Frequently asked questions
When enrolling your child at the centre you will need the following filled out and completed before your child can start. Please contact the centre for more information.
Filled out enrolment form
Birth certificate or passport
Certificate of Immunisation
Work and Income Childcare Subsidy Form (if applicable)
The fees vary according to the child's age and hours of attendance. More information will be given at the time of enrolment.
We offer 20 hours free for
- children aged 2 - 3 years (conditions apply)
- children aged over 3 years (no conditions apply)
We provide session times to ensure parents of children over 2 years of age can access FREE half days care and education.
Base fees match Work and Income Childcare Subsidy with a parent payment discount available which is conditional on prompt payment and keeping your child's account up-to-date.
The children at our centre are very busy which means there is often a need for parents to pack a few extra things. We recommend packing the following named items:
Two or three complete changes of clothes, including underwear and socks
Sunhat in summer
Warm hat in winter
Drink bottle
Appropriate footwear
Nappies if necessary
Certificate of Immunisation and birth certificate are needed for enrolment
We ask parents to please name your children's clothing to ensure it is not lost.
Yes, we do! If your child is aged 3 years to 5 years they can receive fully subsidised care, up to 6 hours per day for a total of 20 hours per week.
This is best accessed in the half day sessions offered Monday to Friday.
Yes, we do! We offer free morning or afternoon sessions at zero cost* for child aged 2 - 3 years.
* If parents qualify for Childcare Subsidy from Work and Income, we require that this be claimed for first.
Childcare Subsidy is a payment that helps families with the cost of pre-school childcare.
This subsidy is "mean tested." You may get Childcare Subsidy if:
you're the main carer of a dependent child
you're a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
your family is on a low or middle income.
You should also normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here. It also depends on how much you and your partner earn.
The child must be:
aged either:
under 5, or
over 5 if they're going to a cohort entry school (where new entrants start together on a set date after they turn 5), or
under 6 if you get a Child Disability Allowance for them
attending an approved early childhood programme for 3 or more hours a week.
Approved programmes include early childhood education and care services, eg:
kindergartens and preschools
childcare centres and creches
playcentres and playgroups
Kohanga Reo, Punanga Reo, Aoga and other programmes with a language and culture focus
approved home-based care.
Check what you might be entitle to: https://check.msd.govt.nz/
To make the transition as stress-free as possible, we recommend several short visits prior to the start date, where you stay with your child as they familiarise themselves with their new environment.
Our teachers will work together in ensuring both you and your child have a great experience right from the start. Teachers will be responsive to your child’s needs during the settling in process, through reassurance and supporting both yourself and your child in those early days.
Teachers will work with you individually to ensure your child's transition is stress free. We do understand some situations do not allow parents to attend multiple centre visits and we will work with your where required.
Once your child starts with us, feel free to visit or phone the centre at any time to find out how they are getting on – you might find this unnecessary once you see how much they love our centre!
We provide breakfast as required and lunch and snacks are served for all children. As per Ministry of Health instructions, choking foods are forbidden and our babies are served food appropriate for their aged and experience.
Formula or expressed breast milk is to be provided by the parent for bottle-fed babies.
All food allergies and cultural food requirements are catered for and must be advised at time of enrolment and reviewed every three months.
Water is provided at meals and freely available throughout the day.
We have learnt from experience that it is best to devise a regular routine for saying goodbye and discuss it with your child before arriving at the centre. Some tips to make it a bit easier include:
Talk to your child about what activity you are going to do with them before saying goodbye. (such as staying to complete a puzzle, reading a story or if you are going to wave goodbye once they have put their bag in place.)
Be positive, maintain an upbeat tone. Your child will follow your lead.
Keep the goodbye process short to minimise stress.
Always let your child know you are going to leave but will be back later to pick them up. If your child gets upset at this point, we recommend sticking to your routine.
Leave them with one of the teachers or some other children rather than just on their own.
Always leave as soon as you have said your goodbyes.
Crying is normal when you leave, however rest assured this usually stops soon afterwards as they get on with their day!
Children will pick up on your emotions about coming to the centre. Make sure you have positive conversations about the centre and always ask them how their day was when you pick them up.
If concerned, ask the teachers to call you. eg 15 minutes after you left and update you on your child's well-being.
We love to build close relationships with all our families and use an online tool called Storypark to share your child’s learning with you. Please ask your centre about signing up and using this app, which is FREE.
We also create profile books, which provide a hard copy for children to look through with their friends and family.
Each centre also has their own Facebook page which is regularly updated.
Staff and management are always available to discuss any matter regarding your child. We recommend that you make an appointment so that teachers can be available without interruption.
Please keep us updated whenever your child is absent or when you immunise your child. This can be done via a phone call, text or email.
Please phone the centre and let us know (you can just leave a message if no one picks up the phone).
If the accident is serious and/or involves your child's head, we will contact you and/or your child’s emergency contact and arrange an ambulance if necessary. We will care for your child until you or the ambulance arrives and if necessary, will accompany them to A & E.
Parents will also be advised of minor accidents and accidents reports are completed for all accidents. Parents are required to sign the accident report and a copy can either be emailed or printed for you.
We respect parent/caregiver choice around immunisation. If your child is immunised, please provide their Plunket book on enrolment so that we can photocopy their immunisation chart. If you have chosen not to immunise your child, please let us know on enrolment, so that you can be notified if there is ever an infectious disease/illness in the centre in which case your child is not able to attend to protect both them and all the other children for the duration of the outbreak.
If you have access to transport, then we would prefer that you bring the child in as this ensures that we have sufficient resources for those without transport.
We will pick up and drop off at the child's home address.
This must be to one address only – cannot chop and change unless it’s an emergency.
A parent or authorised person must be at home for drop-offs.
We cannot go down long driveways/right of ways – parents must meet us at the gate or top of the driveway.
We can only guarantee an estimated pickup/drop off time but will usually be about the same time each day, depending on the attendance of children.
In recent times of Covid, we have had to stand down the van service due to staff shortages. If this happens you will be notified as soon as possible.
If you have concerns regarding your child’s development, then please communicate this with the child’s teacher, alternatively, the teachers may contact you of any concerns they have. In either situation, our teachers will complete observations and prepare a referral for specialist support when required. Parents are involved at all stages and will sign off an application.
Note: There are currently long delays in getting specialist referrals, but the Centre will design an individual development program for your child in the interim, that is shared with the Parent with the hope that it will also be implemented at home.
Currently these are available at our Kelvin Road, Marne Road and Pukekohe Centres. Children from our Kelvin Road Centre will be taken to our Marne Road centre for lessons. This is only for older children who are toilet trained.
In conjunction with parents, our teachers will begin to coach children towards achievement of toileting independence from the age of 2 - 2.5 years or when the child indicates they are ready. Toilet training is always more successful when the child is ready, and both the teachers and parents are following the same process.
Generic sunscreen lotion suitable for children is applied as required and children are expected to wear sun hats.
If your child requires a specialist sunscreen lotion this must be supplied by the parent.
Nappies are to be supplied by the parent.
Health and safety are a top priority at our centre, and our policies are continuously reinforced by our staff. These include (but are not limited to) regular safety checks of all equipment, identification of and mitigation of any hazards, the storage of chemicals and hazardous items in locked cupboards and educating children on personal safety matters such as walking inside, staying seated while eating, not throwing equipment and encouraging respectful caring behaviour at all times.
At our centre while the MOE requirement is for one staff member first aid trained for every 25 children, we require that all our staff, who are working directly with the children, are first aid qualified.
Details on other areas such as sleep routines, learning programs, excursions, etc are all detailed in our parent information booklet.