CONTENTS
CONTENTSOn this page
Child protection policy#
Regulation 46(1)(a) of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 requires that services take all reasonable steps to promote the good health and safety of children enrolled in the service.
The Children's Act 2014 and the licensing criterion HS222 also require all home-based services to have a child protection policy.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 46 – New Zealand Legislation
Children's Act 2014 – New Zealand Legislation
Your child protection policy and procedure must outline how your service will:
- identify and report child abuse and neglect
- keep children safe from abuse and neglect
- respond to concerns about child abuse and neglect.
Read more about what is required in the child protection licencing criterion.
Employment and human resource management#
You must have human resource management processes for educators and staff that include:
- induction procedures
- provision for professional development
- a definition of serious misconduct, and
- discipline and dismissal procedures.
See the human resource management licensing criterion.
GMA204 Human resource management
Employment New Zealand has information to support human resource management that service providers may find useful. This includes:
- templates for letters to appoint staff
- fact sheets
- employment agreement guides
- help calculating parental leave for your employed staff.
You can also ask questions on the Employment New Zealand website.
Responsible person expectations#
The responsible person is sometimes called the coordinator or visiting teacher.
You should have a documented policy or procedure that sets out expectations of the person or persons responsible in meeting regulation 28(2)(c) and how they will be monitored.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 28 – New Zealand Legislation
Read more about responsible person expectations in the regulatory guidance.
Home-based regulatory guidance
Human rights#
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata | Human Rights Commission provides information about equal opportunities, including a discrimination and complaints guide.
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata | Human Rights Commission
Collective agreements#
The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) is a union that negotiates collective employment agreements on behalf of many early childhood teachers.
New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa
Safety checking procedure#
You must have a documented procedure for safety checking all children’s workers before they start working at your early childhood service. The procedures must meet the requirements in the Children’s Act 2014.
If you engage a children’s worker who has lived overseas, it is recommended that there is a process to obtain a copy of a police certificate from the person’s country of citizenship and from any country they have lived in for a year or more within the last 10 years. This is in addition to the New Zealand Police vet part of the safety check.
See relevant legislation and licensing criterion.
Children’s Act 2014, Part 3 Children’s worker safety checking – New Zealand Legislation
Police vet and risk assessment procedure#
You must have a procedure to obtain a Police vet and conduct a risk assessment of information returned in the vet for:
- non-teaching and unregistered employees before they begin work at the service
- contractors and their employees before they have, or are likely to have, unsupervised access to children
- any adult aged 17 years or older living in the home where education and care will be provided before the home is used for education and care.
The procedure will need to make sure that every 3 years, another Police vet and risk assessment is completed for anyone still working at the service or living at the home.
Education and Training Act 2020, Schedule 4 – New Zealand Legislation
Health and safety policies and procedures#
All early childhood education service providers must comply with the health and safety requirements in Regulation 46 of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations.
You need to:
- promote the good health and safety of the children enrolled in the service
- prevent accidents and the spread of infection
- keep the premises, facilities and equipment in good repair, maintained regularly, and safe and free from hazards
- have procedures to deal with fire, earthquakes and other emergencies.
See the relevant regulations and criteria.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, Regulation 46 – New Zealand Legislation
Health and safety practices HS201 to HS228
Wash down process#
It might be necessary to wash a child:
- at nappy change time – sometimes wipes are not enough
- if they have vomited over themselves or another person
- if they have had a toileting accident
- if they become wet or dirty during play.
It can be useful to have a procedure to help educators keep things safe and hygienic. This might include:
- instructions to wash down, including checking the water temperature
- how to hygienically clean up the wash down area
- use of protective clothing like gloves.
See the children washed when soiled licensing criterion.
HS221 Children washed when soiled
Nappy changing procedure#
You must have a procedure for changing nappies for educators to follow to make sure that safe and hygienic practices are followed and children are treated with dignity and respect.
See the nappy changing procedure licensing criterion.
HS203 Nappy changing procedure
Infectious disease exclusion#
You must take steps to minimise the children’s contact with anyone who has an infectious disease.
It can be useful to develop a procedure to support educators to understand their role to:
- keep children who become unwell at a safe distance from other children
- return unwell children to the care of a parent or other person authorised to collect the child without delay.
See the response to infections illnesses licensing criterion.
HS217 Response to infectious illnesses
Monitoring children’s sleep#
You need a written procedure about how educators monitor children sleeping for each home in the service.
It should explain an educator’s responsibilities to check children’s:
- warmth
- breathing
- general wellbeing.
It should include how often checks should be made and situations where children need to be monitored more frequently.
See the sleep monitoring criterion.
Identifying and managing hazards#
Equipment, premises and facilities must be checked for hazards every day.
You need to have a documented risk assessment and management system.
The WorkSafe website has a range of health and safety resources. This includes tools like self-assessment sheets for health and safety matters and forms you can use, and information about managing hazards for small businesses. Look under 'The Toolshed', then ’Tools’.
See the hazard and risk management licensing criterion.
HS207 Hazard and risk management
Laundry process#
It can be useful to have a documented procedure for the hygienic laundering of linen used by children or adults.
Linen includes:
- bedding
- kitchen laundry such as dish cloths, tea towels, hand towels or oven mitts
- bibs
- dress-up clothes
- fabric play items
- towels
- furniture coverings
- art and messy play cloths
- cloth nappies, if used.
See the laundering licensing criterion.
