. 

She said the centre offered families a range of support services and encouraged them to come up with a list of excursions they wanted to attend during the year. 

“We focus on each family being part of the partnership … We want the playgroups to be coordinated by the families,” Ms Silva said. 

Hunter Prelude partnered with Maitland Family Support, Woodberry Place of Friends and Awabakal to make the event possible.

It was open to children who attend the Play 2 Learn playgroups at Woodberry and Tenambit public schools as well as families within the community. 

Ms Silva said the event offered networking opportunities for children and gave parents a chance to pick up tips from each other. 

“It’s about connecting families to other families, we have a number of families of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and they have developed their own social networking,” she said.

“Families can connect and raise any concerns they have – it could be a family who needs to know how to toilet train their child, or a child could be a fussy eater.

“Some of these children may go to pre-schools together and it helps prepare them for the school environment where there is going to be a lot more children,”

Playgroup is held on Monday mornings from 9am to 11am at Woodberry Public School and on Thursday mornings from 9am to 11am at Tenambit Public School during school terms. 

Phone 4937 5571