CONTENTSOn this page
Child protection policy#
Regulation 46(1)(a) of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 requires services to take all reasonable steps to promote the good health and safety of children enrolled in the service.
The Children's Act 2014 and licensing criterion HS125 also require all centre-based services to have a child protection policy.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 – 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 licensing criterion.
Employment and human resource management#
You must have human resource management processes that include:
- staff induction
- ongoing professional development
- a definition of serious misconduct, and
- discipline and dismissal procedures.
See the human resource management licensing criterion.
GMA105 Human resource management
Employment New Zealand has information to support human resource management. This includes:
- templates for letters to appoint staff
- factsheets
- employment agreement guides
- help to calculate parental leave for your employed staff.
You can also ask questions on the website.
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) negotiates collective employment agreements on behalf of many early childhood teachers. As a condition of receiving government funding, you must pay teachers at a rate that is at least as high as the lowest step on NZEI's ‘consenting parties' collective agreement’.
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 criteria.
Children’s Act 2014, Part 3 Children’s worker safety checking – 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
Part of the requirements of a health assessment
The wash down procedure, nappy changing procedure and infectious disease exclusion process will be reviewed in the health assessment you need to get before you open your early childhood service.
See more about the health assessment report.
Required assessments, approvals and registrations
The National Public Health Service has useful information in early childhood service guidelines for:
- health assessments
- cleaning and sanitising
- wash down
- illness.
Planning and preparing for an emergency#
Your building must have:
- an approved evacuation scheme
- an emergency management plan.
Evacuation scheme#
Find out about fire evacuation schemes in the required assessments, approvals and registrations section.
Required assessments, approvals and registrations
Emergency management plan#
An emergency management plan is a requirement under the:
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016
- licensing criterion HS105 Emergency plan and supplies.
The emergency management plan must have:
- an evacuation procedure specific to the premises and relevant to its location, which apply in different emergency situations and are consistent with the building’s fire evacuation scheme
- designated assembly areas outside the building that keep children safe from further risk
- a list of safety and emergency supplies and resources sufficient for the age and number of children and adults at the service and details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency
- details of the roles and responsibilities that will apply during an emergency
- a communication plan for families and support services
- evidence of reviewing the plan annually and implementation of improved practices as required.
The plan needs to be maintained and kept up to date. It needs to be shared with parents, whānau | families and caregivers.
Evacuation procedure#
In addition to having an approved fire evacuation scheme, you must have a documented evacuation procedure specifically for your premises that covers emergency situations like a fire, earthquake, tsunami, flood and so on.
This procedure has a broader scope than just fire evacuation and must be consistent with the overarching Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) approved fire evacuation scheme. The evacuation procedure is the responsibility of the service provider.
Supplies#
Have an emergency supply of water and food. Make sure there is enough water and food for the size of your service.
If your service includes children under 2 years old, your emergency supplies must have enough items for their age and number. This includes infant formula, clean bottles, and nappies.
Make sure you have access to required medication, for example, inhalers and EpiPens.
Planning and preparing for emergencies guidance#
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 relevant regulations and licensing criterion.
Curriculum#
Your service must comply with the curriculum standard: general.
It requires you to:
- plan, implement and evaluate a curriculum that provides learning experiences consistent with Te Whāriki Early Childhood Curriculum
- collaborate with parents, family and whānau 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 whānau | families.
You must meet curriculum criteria documentation requirements.
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 C101 to C113
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
C110 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 Early Childhood Education and Care Services, GMA101, GMA102 and GMA103, set out the minimum standard of communication with parents and how they can access information about your service and 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 criterion GMA102, 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 GMA102 licensing criterion webpage under 'Tools to help you comply'.
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, regulation 47 – New Zealand Legislation
GMA102 Information provided to parents
Find information about the complaints process for parents and whānau below.
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#
The 20 Hours ECE funding from the government affects the way a service receives funding for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds and the fees that can be charged for some children.
20 hours funding for early childhood education
You cannot charge an extra fee for an enrolled child who is receiving 20 Hours ECE. Fees can be charged for additional hours of enrolment outside of 20 Hours ECE.
Usual enrolment fees or waiting list fees can be charged for children who will be using 20 Hours ECE at your ECE service. These fees must apply to all children, not just those receiving 20 Hours ECE. You must also make sure these fees do not prevent children from accessing 20 Hours ECE.
Parents can be asked to pay optional charges for hours claimed as 20 Hours ECE. Donations may also be requested.
Administration software#
There are different kinds of early childhood administration software available to assist with the management of fees, subsidies and so on. These can be bought from private companies.
