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Education and Care Centres
WHICH ARE? These centres provide sessional, all day and flexible hours, from birth to school age. Some will be based around particular philosophies, such as Rudolph Steiner or Montessori centres.

WAITING LIST? If they are good and located in the inner suburbs of Auckland they’ll probably have an extensive waiting list. Parents are advised to book ahead, and it’s often best to install children at popular places before they’re two if you want them to get in at all. A child under two, for instance, can expect to be on the waiting list at Mainly Kids in Ponsonby for over a year, and up to two years if they’re over two. Says Mainly Kids’ director Clare Freeborn: “I only take five or six children off the waiting list for the over-twos each year, because the spaces are constantly filled by the under-twos turning two.”

WHAT DOES IT COST? The price and resources vary wildly, and are often reflective of the suburb in which they exist. Small World (Advanced Child Care and Learning Centre) on Dilworth Avenue in Remuera costs $95 per day for children under three, and $85 per day for children over three. It’s located in a large, architecturally designed building surrounded by a landscaped garden. Parents can only enter with the security code, after which they arrive in an expansive foyer featuring an aquarium and a sculptural taniwha. All the children are put into separate rooms according to their age groups (babies, one year-olds, two-year olds etc). There are only seven babies in the Babies Room, and they get to sleep in a separate sleeping room in smart wooden cots surrounded by walls painted with clouds and hot air balloons.

There’s also an on-site chef who works in consultation with a nutritionist, a gym, weekly visits from a fitness instructor and from Fairy Claire, who teaches drama classes, and a couple of computers. Sarah Paykel is on the parent liaison committee.

That’s about as posh and pricey as it gets. Other top-end popular chains include Kindercare, Mainly Kids and Bear Park. Even within each brand, fees vary according to location, although those in the inner city are roughly $50 per day or around $200 per week. The Early Childhood Council Survey of Fees of its members nationwide found that, for a child over two, hourly fees ranged from $2 to $15 per hour, with an average of $5.13 per hour. The average weekly rate for 30 hours of child care was $144.75 per week and the range from $10 to $255 per week. The average weekly rate for more than 30 hours was $161.58, ranging from $40 to $360.

It is a common perception that expensive must be better, and sometimes it may be, but not necessarily. Ponsy Kids, a community-owned non-for-profit centre in Ponsonby, charges only $30 per day. Its opening hours are shorter (9am to 4pm), and the children bring their own lunchbox, but it’s well resourced, has an attractive outdoor area with an elevated view over a reserve, an unusually stable staff and an ERO report as good as anyone’s. (Ponsy Kids has only recently begun to fundraise. Unsurprisingly, considering the demographic of its parent committee, it has been very good at it; last year’s auction featured a Botox treatment, a vasectomy, a weekend on Kawau Island, and $1000 worth of legal fees. It raised around $8000.)

Home-based Services
WHICH ARE? Best described as a cluster of homebased caregivers (often mothers who already have children at home) who are vetted, police-checked and linked up by a central co-ordinator. Homebased care networks, like other licensed and chartered early childhood services, receive government funding and operate within education and other relevant legislation regulations. There is still some debate whether all home-based providers are yet able to offer education as effectively as they provide care, but they’re also reviewed by the Education Review Office (ERO).

WAITING LIST? A caregiver can usually be found in your area within weeks.

WHAT DOES IT COST? The largest of the umbrella organisations of home-based care is Barnados Kidstart, in which one caregiver will look after groups of up to four children, at $4.50 an hour. Caregivers are required to attend training courses, work with a Visiting Teacher to watch over the children’s “active learning experiences” based on Te Whaariki, and detail each child’s learning and development in a Record of Learning and Care. Porse, previously known as a nanny agency, also arranges family-share childcare options for $4 an hour …or more, if you want a more expensive tailormade service. The nannies, now known as Porse nanny educators, can look after a group of up to four children in their home, or, if you prefer, in your home.

Kindergartens
WHICH ARE? At this stage they still offer sessional education for children between three and five, and all staff are qualified and registered early childhood teachers. Kindergartens are often criticised for failing to adapt to the needs of contemporary working parents. Defenders point out that their sessional educationally orientated sessions are extremely intensive for the children and require extensive and ongoing preparation by the teachers.

WAITING LIST? Varies according to location. The Auckland Kindergarten Association’s centre in Mt Eden has a waiting list of over 100, and children can expect to wait until they’re three years and nine months old before they get in. Naturally, there is no pressure for it to turn itself into an all-day centre. Ditto their centre in Papatoetoe, which has a waiting list of 200 and where children can expect to wait until they’re four. Meanwhile, their centre in Laingholm is struggling to fill its spaces; its more isolated location mean parents have only just dropped children off before they have to turn around to collect them again. It is currently trying to attract more children by offering four-hour sessions.

WHAT DOES IT COST? Public kindergartens do not charge fees but will ask for a donation of $2-$5 a session.

Playcentres
WHICH ARE? Playcentre was developed in and remains unique to New Zealand. Each of the centres around the country is run as a family cooperative, which demand certain commitments, or “non negotiables”, from its members. Like kindergartens, Playcentres are based around sessional play and education, but for children between the ages of zero and five. They insist on a certain amount of parental involvement. At the very least, parents have to attend/supervise at least two sessions a week and are expected to do courses in early education. A parent is obliged, for instance, to attend two of the (two-and-a-half-hour) sessions each week, which means that the ratio is never less than one adult for three children. Parents are expected to brush up their parenting skills — or perhaps more accurately, their playing skills — through various courses. These range from basic introductions to play (play-dough, finger-painting etc) to more academic courses about child development and the national curriculum in early education, Te Whaariki. There are also optional workshops specialising in core subjects such as Clay, Blocks and Water.

WAITING LIST? Yes, in affluent suburbs such as Newmarket, Mt Eden and Remuera.

WHAT DOES IT COST?
Usually between $25 and $50 a term.