Child Care News
1/2 of children in care due to parents' work arrangements
Community Scoop - Press Release – Statistics New Zealand - February 9, 2018Parents' work schedules and commitments were the most-common reasons for children aged below 14 years to be in formal childcare, Stats NZ said today. Of the 282,500 children who attended formal childcare in 2017, more than half (56 percent) were there mainly because...
Work four days, get paid for five: New Zealand company's new shorter week
The Guardian - Eleanor Ainge Roy - February 9, 2018A New Zealand company is on the cusp of granting its employees the ultimate in work-life balance: four days work for five days pay. Perpetual Guardian, a trustee company, has become the first major business in the country to embark on a creating a workplace "fit for purpose for the...
Financial planning considerations different for women
Stuff NZ - Susan Edmunds - February 9. 2018Even partnered women often take on more of the cost of childcare when they go back to work. Researcher Jess Berentson-Shaw said the default for many couples was to consider childcare costs in comparison to the woman's wages. "I was just looking at some data today about the motherhood pay gap...
Working from home helps with childcare
Scoop NZ - February 9, 2018The most-common work arrangement used by parents to help care for a child in 2017 was to have worked from home (16 percent of all parents), Stats NZ said today. This was followed by having a child at work, and swapping the days or times usually worked (8 percent for both). "Working parents...
New kindergarten to take newborns in a first for Whanganui
NZ Herald - February 5, 2018When the Te Puna Ako Ki Totara Puku – Whanganui East Community Early Learning Centre - opens its door in March it will be the first kindergarten in the city offering places from newborns to children up to the age of five. Trish Taylor-Pope, general manager of the Whanganui...
Baby's saliva can predict tooth decay, study finds
Stuff NZ - Ruby Nyika - February 4, 2018We should really be looking at subsidising care for pregnant mums. The mother''s oral health is a really big indicator of what the child's oral health is going to be like." Health Minister David Clark said he was concerned at the increasing number of children requiring hospital treatment...
Higher wages likely to increase unemployment, warns Forsyth Barr
NZ Herald - Aimee Shaw - February 2, 2018The Government's commitment to raising the minimum wage to $20 by 2021 will drive a higher rate of wage inflation and will likely lead to a higher unemployment rate, research by Forsyth Barr suggests. Minimum wage hikes come with cost pressures, particularly for companies reliant...
Children rescued from locked car at The Base in Hamilton
Stuff NZ - Phillipa Yalden - January 28, 2018Police are considering charging a Hamilton grandfather who allegedly left two preschoolers locked in a parked car in the midday heat at a Hamilton shopping centre. The 59-year-old man had gone to get takeaways inside the Te Awa food court, leaving the car parked outdoors at The Base's shopping...
Tuberculosis outbreak in Kiwi seaside town causes concern
NZ Herald - January 21, 2018The first public acknowledgement about TB was in September 2017. Hoskins had written to his grandchild's daycare. The letter said there were rumours that children had been exposed to TB at the Kawhia Daycare Centre. Hoskins denied the rumours in his letter. Torpey said the Waikato DHB...
Dr Sarah Alexander: Where did the 20 free hours of early childhood education go?
NZ Herald - Sarah Alexander - January 19, 2018It is argued in the sector the 20-hour funding rates do not reflect the real costs of providing a child's early education. To break even or turn a profit, two loopholes in the scheme are available for service operators to exploit. First, they can set a minimum number of hours of attendance...
Pacific preschools 'set back 30 years' by tough English-language tests
Stuff NZ - Simon Collins - January 15, 2018Pacific-language preschools say they have been set back 30 years by tough new English language tests that have forced the closure of all dedicated Pacific preschool teaching courses. The last students in AUT University's Bachelor of Education (Pasifika Early Childhood Teaching) graduated last month...
Foundation backs bill to strengthen language learning
Scoop Politics - January 15, 2018The Asia New Zealand Foundation strongly supports the private member's bill released for public consultation today which aims to strengthen language learning in primary and intermediate schools. "If eventually passed by Parliament, the bill filed by Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye...
The end of the school holidays can't come soon enough for busy parents
Stuff NZ - Jacques Steenkamp - January 14, 2018Unpredictable bad weather, expensive childcare and lots of bored children. The final stretch of the school holidays will see parents' mettle tested as they head back to work and leave children to their own devices. Schoolchildren still have at least two weeks left before they return to the classroom on...
Qantas fined $6000 for changing rosters without agreement
Stuff NZ - Anuja Nadkarni - January 13, 2018Throughout its communications with its employees in 2015 Qantas promoted the change to preference based rosters as a way to achieve work life balance. But Khobragade told the ERA he had to constantly change childcare arrangements to fit with his rostered hours. As he only had one...
Preschool teacher censured after shutting child in van for four hours by mistake
NZ Herald - Simon Collins - January 11, 2018A preschool teacher has been censured after she accidentally locked a 4-year-old girl in a van for more than four hours. Via Lam-Sam-Tai delivered three preschoolers to their homes in the childcare centre's van after 3pm on a Friday in September 2016, then parked the car...
