Frequently Asked Questions

We often get asked lots of questions, so we’ve
put our most common ones below for you!

Infant rooms have an average teacher to child ratio of 1:4.

Toddler rooms have an average teacher to child ratio of 1:6.

Preschool rooms have an average teacher to child ratio of 1:8.

Nappies, sunscreen, nutritional morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and late snack (for Centres opening later than 5pm), daily notebook for infants, online learning e-portfolio via Storypark.

We offer 20 hours subsidised fees for early childhood education, which are subsidised by the Ministry of Education.
Find out more at www.education.govt.nz

A minimum of 80% of our teachers are qualified.

Our menus have been specifically designed by our onsite chef to line up with the Healthy Heart guidelines. We provide a balanced diet to meet the nutritional needs of our children.

Yes, we cater for children with allergies. Please talk to your Centre Manager about your child’s specific needs.

We believe in outside play all year round and ensure that both children and teachers are dressed appropriately to ensure we can enjoy exploring the changing seasons, while still keeping warm and dry.

The centres only close on the statutory holidays, however two weeks’ notice is required for all holidays outside of these days.

Each calendar year your child will be entitled to holiday leave of 3x weeks of your child’s booked days. During this time you will be charged 50% of your current booking to retain your child’s space. For children enrolled less than a full week, the discount will be applied pro-rata i.e. a child enrolled for 3 days a week will receive 9 days discounted rate in a calendar year.

It's important to have a plan for when your child is sick, as you will be asked to keep them away from the centre until they are well again. You will need to call the centre to let them know your child will be absent and let us know if they have an infectious disease e.g. Chicken Pox, conjunctivitis etc. Any absent days are still paid for in full. Further information is listed in our Prevention of Illness Policy.

It’s a good idea to supply a change of clothes based upon the need of your child, a sun hat during the summer months and warm shoes/clothing/jacket during winter months. If your child has an allergy to regular sunblock please provide your preferred brand for your child. If your child requires formula, please supply this.

We use a play-based curriculum where we focus on developing, extending and enhancing children’s interests in a child led environment. We focus on the dispositions that set a child up for lifelong learning e.g. problem solving, perseverance, resilience, curiosity, social and emotional intelligence. We incorporate early literacy and numeracy and the dispositions into what the child is passionate about in a fun and engaging way. Our rooms offer all the literacy and numeracy tools for children to be successful in their learning as they head into school.

All our centres offer various sessions which is mentioned in the fees section of their individual page on this website.

It is important that both you and your child are feeling settled before they have their first full day at the centre. For this reason we like 2-3 transition visits before your child starts based on their individual needs. Some children settle in immediately, and others take more time, but we make sure to give them the love and support they need to make it as smooth as possible.

We enrol children from 3 months to 6 years old at our Childcare Centres.

Our Albany Preschool caters for children 2 years – 6 years old.

We would encourage you to enrol your child early as spaces may be limited. 

To cover extra staff costs a $10.00 fee may occur for every 10 minutes a child is at the centre outside of their enrolled booking time.