Need-to-know | Me mātua mōhio
KidsCan to provide the Early Learning Food Programme, commencing 2025
Associate Minister of Education Hon David Seymour has announced that KidsCan Charitable Trust is the Early Childhood Education Food Programme supplier, starting in February 2025.
Ten thousand two-to-five-year-olds in ECE will receive food from this programme. All two to five-year-olds attending eligible ECE services will be able to access KidsCan food. Eligibility for the programme will be determined by key factors, including socio-economic data from the new Early Childhood Education Equity Index, service types, availability of kitchen facilities and staffing capacity to prepare and serve food.
We know that providing good nutrition to children at an early age contributes to their early brain development.
KidsCan will contact eligible services over the next couple of months so that the programme can begin early next year.
Read more about the programme here:
Early Childhood Food Programme – Te Mahau
If you have any questions, contact [email protected].
Pertussis (whooping cough) update
Te Whatu Ora has reported an increasing number of confirmed pertussis cases, which can be particularly severe for babies.
Health advice is available here:
Pertussis (whooping cough) public health key messages [PDF, 137 KB]
Pertussis (whooping cough) public health key messages for pregnant people [PDF, 135 KB]
Staff are also encouraged to stay up to date with immunisations – in particular pertussis and measles. Pertussis boosters are recommended every five to ten years for all lead maternity carers and healthcare workers who are in regular contact with infants.
Heads-up | He kupu puaki
Changes to education.govt.nz
From 31 October, our main website (education.govt.nz) will be updated to be more stable and user-friendly, including a reorganised structure, enhanced search and refreshed content. Preview it here:
Home (preview) – Ministry of Education
There will be redirects in place for the most visited pages, to help you find content that may have moved.
On 31 October, the Bulletins website will close and redirect to the new home of Bulletins, which will include archived Bulletins dating back to February 2024.
More information is available here:
Replacing education.govt.nz – Ministry of Education
Updated webpage for the person responsible requirements
The webpage for the person responsible requirements for licensed home-based and teacher-led centre-based services has been updated. The updates clarify existing regulatory requirements and show what is considered best practice in both service types.
The webpage states that in both service types the service provider holds overarching responsibility for compliance with all regulatory requirements.
The most important change to the content for teacher-led centres is that service providers do not need to prominently display who can act as a person responsible under GMA1 – Display of information. However, it may be helpful for parents and staff to state who can act in the role in the same document that displays information about who counts towards regulated qualification requirements.
The home-based material has been edited, but there are no substantive changes to the content.
Qualification requirements and the persons responsible role – Ministry of Education
GMA1 Display of information – Ministry of Education
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 – New Zealand Legislation
