Hours/Fees/Enrolment
We’re open from Monday to Friday, 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. We’re closed on public holidays and over the Christmas and New Year period.
Our centre roll can change quickly with children starting school etc., so it’s best to call us to discuss your child’s pending enrolment to check availability. We also encourage accompanied and un-accompanied half-day visits, ideally four weeks before your intended start date, to ensure a smooth transition for both parent/caregiver and child.
Your enrolment secures your family’s spot with us. To retain this spot, fees are to be paid as per your enrolled attendance, regardless of the above circumstances. Unfortunately, if your child is away, we cannot fill in their spot or send rostered staff home to recuperate lost fees.
Regarding personal holidays, fees can be negotiated at the centre’s discretion.
No fees are charged during the required Christmas/New Year centre shutdown.
Fees are determined by age and attendance, please contact the centre manager for an accurate cost. We do offer 20 hours subsidised childcare for three-to-five-year old’s.
We support families receiving Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) and Child, Youth and Family (CYFS) payments.
We take great pride in ensuring our costs reflect the current market and take into account our boutique operations. We regularly upskill our staff, pay fair wages, purchase new educational resources, and thoroughly clean and maintain our buildings – this is reflected in our fees.
We offer ‘short’ days (six hours max), please speak with management to arrange.
Food/Sleep
The centre provides a healthy morning tea and afternoon tea, and parents/caregivers are to provide lunch.
We are a breast-feeding friendly space and encourage you to continue with your feeding journey. We’re happy to store fresh or frozen breastmilk or have you stop by to nurse your child.
We have a healthy eating policy to ensure all children have sufficient supplies while attending CCQE. Children with allergies will be supported and centre changes may result on a case-by-case basis – e.g., becoming peanut-free.
We want the best for your child, so we’ll endeavour to work with you and your child’s needs to enable confident and happy families.
The team at CCQE are experienced teachers and parents themselves so understand sleep complexities and will work alongside you and your child to achieve the best sleeping arrangement. We will however encourage children to learn to self-settle.
Our sleep rooms are aimed to be peaceful spaces but are not silent. Parents/caregivers can try to introduce some background noise while children sleep at home to enable a smoother transition to our centres.
No. Parents/caregivers are to provide an adequate number of nappies for the child’s attendance (these will be named). Reusable nappies can continue to be used at CCQE but will not be laundered.
Structure
Size and teaching philosophy.
Pukuatua is a smaller centre with a kaiako (teacher) rotating between all ages and activities, allowing relationships to blossom with all teachers.
Pukaki implements a ‘key teaching’ approach, encouraging tamariki (children) to have a core relationship with a designated kaiako.
No. We believe in the tuakana-teina relationship which is a traditional Māori cultural philosophy and practice; also literally referring to the relationship between an older and younger sibling or close family members like cousins.
This approach allows tamariki to socialise, foster connections and learn with other children at different ages and stages.
We follow each child’s eating and sleep routines and outside of that we encourage small and large group activities, music and movement, art and creativity, own play choices and outdoor exploration and at times off-premises excursions (with parental permission).
We take great pride in getting to know each child and their family. By forming these strong relationships we have great reciprocal communication through;
- Daily information pages with sleep, eating, and bathroom information – two-way communication allows parents/caregivers to report back on child’s night/mood etc
- Utilising a secure online platform – Educa provides a comprehensive system for observing and documenting children’s learning
- Regular newsletter updates
- Profile book (hardcopy) of your child’s learning stories to take home
- Open-door policy to meet with any team member or management to discuss any concerns or share any comments or compliments.
- Our centre numbers and email address’ enable an alternative method of contacting us should you not be able to come in person.
We have an open-door policy and welcome named parents/caregivers to stop by whenever they wish. We also encourage prospective parents/caregivers to drop in and have a chat with the team and look around.
Health and Safety
Yes. It’s mandatory for all our qualified teachers to be first aid trained. We refresh our certificates biannually.
We regularly carry out fire and earthquake drills to ensure children are well-rehearsed in what to do in the event of an emergency. We also have a crisis plan in place to keep children safe and notify parents/caregivers at all stages of an emergency.
No. But it’s required that we keep an immunisation register where we’ll need to verify your child’s immunisation certificates. Un-immunised or immunocompromised children may need to be kept at home should an outbreak of a serious illness occur.
We contact parents/caregivers as soon as possible should a sickness or injury occur. We require two contacts per child in the event one caregiver is unavailable.
Please keep your child home if you suspect they are unwell.