20 Free ECE hours available to local kindy kids

Media release, 27 April 2007

20 Free ECE hours available to local kindy kids

Canterbury and Westland kindergartens will be taking up the government's free ECE funding.

Nationally there is confusion about the availability of the funding, with some early childhood providers refusing to take it up at all.

But Kidsfirst Kindergartens Chief Executive Sherryll Wilson says her organisation is embracing the opportunity to provide parents with the ability to access Free ECE with an established and proven early childhood education provider that always puts the care and education needs of its children first.

"Like many providers, we will struggle to deliver the whole 20 hours to each child – especially in the kindergartens where the days are still structured sessionally."

Ms Wilson says there is a lot of misinformation about the funding, which is causing a great deal of confusion for parents.

"They have providers telling them that they cannot 'split' their hours across more than one service, which is not correct. The way the funding works, parents can choose to spend their 20 free hours allocation at as many teacher-led services as they wish – though for stability and consistency for the child, we would recommend limiting the number of different providers wherever possible."

Ms Wilson says her organisation is presently working through a number of issues that arise from this government's initiative.

"The Free ECE funding has come at a time where we were reviewing our model, anyway, due to a number of sociological and market factors. It has been clear for some time that, like all not-for-profit organisations, we are finding it increasingly difficult to survive on a donation and volunteer basis. For those reasons we are exploring a number of options."

"Generations of New Zealanders have grown up as 'kindy kids', benefiting from the unique and special philosophy that kindergarten offers. It's really important that we preserve this service for the future."

ENDS

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