Staff at your regional Ministry of Education office can help you with the certification process. If you have any questions or need help to get started don’t hesitate to contact them. The Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008 and the Certification Criteria for Playgroups 2008 are the documents you need to find out about all the requirements and standards a puna kōhungahunga must meet to get certification and to get Ministry of Education funding.

Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008 – New Zealand Legislation

Certification criteria for playgroups

Standards

There are 5 standards your puna kōhungahunga will need to comply with.

Your group must fill out an application form before the Ministry of Education can do a certification assessment. Staff at your regional Ministry office will arrange to visit your venue to see whether the puna kōhungahunga meets the Ministry’s requirements.

Curriculum

There are 2 criteria:

• one requires the puna kōhungahunga to have an education programme based on the Ministry’s curriculum framework
• the other requires that a procedure is in place for positive guidance of the behaviour of tamariki.

Premises and facilities

There are 8 criteria, these include:

• design and layout of premises
• outdoor space
• furniture and equipment
• toilet/handwashing and drying facilities.

Health and safety

There are 12 criteria, these include:

• emergency management and evacuation procedures
• hazard management
• maintaining good health and safety practices at the puna kōhungahunga.

Management and administration

There are 6 criteria, these include:

• procedures and records that deal with financial management
• enrolment and attendance
• involvement of mātua in decision making.

Ratios

This requires that more than half the tamariki attending any session have a mātua or caregiver present in the same play area at the same time. At the very least there must be 1 adult for every 4 tamariki present in the same play area at the same time.

Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008, Regulation 19 – New Zealand Legislation

Types of certificates

There are 2 types of certificates:

Interim

A puna kōhungahunga must meet the ratios of parents to children standard and the premises and facilities standard. It must also be able to meet all other criteria for certification within 12 months. An interim certificate only lasts 12 months.

Full

All certification criteria must be met. You will need to apply for a new certificate every 3 years.