31 Jul 2025
1 year ago
2089 views
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has introduced new legislation to clarify the purpose of regulating early childhood education (ECE) and shift enforcement responsibilities to the Education Review Office (ERO) from the Ministry of Education. The Early Childhood Education Reform Bill prioritizes child safety, aims to reduce regulatory burden on ECE providers, and ensure consistent application of regulations nationwide. The reforms include creating a Director of Regulation, establishing key principles for ECE oversight, and streamlining processes to support high-quality ECE centers and enhance parental choice.
14 Jul 2025
1 year ago
1895 views
Childhood immunisation rates in New Zealand have increased to 79.3% at 24 months, reflecting the government's commitment to improving health outcomes for children. Health Minister Simeon Brown emphasizes the importance of protecting children from preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough. Progress has been seen nationwide, with districts such as Auckland and South Canterbury showing significant improvements in immunisation coverage.
07 Jul 2025
1 year ago
2082 views
Tens of thousands of households will be better off thanks to changes being made to FamilyBoost to help families with the cost of living, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “From the start of this month, families will get larger FamilyBoost rebates on the early childhood education fees they pay, with rebates increasing from 25 per cent to 40 per cent of weekly fees, and those with household incomes of up to $229,000 now eligible to apply. “This means for example that a family with early childhood fees of $100 a week could have their weekly FamilyBoost payment increased from $25 a week to $40 a week, meaning their annual payments would increase from $1,300 to $2,080 over the course of a year, making them hundreds of dollars better off.
19 Jun 2025
1 year ago
2423 views
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that the Ministry of Education are now consulting on changing, merging, or removing approximately three-quarters of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) licensing criteria. “Earlier this year the ECE Sector Review instigated 15 changes to modernise and simplify regulations,” Mr Seymour says. “The changes to the ECE regulations show the power of a sector review.
17 Jun 2025
1 year ago
2633 views
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Funding Review to ensure the funding system is simple, fair, and gets value for money. Mr Seymour has established an ECE Funding Review Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG), chaired by Linda Meade to carry out this review. It will report on it’s findings this time next year.