Certification criteria for playgroups

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines a playgroup as a group that meets on a regular basis to facilitate children's play and in respect of which—

  1. no child attends for more than 4 hours on any day; and
  2. more than half the children attending on any occasion have a parent or caregiver present in the same play area at the same time; and
  3. the total number of children attending on any occasion is not greater than 4 times the number of parents and caregivers present in the same play area at the same time.

Playgroups include Puna Kōhungahunga, cultural playgroups and community language playgroups.

Playgroups are certificated in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each certificated playgroup must meet. Certification criteria are used to assess how playgroups meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

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

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.1 MB] and printed.

The certification criteria were last updated in September 2022.

HS11 Child Protection

  • Criteria

    • Criteria

      There is a written child protection policy that meets the requirements of the Children's Act 2014. The policy contains provisions for the identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect, and information about how the service will keep children safe from abuse and neglect, and how it will respond to suspected child abuse and neglect.

      The policy must be reviewed every three years.

      Documentation required:

      1. A written child protection policy that contains:
        • provisions for the service’s identification and reporting of child abuse and neglect;
        • information about the practices the service employs to keep children safe from abuse and neglect; and
        • information about how the service will respond to suspected child abuse and neglect.
      2. A procedure that sets out how the service will identify and respond to suspected child abuse and/or neglect.

      Intent:

      Child protection policies support children’s workers to identify and respond to vulnerability, including possible abuse and neglect.

  • Guidance

    • Guidance

      Playgroups must have a child protection policy that meets the Children's Act 2014 requirements.

      The policy must:

      • contain provisions on the identification and reporting of neglect and abuse, and
      • be written, and
      • be reviewed every three years.

      To be helpful, the policy should contain definitions of neglect and abuse so that adults can apply these consistently when needed.

      We’ve published a guide to the help you navigate the child protection policy requirements set out in the Children’s Act 2014. Download the guide.

      Documentation guidance:

      The Safer Organisations, Safer Children [PDF, 1.1 MB] publication provides advice on good practice to help organisations draft high quality child protection policies and review their procedures.

      The guidelines include a review tool to help services identify gaps in current policies, information about what to include in a new policy, as well as example policies including a policy used in an early childhood education setting.

      The policy needs to be consistent with advice provided by Oranga Tamariki that can be found in the publication called "Working together to support tamariki, rangatahi and their family/whānau(external link)". 

      Adults at the Playgroup require guidelines on:

      • the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect
      • roles and responsibilities around record keeping and reporting
      • responsibilities to children
      • limitations of their role.

      The Ministry of Education, alongside Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand and Safeguarding Children, have developed a digital child protection resource specifically for the early learning sector. See the instructions below to access the resource.

      1. Go to Education Learning Management System using the following link https://training.education.govt.nz/(external link)
      2. Select Login with ESL
      3. Select Catalogue from the top menu
      4. Search for Child Protection

      In order to access child protection training you are required to have an Education Sector Logon (ESL) as there is a formal acknowledgment of completion. To get an ESL account, please contact your organisation’s ESL Delegated Authoriser.

      If you would like to know more about having an Education Sector Login (ESL) to access the Education Learning Management System please refer to - Education Sector Logon (ESL) | Applications & Online Systems(external link)

      If you need assistance creating an ESL account, please ring the Education Service Desk on 0800 422 599 or email them on service.desk@education.govt.nz