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early childhood
New Zealand has a wide range of
early childhood services. Private operators, Community Church
Groups and voluntary agencies run many of these services.
Unlike private and secondary schools, not all these services
automatically receive state funding. As a general rule, state
funding is provided only if the service is licensed and has a ‘charter’ that formally sets out educational policies.
The Ministry of Education sets licensing standards and criteria
includes minimum ratios of staff to children and restrictions on
class sizes while the Education Review Office (ERO) regularly
monitors the centres.
Early Childhood Development, a government agency, provides local
contacts and advise on the range of early childhood services
available. This service is free!
Kindergartens
 Kindergartens provide early childhood education for children from
the age of three to five years. Some have waiting lists - children can be placed on the waiting list from the age of two
years.
Children attend either morning or afternoon sessions. Morning
sessions are usually held five times a week and afternoon
sessions three. Sessions are informal and focus on developing
social skills and learning through play. Most kindergartens have
tow to three trained teachers. However, parents are expected to
help out both with class supervision and with fundraising and
committee work.
Most kindergartens open from 8.45am to 11.45am and from 12.45pm
to 3.30pm. They do not charge fees, but a donation is generally
expected.
Education and Care Centres
 Education and care centres offer full day or sessional
(up to 4 hours a day) care and are open for up to 8 or 9 hours
(between 7.30am and 6.00pm).
Some centres offer care in morning or afternoon sessions.
Usually, care is charged on the basis of a weekly or daily fee,
an hourly fee applies for casual care. Centres are licensed to
take either under two year olds, over two year olds or a mix of
both age groups. These include both standard facilities and
specialist childcare centres such as those run by Montessori and
Rudolph Steiner schools.
Playcentres
Playcentres are run as parent co-operatives, and parents
are closely involved in both running the centre and working with
the children during session times.
Individual playcentres arrange their own session times with 1 to
10 sessions per week. Children can attend up to 5 sessions per
week.
Each centre sets the fees and parents run the session on a roster
and parents can undertake training for supervising sessions at a
playcentre.
Home-based Care
This service provides supervised, home-based care for
very small groups of children. This is sometimes referred to as
family day-care and care is provided in the local
caregiver’s home.
Family day-care fees are charged on an hourly rate and the times
are flexible - they can include evenings and weekends to
help parents who work irregular hours.
Nannies
 Nannies are listed in the New Zealand Yellow Pages.
A wide range of services is available and although certification
is not required, most nannies are professionally trained.
Correspondence School
In special circumstances, the Correspondence School
provides early childhood education for children under the age of
6. This is provided in cases where children either live in remote
areas, are sick or disabled, do not have a settled address or
have special needs.
Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
There are approximately 70 Pacific Island Early
Childhood Centres located throughout New Zealand.
Most are attached to community churches or schools. Some centres
are free but others charge around $80 per week.
Pacific Island Early Childhood Groups
These groups are more relaxed and informal. They usually
require a high level of parent involvement and some may also ask
for a small donation.
There are about 170 groups across New Zealand. Like the Early
Childhood Centres, these are usually located in either community
churches or social centres. Many of the groups are open for only
3 hours a day, a few days a week.
Playgroups
 These are community based play programmes for children.
Parents are required to supervise their children during sessions
while some playgroups also provide programmes that focus on
preserving the language and culture of new migrants.
Special Needs Children
In New Zealand, it is against the law for any
educational institution to treat a student differently because
they have a disability. Services for children and young people
with special needs are provided by the Specialist Education
Services (SES).
Its Early Intervention teams offer family-focused support to
young children with developmental needs from birth until they are
settled at school. Services are provided by teams with specialist
skills.
Local offices of the SES are listed under ‘Specialist
Education Services’ in the New Zealand Telephone Book.
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