Cleaning procedures#
Make sure everything is cleaned regularly using the right products.
It is useful to detail how to clean and sanitise different items and areas at your service, including:
- nappy changing areas
- food preparation areas
- sinks, toilets and other hard bathroom surfaces
- floors
- cots, beds, stretchers and mattresses
- carpets and soft furnishings
- toys, dress-up clothes and comforters
- sand and sandpits.
Health New Zealand encourages all services to have a documented cleaning schedule.
See the safety and hygiene licensing criterion.
HS201 Premises and contents are safe and hygienic
Animal procedures#
Children and adults must follow safe and hygienic practices when interacting with animals.
It can be useful to develop a policy or procedure for managing animals in a home. This could include:
- hygiene practices like hand washing after handing animals
- animal restraint.
See the animals licensing criterion.
Nutrition and provision of food#
When providing food for children, the educator must make sure it is safe and offers enough variety, quantity, and quality to meet each child’s nutritional and developmental needs.
It can be useful to develop a policy to describe how you will expect educators to make sure:
- food is safe to eat
- the food they serve offers enough variety, quantity and quality
- they record the type of food provided
- records are kept for 3 months.
See the food, drink and nutrition licensing criterion.
HS212 Food, drink and nutrition
Smoke and vape free#
Smoking and vaping are not allowed in indoor or outdoor areas used by children and food preparation when children are present at the service.
It can be useful to develop a policy to reinforce this.
See the smoking licensing criterion.
Sun protection#
It can be useful to develop a sun protection policy to support educators to keep children safe and comfortable when they are outside.
Your sun protection policy could include the use of:
- shade
- clothing
- sun hats
- sunscreen.
Emergency management plan#
You must have an emergency management plan that has:
- evacuation procedures specific to the home and relevant to its location, for different emergency situations
- designated assembly areas outside the building that keep children safe from further risk of harm
- a list of safety and emergency supplies
- a communications plan
- evidence of an annual review of the plan and improvement to emergency practices and procedures.
If the home is part of a building that has a fire evacuation scheme, the evacuation procedures must be consistent with that scheme.
Your emergency management plan must include out-of-school care children if out-of-school care is being provided in the home.
For practical guidance and information, see our guide and template on the page below.
Prepare for an emergency or traumatic incident in early learning
Your emergency management plan needs to be submitted with your probationary licence application.
See the emergency plan and supplies licensing criterion.
Curriculum#
Your service must comply with the curriculum standard.
It requires you to:
- plan, implement and evaluate a curriculum that provides learning experiences consistent with Te Whāriki Early Childhood Curriculum
- collaborate with parents, whānau | fanukues about the learning and development of their children
- get information and guidance from agencies with the appropriate expertise to support:
- the learning and development of children
- working effectively with parents and families.
You must meet curriculum criteria documentation requirements. The Tāhūrangi website has more information.
Te Whāriki Early Childhood Curriculum – Tāhūrangi
See the relevant regulation and licensing criteria.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, Regulation 43 – New Zealand Legislation
Curriculum criteria documentation required
Positive guidance#
As part of the curriculum, you must support the learning and development of children attending your service in a positive learning environment. Your service must support the development of social competence and understanding appropriate behaviour.
The He Māpuna te Tamaiti publication may be useful.
He Māpuna te Tamaiti – Tāhūrangi Te Whāriki Online
See the relevant regulations and licensing criterion.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, Regulation 43 – New Zealand Legislation
C210 Developing social competence
Settling and transition#
Transitions to, within and from a service can be stressful times for children and their families. To make these transitions positive and successful experiences, it is recommended that you have procedures that are based on knowledge of children, and current educational theory and practice.
Tāhūrangi has resources and further reading that may help with the development of policy and practice.
Te Whāriki Early Childhood Curriculum – Tāhūrangi
Strand 1: Mana atua | Wellbeing – Tāhūrangi
Strand 2: Mana Whenua | Belonging – Tāhūrangi
Kei Tua o te Pae: Assessment for Learning early childhood exemplars – Tāhūrangi
Communication#
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 regulation 47 and the Licensing Criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services, GMA201 and GMA202, set out the minimum standard of communication. You should let parents and families know how they can access information about their child.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 47 – New Zealand Legislation
Complaints procedure#
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 47 and the Licensing Criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services, criterion GMA201, require services to inform parents of the procedure to follow if they wish to complain about non-compliance with the regulations or criteria.
We have guidance and a template to help you develop a complaints procedure on our GMA201 licensing criterion webpage under 'Tools to help you comply'.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 47 – New Zealand Legislation
GMA201 Information provided to parents
You can find information about the complaints process for parents and whānau on our website.
Finances#
It is good financial practice to have a policy to outline how you will manage the finances of your service. Include things like:
- how your service is funded
- how you will manage funding and reporting obligations
- how financial decisions will be made
- how income and expenditure will be managed
- how you will meet your tax obligations.
Inland Revenue is a good starting point for finding out about tax obligations and entitlements. You can also download tax forms that staff will need to complete.
Business.govt.nz has a free national business information and referral service for small and medium businesses.
CommunityNet Aotearoa helps organisations get started and develop good practice in the voluntary sector environment.
Families can get help with their childcare costs with Working for Families, through Work and Income and Inland Revenue.
Working for Families – Work and Income
Working for Families – Inland Revenue
Fees and funding#
See our information about fees and funding for home-based services.
