Well done all you mothers out there! This is a fantastic site and a fantastic cause! have printed out several copies of the petition and distrubuted them around our local kindy, at work and have sent my husband to work with one too! Keep up the good work!
Our South Auckland kindergarten (pre school) is sessional (9 - 12, 5 days a week) and a Christian, non profit set up. The govt is offering them $4 something per hour, but the MINIMUM running cost is $6 something per hour..That's just to pay the staff and materials etc. they actually hvae a "free building" from the church (although the kindy maintains the building). Now this just does not add up!
They dearly want to offer 20 hours free, and we want to access it (every dollar helps!) but they simply cannot offer the service at $4 per hour...
The amount paid needs to equate, not be less or cannot possibly work. they have said they would have to shut down, if forced to take $4 an hour as they could not pay the teachers they are required to have to run the place!
Being quite a low socio economic area they are relectant to charge any top up fee to cover the difference as it apparently cant be a "fee", it's a donation..and many families there would probably choose not to donate and the centre would be forced to close.
I chose this preschool as I work form home and could not commit to Playcentre until five with my second child, nor did want "child care", I just wanted "kindy". In our area the state kindies have waiting lists until over the age of four years to start. Luckily I found this kindy who takes kids from the age of two, is non profit and therefore affordable for us, versus "private" kindy (most of which seem to be sessional daycares in diguise)
I will be printing this out and providing the petition to parents at the kindy, with the blessing of the staff.
I have tried to appraod MOE on the 0800 number about this, no joy. Reffered to some other woman who never returned my call. It's like hitting a brick wall...
We are a small Auckland family. We have 2 daughters a 3.5 yr old and a 1.5 yr old. We were most excited and happy to learn that any child of three and four years old who attends a "teacher-led" Early Childhood Education (ECE) centre or home based service is eligible to receive up to 20 free hours early childhood education. My husband and I earn modest wages. I went back to work after staying at home with each of my daughters till they were 8 months old. I had to go back to work as I had my 3 yr old at home as we could not afford on one wage to send her to kindie. At the moment I am basically working so that my children can attend kindie and get an early childhood education which I feel is so very important these days. I went back to work thinking that it wouldnt be long before the 20 free hours comes in and we will be a little better off and I could justify going back to work.
I have wondered many times wether it is worth working for the little I earn after kindie fees. This is something that has held so many mothers I know back from joining the work force again. If this 20 free hours was available to ALL pre school children, 3-4 yr olds at least this would be the deciding factor that would encourage women back to paid work given the current skills shortage in the market.
Myself along with all parents I know would be happy to pay the difference between kindie fees and the 20 free hours - Simple. I do not know why this has been made so complicated and down to "optional extras". Why can we not have kindie fees less the 20 free hours and parents pay the difference???????? Regardless. Seems the logical explanation to myself and many many others. Claire, North Shore. Auckland
20hrs Free ECE was the light at the end of the tunnel for us. We are in a financially stressed area where finding money to pay preschool fees is hard.We get alot of bad debts even though our fees are low. For parents to have fees paid would have been the life line we needed.
Sadly the rate offered leaves us $6.40 per child per session short.We are unable to take up the hollow offer.
What have we done about this. We have written,emailed and faxed Helen Clark,Steve Maharey and John Key.
John Key is our MP.He visited us with the media.We had air time on TV one to voice our disappointment on what had been offered.We have given a number of radio interviews and had an article written on us by the Western Leader.
Kathryn Rich asked a Question in the house directed to Steve Maharey about our plight.
Steve Maharey has written to us saying he is sending a big wig from the Ministry to talk to us on how we can make this policy work for us.
It is being suggested that Centres cut quality. What a ridiculous suggestion in this day and age.
We will print out this petition and get our parents to sign it.
Cheers lots Great to see someone is taking a stand. The government should not make promises they can't keep and then penalise those that it affects. Our children are the next generation and they need to be looked after. You have my full support. Keep up the good work. EM
I agree that the Government should be held to it's promise and that in principle providing 20 hours free is a wonderful idea. I believe that it will give children and families new opportunities to improve their financial, educational and general well being in a positive and non intrusive way. I believe this is particularly important for those who are currently not in a position to afford any form of childcare support today.
I believe that it is the responsibility of the government to make this work in 'partnership' with the EC centres and not set parents and centres against each other in terms of 'optional payments' or non participation. It needs to be recognised is that if centres are forced into this or the government are unwilling to meet the costs of a day centre then the standard of care will drop. There is already some debate as the whether the current minimum requirements set out for EC Centre care are of a high enough standard anyway. To exceed those standards come at a cost and many parents, who are in a position to, choose a higher standard of care over cost, I know I do. What would be sad is if those standards were reduced or that those, not in an economic position to, get minimum quality care and we end up with then and us centres.
