Our Story

Lesley Max was asked by publishing company Penguin to write on the subject of child poverty in New Zealand. What followed was her seminal book, Children: Endangered Species? published in 1990 (now out of print).

Lesley knew that while it’s one thing to raise issues, it’s quite another to come up with solutions. She researched what was happening elsewhere in the world that was making a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged children.

She came up with two major programmes. Firstly, a kind of one-stop-shop for parents – a Family Service Centre, to be piloted in the South Auckland community of Papakura. The other was the HIPPY programme.

Lesley Max partnered with Gordon Dryden to establish the Pacific Foundation.

Lesley Max pioneered the Family Service Centre concept in New Zealand in 1992, beginning with the Papakura Family Centre, which was opened by Governor-General, Dame Cath Tizard. It is a place where parents can visit a Plunket nurse, see counsellors, social workers, get budgeting advice, take their children for hearing and vision checks, attend parenting courses and enrol their children in preschool education. It is a non-threatening, inclusive environment, now a proven community-based wrap-around service for low-income families, which is now operating in six communities around New Zealand. 

The HIPPY programme was also launched in New Zealand in 1992.

The Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home-based early childhood education scheme that helps parents set their children on the path to success in school and life. Parents are mentored to work with their children for 15 to 20 minutes a day for five days a week, 30 weeks of the year, for two years. The changes that occur over that time are huge.

Professor Avima Lombard pioneered the programme in Israel in the late 1960's, after extensive research into the effectiveness of a home-based intervention involving mothers and their pre-school children from educationally disadvantaged sectors of society.

After Lesley Max heard about HIPPY, she visited Prof. Lombard in Israel and talked about bringing the programme to New Zealand. Prof. Lombard visited NZ and trained the original HIPPY team, to ensure that the proven methods were not diluted. That story HERE

HIPPY now operates in 40 locations around the country, working with upwards of 3000 families every year.

Early results of the Family Service centre approach were so promising that the Government funded five more Centres in disadvantaged communities, based on the model for Papakura Family Service Centre, with HIPPY as a key element. These centres have all since celebrated their 21st birthdays – a testament to the value of this integrated approach to assisting families to move forward. 

Lesley Max was awarded the Winston Churchill Fellowship, and studied successful interventions in child protection and education in five countries. On her return, she was influential in the establishment of Family Start in New Zealand.

The Government commissioned research to determine the success of HIPPY

“The HIPPY programme in Family Service Centres” (Burgon, 1997) is published, together with “Family Service Centres Evaluation”. 

Both the integrated Family Service Centre concept and the HIPPY component of it were found to provide benefits for children and their parents.

The Government starts contributing funding to the cost of operating HIPPY sites outside Family Service Centres.

University of Auckland enters partnership with Pacific Foundation to pilot MATES mentoring and tutoring programme for senior students (Year 13).

MATES Mentoring and Tutoring programme, based on the Perach Project in Israel (the largest mentoring programme involving tertiary students in the world) was launched in partnership with Auckland University in 2002.

MATES Senior is piloted in four low-decile Auckland secondary schools.

HIPPY research report, “We Talk in our Family Now” is published.

Lesley Max was appointed MBE for her work on behalf of New Zealand children and families.

In 2005 HIPPY New Zealand hosts the world's HIPPY International Conference in Auckland.

The Pacific Foundation is renamed "Great Potentials Foundation" in 2006 to better reflect the work we do.

Lesley Max features in North & South magazine cover story highlighting New Zealand’s child abuse epidemic.

MATES Senior is expanded to 10 secondary schools across Auckland.

The Starpath Centre for Research study concludes that students from MATES Senior schools are more likely to achieve university entrance and more likely to enroll in university than students from comparable non-MATES schools.

Great Potentials Foundation reached another milestone in its pioneering social entrepreneurship in 2008, with the introduction of MATES Junior, serving young people making the often difficult transition from intermediate to secondary school.

MATES Junior is piloted at Greenmeadows Intermediate School. 

In 2010 Lesley Max was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition for her services to children.

The Ministry of Education agrees to majority-fund establishment of a Child and Family Centre at Takanini.

MATES Senior is approved for inclusion in the Government’s initiative: Children’s Action Plan - Promotion of Youth Mentoring

Takanini Family Service Centre opens its doors.

Dame Lesley Max steps into a new role with Great Potentials as Senior Advocate and Founder, remaining on the Board of Trustees.

Jacki Richardson takes up the CEO position with Great Potentials

MATES Senior pilots the programme in the Waikato, with two new schools joining the programme through a partnership with ZEAL, partially funded via a new Ministry of Youth Development contract.

Great Potentials Foundation has now been operating for nearly 30 years and works with upwards of 5000 children, young people and families every year, intervening at crucial points in a child's educational journey to bring about lasting generational change.

Great Potentials has 40 HIPPY sites around the country, MATES Senior in 11 high schools, MATES Junior in 4 intermediates and two thriving Family Service Centres reaching more than 5000 low-income people and families every year...

We were able to flip the way we deliver our service to online and contactless deliveries throughout the 2020/2021 COVID lockdowns. Ensuring we could still support the children, young people, and families reach their full potential. 

Great Potentials Foundation signed a government contract to run a new "Whanau In-Home Learning Programme" for 2-5-year-olds in 22 areas across New Zealand, from the Far North to Timaru.