Playcentre Aotearoa’s Enrolment and Attendance Policy

Purpose

Playcentre Aotearoa accepts enrolments for tamariki from birth to school age and provides an early childhood education environment that supports tamariki to remain and regularly attend Playcentre through to starting school. We promote parents as the first and best educators/kaiako of tamariki.
The purpose of this policy is to:

  • Set out a baseline of what our Playcentre whānau and tamariki can expect when enrolling at
    Playcentre. Centres clarify local details at time of enrolment.
  • Outline our Playcentre attendance “lifecycle” and the shared responsibilities by whānau and Centres
    to set each other up for success
  • Comply with required education and early childhood service regulations, privacy legislation, and other applicable legislation

Considering Playcentre

At Playcentre Aotearoa, enrolment is available to any prospective whānau with a child aged from birth to six years old and is inclusive of whānau of any ethnicity, religion, gender, ability or background.

Our Centres deliver early childhood education services through half-day sessions where up to thirty tamariki at a time play in groups with a ratio of at least one adult for every five tamariki on session, and under an approved supervision plan. Session curriculum is guided by the Ministry of Education’s Te Whāriki and is described in our Curriculum Policy.

Centres offer a prospective whānau up to three free sessions prior to enrolling and incurring fees, as determined by each Centre.

Centres share information with whānau on what it
means to be a Centre member including:

  • Early childhood education opportunities
  • The unique co-operative model of running a Playcentre
  • Whānau /parent commitments, and
  • Adult Education opportunities.

The choice of sessions will vary from Centre to Centre. A Centre member will be nominated as liaison point for new whānau completing enrolment and confirming a start date. In the case of a waitlist, centres will locally determine the priority order which will consider;

  • siblings of existing Playcentre tamariki
  • returning Playcentre whānau
  • transferring Playcentre whānau
  • new to Playcentre whānau

Whānau are encouraged to view Playcentre as their primary early childhood education for all of the tamariki in the whānau up to school age.

Our Playcentres will display:

  1. A current licence certificate
  2. Full names and qualifications of each person counting towards regulated qualification requirements
  3. The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 and Licensing Criteria for Centre-Based Education and Care Services 2008
  4. Our Complaints Resolution procedures

Enrolling at Playcentre

All new whānau must complete Playcentre Aotearoa’s enrolment procedure for their tamariki. This procedure captures vital information about the tamariki, their learning needs, and whānau circumstances. Enrolment provides information to meet identity, funding, education, health, security, participation, and compliance requirements.

Full immunisation is not a pre-requisite for Playcentre; however, an immunisation certificate is required on enrolment.

Details of guardian, custodian and access arrangements are required at the time of enrolment, and it is the parents’ responsibility to immediately inform their Centre of any changes in circumstances to ensure their child’s safety and compliance with access orders.

Enrolment and Funding

Ministry of Education funding is available to Playcentre upon a child’s enrolment. Playcentre Aotearoa aims to receive this funding for every child attending Playcentre. Enrolment triggers funding eligibility.

This funding is subject to change should a child leave Playcentre and/or attend another early childhood education provider or state-funded caregiver (such as home-based caregivers) simultaneously.

It is whānau responsibility to inform their Centre of any changes in circumstances that will affect funding availability. A Centre will review funding status every term and will take up all approved public funding options available to them.

Starting at Playcentre

Centres welcome new Playcentre whānau and
tamariki by –

  • Being welcoming and introducing them into their Centre community
  • Guiding a detailed tour of their Centre
  • Sharing orientation material available for whānau to reference at home
  • Discussing our Playcentre Aotearoa philosophy and values
  • Sharing of key policies and procedures*
  • Rostering into or including in Centre session duties as soon as practicable considering term schedules and parents needing to find their feet first
  • Capturing aspirations and learning needs of the child and setting up a portfolio book
  • Encouraging adults to enroll in the Playcentre Education Programme
  • Providing details of upcoming Centre meetings
  • Informing how to access information on their child’s learning and where to access further information on Playcentre, our operations and reviews

Attending Playcentre

All tamariki, adults and visitors attending a Playcentre session must be recorded on the daily attendance record. This is for the purposes of funding compliance, health and safety, and shared knowledge of who is in the session on any given day. Whānau are required to sign in and sign out each day of attendance.

Centres will always check with the custodial parent in case of unexpected or unknown adult contact with the child while at Playcentre.

Playcentre Aotearoa’s Constitution and early childhood education licensing criteria outline our enrolment, attendance and supervision requirements for us all to abide by –

  • Any child under 2.5 years old must be accompanied on session by a parent or nominated caregiver
  • A child attends only one session per day
  • Playcentre will provide a maximum of 5 half-day sessions each week for any one child. Centres determine their local session times and frequencies.

A child may be left at a session if they are over 2.5 years old and if agreed according to local Centre practices. Centres may consider how settled and independent the child is in making their decision.

*Key policies for new families to be aware of when starting Playcentre

  • Playcentre Philosophy
  • Child Protection
  • Health & Safety
  • Complaints Resolution

Non-enrolled children visiting Playcentre

There may be times when a child who is not enrolled visits a Playcentre, accompanied by their parent or another adult.

A visiting child of any age must be registered as a visitor and counted towards regulated adult-to-child ratio and maximum number of children allowed as per the licence. An adult or parent attending with a visiting child can be counted as an adult in regulated adult-to-child ratio.

Please refer to the Enrolment and Attendance Procedure for more information.

Ongoing Playcentre whānau undertakings

The whānau of a child enrolled at Playcentre is responsible for having a parent or caregiver undertake the following –

  • The whānau of a child enrolled at Playcentre is responsible for ensuring a parent or caregiver undertake the following –
  • Actively participate in the operation of their Centre
  • Perform regular session duties as required by their Centre
  • Participate in the Playcentre Education Programme
  • Attend Centre planning and evaluation meetings
  • Pay any Centre Membership fees
  • Consider any donations to Centre
  • Notify their Centre formally of any changes in their child’s circumstances, including guardian, custodian and access arrangements, health and care, and early education attendances.
  • Notify any absences from session in advance where possible, and finding cover for supervision responsibilities if necessary
  •  Keep their child’s enrolment form up to date (including immunisation status)
  • Notify their Centre when their child will be leaving Playcentre and transitioning into other education

Leaving Playcentre

If a Playcentre whānau are relocating to another community, we will connect them to their new local Centre and ease the transition wherever possible.

If whānau decide to enroll with another early childhood education service, we will be supportive of their decision.

When tamariki are ready to graduate, we will support their transition through a variety of ways which may include:

  • Helping whānau be informed about local school options and encouraging other Playcentre whānau to share their experiences.
  • Taking opportunities to be involved in local school activities such as open days and special events.
  • With parent approval, liaising with the chosen school on the child’s learning and development assessments and future needs.
  • Celebrating and affirming the school- ready tamariki and whānau on their last day at Playcentre.
  • Encouraging leaving tamariki and their whānau to come back to visit during whānau event.