My son currently attends a centre in Henderson and though they currently offer extremely reasonable rates compared with his previous centre in Newmarket, they are not planning on offering the scheme at this stage. The government seems indifferent to the issue at present and Steve Maharey seems to think that 160,000 centres nation-wide will be offering the scheme. Any idea what proportion this is? It seems hard to believe. i contacted Lyn Pillay's office and she seemed oblivious to any problem with implementing the scheme. It seems that you might be right in that they are not planning on it being fully operational until 2012 but even this seems pretty unbelievable if they don't increase the funding. Realistically, I would prefer just to pay a top-up fee or a "surcharge". How difficult would it be to make this possible??
Hi, I manage a childcare centre and want to encourage you to ask some questions at your centres.
Firstly if you are at a centre paying "fees" as opposed to a "donation" ask about the WINZ childcare subsidy (whatever age your child is) most families I know of qualify for this at some level. AND if you are in a centre for more than the 20 free hours you may be able to get this for the additional hours. If your centre doesnt offer the free hours you should qualify for this for what ever hours (within their rules) you require. This is also available regardless of your childs age.
Secondly, the 20 free hours is to pay for the "regulated" number of teachers ie under two years old it is 1 teacher to 5 children and over 2 it is 1 to 10 unless you belong to a Kindergarten Association in which case for over 2s it is 1 to 15. IF your centre chooses to operate at a higher staffing ratio than this (as we do) then your centre can charge you a "top up" for the additional teaching staff and for anything that is over and above what is usual care, ie meals, trips, nappies, photos, and a range of items that can be classed as "other". SO go and talk the talk with your centres, with centres belonging to the Kindergarten Association it will be the relevant Association that you will need to get in touch with. GIVEN that Kindy's operate a lower teacher/child ratio than virtually any other centre, recieve the highest bulk funding rate and provide very generous time to their teachers for administration, I think they are skating on thin ice not taking up the 20 free hours and should look at their organisational structure to see where money is going and why they cannot cover these costs with the 20 free hours. Note that just because a centre is called a "kindy" it doesnt necessarily belong to an association, so check that out too. Our centre will be taking this up and yes at a cost to us, but...... why would we penalise our families by not taking this up?? We have plenty of scope for charging for extras (see above) and if our families want to be in a centre where we offer a lower teacher/child ratio and do cool things like trips etc then they are more than happy to pay for that. As I see many of you are too. Good Luck - this has been a con job by the government BUT I think that many centres are currently conning the parents too by not looking hard enough at their organisational structure and using the ability to charge "top ups" for additional service. Sorry but I see our children as our future and as far too important to play this type of game with.
8 comments:
Well done all you mothers out there! This is a fantastic site and a fantastic cause! have printed out several copies of the petition and distrubuted them around our local kindy, at work and have sent my husband to work with one too! Keep up the good work!
Rebecca. Remuera, Auckland
Our South Auckland kindergarten (pre school) is sessional (9 - 12, 5 days a week) and a Christian, non profit set up. The govt is offering them $4 something per hour, but the MINIMUM running cost is $6 something per hour..That's just to pay the staff and materials etc. they actually hvae a "free building" from the church (although the kindy maintains the building). Now this just does not add up!
They dearly want to offer 20 hours free, and we want to access it (every dollar helps!) but they simply cannot offer the service at $4 per hour...
The amount paid needs to equate, not be less or cannot possibly work. they have said they would have to shut down, if forced to take $4 an hour as they could not pay the teachers they are required to have to run the place!
Being quite a low socio economic area they are relectant to charge any top up fee to cover the difference as it apparently cant be a "fee", it's a donation..and many families there would probably choose not to donate and the centre would be forced to close.
I chose this preschool as I work form home and could not commit to Playcentre until five with my second child, nor did want "child care", I just wanted "kindy". In our area the state kindies have waiting lists until over the age of four years to start. Luckily I found this kindy who takes kids from the age of two, is non profit and therefore affordable for us, versus "private" kindy (most of which seem to be sessional daycares in diguise)
I will be printing this out and providing the petition to parents at the kindy, with the blessing of the staff.
I have tried to appraod MOE on the 0800 number about this, no joy. Reffered to some other woman who never returned my call. It's like hitting a brick wall...
We are a small Auckland family. We have 2 daughters a 3.5 yr old and a 1.5 yr old. We were most excited and happy to learn that any child of three and four years old who attends a "teacher-led" Early Childhood Education (ECE) centre or home based service is eligible to receive up to 20 free hours early childhood education. My husband and I earn modest wages. I went back to work after staying at home with each of my daughters till they were 8 months old. I had to go back to work as I had my 3 yr old at home as we could not afford on one wage to send her to kindie. At the moment I am basically working so that my children can attend kindie and get an early childhood education which I feel is so very important these days. I went back to work thinking that it wouldnt be long before the 20 free hours comes in and we will be a little better off and I could justify going back to work.
I have wondered many times wether it is worth working for the little I earn after kindie fees. This is something that has held so many mothers I know back from joining the work force again. If this 20 free hours was available to ALL pre school children, 3-4 yr olds at least this would be the deciding factor that would encourage women back to paid work given the current skills shortage in the market.
