Early learning services on school sites

Find information about setting up an early learning service on school land.

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Inform

  • Boards
  • Proprietors
  • Principals and Tumuaki
  • All Early Learning Services

 

Early learning services on school sites or Crown land must have a lease in place that has been consented by the Secretary for Education. Sometimes the Ministry may tender for an early learning service to be set up in an area where one is needed.

Setting up an early learning service on school land

There are four ways to go about setting up an early learning service at your school.

1. You may be approached by an early learning service.
2. You may want to have an early learning service at your school and ask one if they are interested.
3. The early learning service may come directly to the Ministry and we will discuss the options with you.
4. We may tender for an early learning service to be set up in an area where one is needed.

Ministry consent is required before moving ahead with any arrangement. Scenarios 1-3 require you or to talk to your Property Advisor. You will need to apply for a lease following our standard process. Early learning services that would like to set up on Ministry-administered Crown land must contact an Education Advisor at the Local Ministry office. Scenario 4 is led and managed by us.

Using standard ECE lease agreements

We have standard lease agreements for early learning services on Crown land (including school sites).

The lease will either be a:

  • land lease where the early learning service provides their own building on the school grounds or Crown land
  • building lease where the early learning service uses an existing building that it does not own.

If the early learning service is on a school site, the lease will usually be between the school and the early learning service. We recommend agreeing on day-to-day arrangements with the early learning service, such as sharing parking spaces.

If the lease is between the Ministry and the early learning service, we will amend your Property Occupancy Document (POD), removing the land and buildings under the ECE lease from your POD. This will remove the funding you receive for the building that the early learning service will use.

Dealing with old ECE agreements

As policies and government directions have changed, we have used a number of different versions of the ECE agreements. You may know them as ECE PODs. When an old agreement expires, or when an early learning service makes a change such as upgrading their building, we will provide the service with the most up to date agreement. 

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