Regulations, Rules, and ECE Service Legal Requirements
Regulations and Licensing Criteria: A Guide for Parents
The “My ECE Guide to Early Childhood Service Regulations and Licensing Criteria for Parents.”
View the full guide here.
Parents, caregivers, and the public can submit a complaint against an early childhood service should it not be meeting regulations and rules or is putting a child at risk.
In the form opposite please make sure to include:
We will forward your complaint to the Ministry of Education, on your behalf, to investigate. We ask the Ministry to keep your identity (and your child’s) confidential and not let the service know who made the complaint. BUT, if you do not want the Ministry to know your name and contact details, and do not wish for the Ministry to contact you to discuss any details – you must say so on the form. Uncheck the box and remove the tick.
The Ministry relies on help from parents and the public to tell it if a service is not meeting necessary standards.
Zoom in (+) to your city or town on the map to find what licensed services are near you.
In the National Register, look up service names to get details, reviews, rating, and other information. Use the compare button on the services you are interested in to compare.
Celebrating the best for children and families
The quality and differences a service makes are such that families want to shout from the roof-tops and tell us the great things about it. It follows the Ethical Conduct of Conduct and has had no recent licensing action taken against it.
The team behind the wonderful service deserve to have their skills, caring, and hard work acknowledged publicly by winning this Award.
Read about the requirements all licensed early childhood services must comply with.
If your service isn't meeting these, please speak up.
Have a conversation with the service manager or head teacher, if you feel comfortable to do so. Make a formal complaint using our complaint form or go directly to the Ministry of Education.
The regulations set out the very minimum standards for children's safety, health, education and what government is prepared to fund for staffing and service operation. So, it is a serious matter if a service does not always meet at least these minimum requirements.
The “My ECE Guide to Early Childhood Service Regulations and Licensing Criteria for Parents.”
View the full guide here.
You don't buy a car or house without asking questions and doing some background research, do you? You want to know as much as you can and about any warning signs. The same goes for choosing and using an early childhood service.
My ECE provides expert knowledge and straightforward information to allow parents to form their own opinions and be more confident to be involved in their child's early education and care.
Below are 4 featured articles - you will find more under the "Guidance" tab (or use the Search function).
Ways to Help your Child to Learn and How Parents can be Involved in ECE © myECE.org.nz. Parent Support and Information. Intellectual achievement before starting school
Takurua My Winter Words is the companion book to Raumati: My Summer Words. What do you see, hear, feel, smell and taste in winter? All
An early childhood service may charge a late fee instead of allowing at least a little or occasional flexibility as to when parents arrive to
Should you Pick Your Child’s ECE Service Based on its ERO Report? Advice commonly given to parents is to check the latest Education Review Office
Are you are parent, grandparent, or caregiver of a child under 6 years?
Join the ECE Parents Council. You will receive:
We promise not to spam you with rubbish, just useful information.