Education Minister Trevor Mallard said the decision by the licensee of the Cottontails Educare early childhood centre to close has saved the Ministry of Education a difficult job.

"I was extremely concerned by the reports from the Education Review Office and had there not been such support from a large majority of parents still using the centre, I would have encouraged the Ministry of Education to revoke the centre's licence," Trevor Mallard said.

"However, this morning the Ministry received a fax from Cottontails saying the centre would close from tomorrow afternoon.

"This has pre-empted the Ministry's procedure of closely monitoring the centre until the end of the month before a decision was made on whether or not to grant the centre a permanent licence.

"As the centre has opted to close voluntarily, I feel it would be inappropriate to discuss what action might have been taken at the end of the month," Trevor Mallard said.

ENDS

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