Child Care News
Ōhaupō early learning centre helps to combat older generation loneliness
NZ Herald - Te Awamutu Courier - January 16, 2020It's been almost a year since children from Ōhaupō's Grasshoppers Early Learning Centre starting visiting residents at Radius Windsor Court rest home, which has benefited both young and old. The visits began in March last year and were put in place by the rest homes...
Early childhood teachers are confident parents won't even notice changes that kick into gear today
NZ City - January 9, 2020Primary-qualified teachers are now allowed to be the "person responsible" in early childhood centres, instead of just early-childhood-educators. There has to be one "person responsible" for every 50 children - in charge of overseeing children's day-to-day education...
Little Steps early childhood education centre to open in Stratford
NZ Herald - Stratford Press - January 6, 2020An early childhood education centre is taking big strides to support those taking little steps. Stratford early childhood education centre Little Steps, owned by Wendy and Mark Hinton, opens in January. Wendy says opening the centre has been a family effort...
Thieves steal bikes from Hamilton childcare centre
Stuff - January 3, 2020A two-seater trike and multiple other bikes have been stolen from a Hamilton childcare centre. Someone broke a gate latch to get to the bikes at Sunshine Childcare Vickery Street, a social media post from the Te Rapa centre said. They then took all the children's bikes the centre had...
Fire closes Hamilton childcare centre, police investigating
Stuff - Libby Wilson - December 27, 2019Investigations are under way into a fire which ripped through a Hamilton childcare centre on Boxing Day - the night before it was meant to reopen. Learn A Lot Childcare was in flames when Fire and Emergency was notified, around 6pm on Thursday. About 24 firefighters battled the peak of the blaze ...
Woman awarded $3k in damages after bad job reference 'breached privacy'
Stuff – Harrison Christian – December 26, 2019A childcare centre must pay a former employee $3000 in damages for breaching her privacy by giving her a bad job reference which saw her miss out on a job. The Human Rights Review Tribunal ordered Katui Early Childhood Learning Centre in Northland to pay Dana...
An open letter to my child's daycare teachers
NZ Herald - Vera Alves - December 21, 2019Today is the last day of term at my daughter's daycare. There have been many rushed pick ups and hurried drop offs this year. These were the words I haven't had time to say. Thank you. Thank you for nurturing her. As a working mum, it's easy to feel guilty about the hours spent away ...
Childcare reimbursement step to attract young parents to Marlborough council
Stuff NZ - Sophie Trigger - December 19, 2019In a bid to attract younger parents as future candidates Marlborough councillors will now be able to claim reimbursement for childcare. In its final full council meeting for the year the Marlborough District Council reviewed its Elected Members' Allowance...
Te Puna Manawa o Whakaue childcare teachers had cannabis in their system at work
NZ Nerald - Leah Tebbutt - December 19, 2019Two-thirds of teachers at a Bay of Plenty childcare centre had traces of cannabis in their system while at work - with one turning up with bloodshot and "very red" eyes...
Jenny Ruth: How much longer will investors keep backing childcare companies?
NZ Herald - Jenny Ruth - December 16, 2019The performance of listed childcare companies in both Australia and New Zealand so far this century makes one wonder whether such investments meet the cliché definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over...
South Canterbury Kindergartens welcoming of Early Childhood Action Plan
Stuff - Esther Ashby-Coventry - December 16, 2019The Government's Early Childhood Action Plan 2019 – 2029 revealed last week has been welcomed by South Canterbury Kindergartens but not totally embraced by the Early Childhood Council. The main points in the plan are to improve adult-child ratios, move toward a fully...
Two Northland kindergartens shine when it comes to growing Sunflowers
NZ Herald - Julia Czerwonatis, Northern Advocate - December 16, 2019More than 700 children across the region have become little gardeners over the past months while taking part in a nationwide project that encourages kindergarten kids to grow their own sunflowers. Last week, Daltons Sunflowers in Kindergartens Project announced the winners...
Erin Maloney: Early learning plan a solid step
NZ Herald - Hawke's Bay Today - December 10, 2019Recently the Education Minister, Chris Hipkins, released He taonga te tamaiti – every child a taonga: early learning action plan 2019-2029. The action plan outlines 25 actions intended to raise quality, improve equity and enable parents to have greater choice when considering early learning...
Karen O’Leary stars in new early childhood fair pay video – NZEI
The Daily Blog - December 7, 2019NZEI Te Riu Roa has launched a new video campaign to get the public behind fixing the huge pay gap between qualified early childhood teachers and other teachers. The video features Karen O’Leary, early childhood teacher and star of Wellington Paranormal. Early childhood teachers ...
Making history for Early Childhood Education
Scoop - Press Release ChildForum - December 6, 2019This week a petition with more than 15,000 signatures was presented at parliament to Nicola Willis, MP and opposition spokesperson for Early Childhood Education. The petition asks the Government to instruct the Ministry of Education to end pay discrimination against teachers working in ...
