I’m hearing stories of a boom in planning for and
New figures show the early childhood education sector remained largely
Waiting times for early childhood education have dropped across the
The Office of ECE provides this CCTV policy template and guidance to help services using indoor or outdoor security cameras meet their legal obligations under the Privacy Act, the Children’s Act, and other key legislation.
With camera use under increasing scrutiny, every service that operates CCTV in areas where children or staff may be present needs clear, transparent procedures to ensure lawful, ethical, and defensible practice. Gaps in your policy can put your service and the trust of families, at risk.
Log in with your member details to access the full guidance and template. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
Home‑based providers may also use this template to develop a policy for educators who have security cameras operating in their family homes.
Updated April 2026 with the latest regulatory requirements.
A strong child protection policy isn’t just about meeting licensing standards – it’s a core safeguard for children, your team, and the trust families place in your service.
With new 2026 updates now in force, it’s essential your policy reflects current expectations and best practice.
Log in with your member details to read the full guidance. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
On this page, we break down the latest regulatory changes, provide the most effective template to use, and share practical insights to help your service demonstrate a genuine, proactive commitment to child protection.
Login to read more
Updated April 2026 with the latest guidance from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the ECE regulator.
Privacy requirements have tightened, and every early childhood service must now ensure its policies fully meet the Privacy Act 2020. Out‑of‑date or incomplete policies can put your service at risk – and undermine the trust families place in you.
To help you stay compliant, this page includes a ready‑to‑use sample policy template you can adapt for your service, along with practical guidance on what must be included under the latest 2026 expectations.
Log in with your member details to access the full content. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
Early childhood services must meet the requirements of the Privacy Act 2020. Understanding and implementing the Act’s requirements allow services to protect and respect the privacy of children, their family whānau, and staff.
Updated April 2026 to include the latest requirements.
Illness and infectious‑disease management is under closer scrutiny than ever, and every ECE service must have a policy that reflects current regulations and best practice. A weak or outdated policy can put children at risk, expose staff to preventable illness, and leave your service vulnerable during a licensing inspection, ERO review, or complaint.
This article shows you how to write a strong, compliant illness and infectious diseases policy for your centre or home‑based service – and provides a practical template you can use to update your current procedures immediately.
Log in with your member details to access the full guidance and template. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
Centres and home‑based services play a vital role in safeguarding children’s health. Clear, well‑informed procedures are essential for preventing exposure to infectious illnesses and reducing the risk of outbreaks.
Early childhood service policies on everything are not always needed and are certainly not required.
Managers and early childhood service staff can easily get caught up in a sea of paper-work, that includes writing and reviewing policies in particular if they do not know the following.
Did you know that every service must have a written chi
How to write a policy on anything or topic for your early childhood service.
What needs to be included in a written policy.
Answers to your questions such as how often you need to review policy.
A policy template for early childhood education services on how they will respond to and manage traumatic incidents, with concern for the impact on staff, children, families, and the operation of the service.
Traumatic incidents include death, serious injury, abuse, disasters such as earthquakes, intruder and violent incidents, and lockdowns.
See a news article here about traumatic incidents at ECE services, to learn the nature of various incidents that may occur.
Traumatic incidents may occur at the service or outside of the service, and are witnessed or experienced by one or more children and adults who are part of the service.
1. Title: Trauma Policy
2. Policy statement
Use and adapt this fees policy and procedures to suit your ECE service. Procedures may cover late payment of fees and debt collection, charging for public holidays, 20 Hours ECE, the WINZ subsidy, late pick-up fee and other charges.
Early childhood services have three main sources of revenue: parent fees, government subsidies and grants,
Promoting Social and Emotional Competence Policy and Procedures.
Rationale:
This policy and accompanying procedures will help us to ensure our curriculum and teaching practice supports the development of children’s social competence and understanding of appropriate behaviour in our service.
Regulations and key references:
T
Use and adapt the following curriculum policy to suit your service and meet regulatory requirements.
Your curriculum policy must be consistent with the curriculum framework and be informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts.
As well as providing a curriculum policy template for you, we’ve included the questions the Ministry of Education commonly asks and focuses on when it is checking an ECE service’s curriculum policy and implementation.
RATIONALE:
To ensure the process of planning, evaluating and delivering a localised curriculum is consistent with
Regulations require that certain groups of people, including parents, union staff, and public officials, have a right of entry to the early childhood service under certain conditions, and set out the responsibilities of the early childhood service.
Below is a Right of Entry Policy and a set of procedures for different situations. Adapt and re-w
Here is a policy and set of procedures for the Collection of Children that you may use and adapt for your early childhood service. Services are responsible for upholding children’s safety at all times. This includes responsibility for ensuring the safety of children leaving the premises.
Reflective questions
Considering reflective questi
Here is a sample emergency management policy template, covering different emergencies such as fire, flooding, terrorist or armed offender, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis.
We also show you what you might put in a sample emergency plan, emergency procedures (including drills), and an emergency sup
Does your early childhood service have a well-written, well thought-out complaints policy? Getting it right is essential to support people to raise their concerns and avoid situations escalating and further problems.
Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa. Let us keep close together, not far apart
Regulatory requirements and Te Whāriki
Policy and procedures for excursions and outings.
An excursion is when children are taken outside the licensed premises as part of the learning and teaching programme while attending the service. It does not include an outing for emergency evacuations, drills, or to receive urgent medical attention (we provide a separate policy template for leaving the premises for these reasons).
RATIONALE:
In the rationale section of your written policy some things you may wish to include are:
ECE Service Lockdown Policy Template and Procedures.
The terror incident in Christchurch in March 2019 prompted many ECE services to review their lockdown procedures, leaving us questioning whether we are well-prepared for situations where we may need to go into lockdown.
Some services in Christchurch found themselves unprepared, part
Prevent Child Escapes.
Having a child slip out of a gate un-noticed or being sent home with the wrong person is something that everyone would dread.
It is expected that children are safe in their ECE environment and cared for at all times.
So in terms of developing policy and involving parents and others to play their part in ensuring th
Separated Parents.
It can be tricky being caught between parents, new partners of parents, and lawyers and it’s never easy trying to determine what information if any you can and should share and where the line is between privacy rights and responsibilities and duties as a parent.
This article discusses key issues that have a
Early childhood service sun protection policy and guidance.
A few years ago I was a head teacher in a kindergarten. We prided ourselves on not allowing children outside without hats and sun screen. We deliberately created areas in the grounds that were shaded. One very hot February day we had a sprinkler out and the children had a wonderful
Social Media Policy.
How social media is used can have a significant influence on the reputation of an early childhood service and the safety of participants.
Social media technologies if used appropriately can become an excellent way to broaden and increase opportunities for communication as well as being a powerful marketing tool.
Help spread this vital ECE information, join our free social and email groups and become a member of OECE.
Sign up to our free newsletters.
