Parent Information and Involvement

Our centre aims to make communication with parents as open, regular and informative as possible. We have a variety of communication channels:

• Our outside notice board provides daily information about our programme, special events, changes in staffing, relievers and parent help reminders.
• Our parent information kete located at the sign in desk at the front door provides information about centre management, staff, important procedures and our centre programmes.
• Newsletters provide parents with important information regarding our education programme, events, management of the centre, teachers professional development, equipment and environment initiatives and any other relevant information.
• The attendance tablet provides a space to leave a short message when it is not possible to speak with a teacher.
• Parents can arrange a time to meet with teachers after a session to discuss their child's development and any issues of importance.
• Nappy changes and toileting are recorded on a chart by the changing table and sleep times are recorded on a chart on the sleep room door. These are available for parents to view each day.
• An individual online portfolio is kept for each child to communicate information to parents about their child's development and daily activities. We use Storypark as our online documentation platform. There are many ways for you to share feedback and your own stories regarding your child's learning, development, interests and activities at home via the Storypark website. Please feel free to discuss your child’s portfolio and any questions you may have with the teaching team.

Parents are encouraged to communicate with teachers and management freely and we value your contributions.

Management Committee

Ngaio Childcare centre is an incorporated society. All parents are automatically members of the society, eligible to stand for the Management Committee. The Management Committee is composed of the parents, staff members and it is supported in some of the administrative and management roles by an independent Management Support person and independent Financial Administrator.

Overall responsibility for the centre lies with a Management Committee, elected from amongst the centre parents yearly at an Annual General Meeting (AGM). A list of committee members is available in the parent information kete and Committee Meeting dates are displayed on the white board outside. Parents are encouraged to attend the Management Committee meetings which are held every 6 weeks.

Family Involvement

Ngaio Childcare Centre is a community organisation and parent involvement is an essential part of the smooth running of the centre. All parents are expected to be involved in the Centre at some level (Management Committee, parent help, fundraising, working bees, centre programme and special activities, outings, donations etc.).

Parent Help

Parent help provides you with an opportunity to spend time in the centre, to get to know the teachers and support them at the busiest time of the day. It is also an opportunity to see your child interacting in a different environment.

We require each family to find a time during the year to do ‘parent help’ each term. This is usually on the day your child attends, for approximately one hour between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. We ask that you find time at least twice a term. The parent help reminder is sent via email and also in the news letter.

A list of parent help duties is on display in the centre kitchen. Duties include filing art work, cleaning up art materials and equipment, disinfecting a set of toys, washing dishes and taking washing home. 

At the end of term we need an extra half an hour of help with general clean up and disinfection of toys or taking a bag of washing home.

Resources and Donations

The teachers welcome donations of resources that the children can use in their play, e.g. cardboard boxes, paper, material, old cards, wood, shells, leaves, newspaper, plastic bags, wool, buttons or anything else you think we could use.

Fundraising and Grants

As a community not for profit organisation, funds are raised to cover the cost of keeping the environment and resources up to date. We do this by applying for community grants and occasionally fundraising.