Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:

  • the children’s own home; or
  • the home of the person providing the education or care; or
  • any other home nominated by a parent of the children.

These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.

The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.

GMA9 Enrolment records

  • Criteria

    • Criteria

      Governance Management and Administration criterion 9

      Enrolment records are maintained for each child attending. Records are kept for at least 7 years.

      Documentation required:

      Enrolment records for each child currently attending and for those who have attended in the previous 7 years. Records meet the requirements of the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook and include at least:

      • the child's full name, date of birth, and address;
      • the name and address of at least 1 parent;
      • details of how at least 1 parent (or someone nominated by them) can be contacted while the child attends the service;
      • the name of the medical practitioner (or medical centre) who should, if practicable, be consulted if the child is ill or injured;
      • details of any chronic illness/condition that the child has, and of any implications or actions to be followed in relation to that illness/condition;
      • the names of the people authorised by the parent to collect the child; and
      • any court orders affecting day to day care of, or contact with, the child.
      Rationale/Intent:

      The maintenance of enrolment records provides evidence of the accountability of service providers to the community and government for Crown funding. Enrolment records are also an indicator of good management and administration practices necessary to ensure the safety of the children attending.

      Amended May 2015

  • Guidance

    • Guidance

      Any examples in the guidance are provided as a starting point to show how services can meet (or exceed) the requirement. Services may choose to use other approaches better suited to their needs as long as they comply with the criteria.

      Enrolment records need to be kept for at least seven years - either paper based or electronically. Records should be stored in a way that they can’t get corrupted or altered after a parent has signed them.

      Enrolment forms need to be checked by parents at least annually to ensure all enrolment details are up to date. Often service providers photocopy enrolment forms for educators to store at the home.

      You must wherever possible sight the child’s birth certificate. Record the type of document and the date sighted. Each child must have an NSN (National Student Number) that requires sighting of the child’s birth certificate or passport. If you can’t sight this documentation contact MOE Resourcing contact centre on 0800 ECE ECE to discuss.

      It is recommended that copies of the birth certificates of each new child permanently enrolled in your service be kept in a secure place (locked filing cabinet) at the service provider’s office.

      An example enrolment form can be downloaded from Chapter 6-1 in the Early Childhood Funding Handbook. This form can be adapted to suit the services particular circumstances but must have at least the mandatory requirements.

      Services should be familiar with the obligations of the Privacy Act and understand the twelve information privacy principles dealing with collecting, holding, use and disclosure of personal information. Information on this can be found at the Privacy Commissioner website(external link).

      Note: if a parent states that another parent or guardian has restricted or no access to their child, services must request that a copy of the applicable court order be provided. This should be attached to the child’s enrolment information and staff should be made clearly aware of the situation. Service providers also need to ensure the educators are aware of any court orders that may impact on access to children.

      Service providers may want to consider having a process in place for when educators leave the service to ensure that information relating to enrolment records is no longer held by the educator but is kept by the service provider.

      After 7 years, records can be disposed of. This needs to be done so that unauthorised access to the information is not possible.

  • Things to consider

    • Things to consider

      Services should consider having a process whereby the enrolment records are collected or delivered to the service provider every three months (or after each funding period). This minimises the likelihood of loss or damage.