Myself along with all parents I know would be happy to pay the difference between kindie fees and the 20 free hours - Simple. I do not know why this has been made so complicated and down to "optional extras". Why can we not have kindie fees less the 20 free hours and parents pay the difference???????? Regardless. Seems the logical explanation to myself and many many others.
Claire, North Shore. Auckland
20hrs Free ECE was the light at the end of the tunnel for us.
We are in a financially stressed area where finding money to pay preschool fees is hard.We get alot of bad debts even though our fees are low.
For parents to have fees paid would have been the life line we needed.
Sadly the rate offered leaves us $6.40 per child per session short.We are unable to take up the hollow offer.
What have we done about this.
We have written,emailed and faxed Helen Clark,Steve Maharey and John Key.
John Key is our MP.He visited us with the media.We had air time on TV one to voice our disappointment on what had been offered.We have given a number of radio interviews and had an article written on us by the Western Leader.
Kathryn Rich asked a Question in the house directed to Steve Maharey about our plight.
Steve Maharey has written to us saying he is sending a big wig from the Ministry to talk to us on how we can make this policy work for us.
It is being suggested that Centres cut quality.
What a ridiculous suggestion in this day and age.
We will print out this petition and get our parents to sign it.
Massey
Cheers lots
Great to see someone is taking a stand. The government should not make promises they can't keep and then penalise those that it affects. Our children are the next generation and they need to be looked after.
You have my full support.
Keep up the good work.
EM
I agree that the Government should be held to it's promise and that in principle providing 20 hours free is a wonderful idea. I believe that it will give children and families new opportunities to improve their financial, educational and general well being in a positive and non intrusive way. I believe this is particularly important for those who are currently not in a position to afford any form of childcare support today.
I believe that it is the responsibility of the government to make this work in 'partnership' with the EC centres and not set parents and centres against each other in terms of 'optional payments' or non participation. It needs to be recognised is that if centres are forced into this or the government are unwilling to meet the costs of a day centre then the standard of care will drop. There is already some debate as the whether the current minimum requirements set out for EC Centre care are of a high enough standard anyway. To exceed those standards come at a cost and many parents, who are in a position to, choose a higher standard of care over cost, I know I do. What would be sad is if those standards were reduced or that those, not in an economic position to, get minimum quality care and we end up with then and us centres.
Regards
My son currently attends a centre in Henderson and though they currently offer extremely reasonable rates compared with his previous centre in Newmarket, they are not planning on offering the scheme at this stage. The government seems indifferent to the issue at present and Steve Maharey seems to think that 160,000 centres nation-wide will be offering the scheme. Any idea what proportion this is? It seems hard to believe. i contacted Lyn Pillay's office and she seemed oblivious to any problem with implementing the scheme. It seems that you might be right in that they are not planning on it being fully operational until 2012 but even this seems pretty unbelievable if they don't increase the funding. Realistically, I would prefer just to pay a top-up fee or a "surcharge". How difficult would it be to make this possible??
Hi,
I manage a childcare centre and want to encourage you to ask some questions at your centres.
Firstly if you are at a centre paying "fees" as opposed to a "donation" ask about the WINZ childcare subsidy (whatever age your child is) most families I know of qualify for this at some level. AND if you are in a centre for more than the 20 free hours you may be able to get this for the additional hours. If your centre doesnt offer the free hours you should qualify for this for what ever hours (within their rules) you require. This is also available regardless of your childs age.
Secondly, the 20 free hours is to pay for the "regulated" number of teachers ie under two years old it is 1 teacher to 5 children and over 2 it is 1 to 10 unless you belong to a Kindergarten Association in which case for over 2s it is 1 to 15.
IF your centre chooses to operate at a higher staffing ratio than this (as we do) then your centre can charge you a "top up" for the additional teaching staff and for anything that is over and above what is usual care, ie meals, trips, nappies, photos, and a range of items that can be classed as "other".
SO go and talk the talk with your centres, with centres belonging to the Kindergarten Association it will be the relevant Association that you will need to get in touch with. GIVEN that Kindy's operate a lower teacher/child ratio than virtually any other centre, recieve the highest bulk funding rate and provide very generous time to their teachers for administration, I think they are skating on thin ice not taking up the 20 free hours and should look at their organisational structure to see where money is going and why they cannot cover these costs with the 20 free hours.
Note that just because a centre is called a "kindy" it doesnt necessarily belong to an association, so check that out too.
Our centre will be taking this up and yes at a cost to us, but...... why would we penalise our families by not taking this up?? We have plenty of scope for charging for extras (see above) and if our families want to be in a centre where we offer a lower teacher/child ratio and do cool things like trips etc then they are more than happy to pay for that. As I see many of you are too.
Good Luck - this has been a con job by the government BUT I think that many centres are currently conning the parents too by not looking hard enough at their organisational structure and using the ability to charge "top ups" for additional service.
Sorry but I see our children as our future and as far too important to play this type of game with.
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