Early Childhood Council President’s Centres Flagged for Multiple Regulatory Breaches
OPINION/ANALYSIS – 23 November 2022. Updated 11 January 2024.
Dr Sarah Alexander
Multiple regulatory breaches were identified by the Ministry of Education at Fern Garden Preschool and Childcare Centre in Tauranga, a service co‑owned by Darius Singh, President of the Early Childhood Council (ECC). Further breaches were found the following year at two other centres owned by the same operators.
This is notable because, in his role as ECC President, Mr Singh influences the guidance the Council provides to members on regulatory compliance and service management, and the Ministry regularly consults the ECC as an advisor on ECE operations, regulatory and funding matters.
Key points
At Fern Garden Preschool and Childcare, the Ministry of Education believes that building renovations carried out between 2015 and 2017 resulted in younger children losing direct access to outdoor play—constituting a breach of licensing regulations. This issue only came to light after the Ministry investigated a separate complaint.
The Ministry gave several days’ notice before visiting the centre to discuss the complaint. The centre then had just over a month before a formal inspection and compliance check was conducted.
Mr Singh strongly disagreed with the Ministry’s assessment and alleged misconduct by Ministry staff. In a public commentary, he wrote: “No appreciation was taken by MOE officer ‘M’ of the challenging circumstances in which the centre was operating.”
Ministry workflows show that before any decision to downgrade the centre’s licence was made, all procedures and documentation were peer-reviewed by senior staff who were not involved in the original investigation.
The Ministry covered the cost of specialist support. From 25 January to 28 May 2021, it engaged Educational Leadership to assist the centre in meeting Regulation 47 licensing criteria (GMA6 and GMA7) and Regulation 43 criteria (C2, C3, and C4). Upon completion of the SELO contract, Educational Leadership reported “improvement” in both curriculum and governance/management.
Despite these issues, they did not prevent the opening of a new centre—Gaia (Earth) Forest Preschool—licensed on 18 July 2022 for 125 children, including 35 infants, on investment property in Manurewa.
In 2023, two other centres owned by the same operators were downgraded to provisional licences:
- Chrysalis Centre (licensed for 150 children, including 50 under twos) was found non-compliant with heating and ventilation standards, resulting in cold conditions.
- Magic Kingdom Learning Centre (licensed for 60 children, including 15 under twos) was discovered to have multiple non-compliances, some of which were serious.
Time-line Concerning Fern Garden
On 16 February 2011, the Ministry of Education reported no licence breaches at Fern Garden Preschool and confirmed that younger children had direct access to the outdoor area during a full licensing assessment. This assessment took place shortly after the centre was acquired by Darius Singh through the Chrysalis Group Ltd company.
The Ministry believes renovations occurred at the centre in 2015 and again in 2017. However, it was unaware that these changes had compromised compliance until a complaint was received in 2020. A subsequent licence check revealed the centre was operating in breach of Regulation 45/PF13, as infants and toddlers no longer had direct access to outdoor play. Between 2011 and 2020, the Ministry had not conducted any monitoring to ensure ongoing compliance with licensing regulations.
September 1, 2020 – the Ministry of Education received a complaint that alleged at Fern Garden Preschool and Childcare Centre:
- There was not sufficient quantity of indoor and outdoor equipment and equipment was of substandard quality. Equipment was old and not sufficient to be providing for the education and care of the children.
- The windows were poor in the sleep room area and kitchen, also catches were broken in a lot of rooms.
- Leaking gutters and roofs in the outdoor area were hazardous on wet days – leaking onto the decks.
- Parents had been asking for documentation regarding the budget and how this was allocated for equipment and material costs for the ongoing purchase of new equipment and materials etc. “There has been no budget for over 15 months” for equipment etc.
September 3, 2020 – The service provider was informed by the Ministry of the complaint.
September 8, 2020 – The Ministry of Education visited to discuss the complaint.
October 14, 2020 – The Ministry investigated the centre for compliance. Multiple licence breaches were found at this time (see Appendix One below).
Nov 23, 2020 – The Ministry placed the centre on a provisional licence. The decision to issue a provisional licence and the time frames for compliance had been peer-reviewed within the ministry and were not the decision of any one member of ministry staff. The ministry expected the centre to meet some non-compliances quickly, other non-compliances were given until 31 March 2021 to be met (see Appendix Two below).
January 2021 – May 2021 – The Ministry supplied 40 hours of face-to-face professional coaching/ education to Fern Garden Preschool employees at a cost of $7,500 excl. gst to NZ taxpayers.
March 3, 2021 – The Ministry of Education issued the centre with a new provisional licence, showing an extension of time to June 30, 2021 to meet 6 outstanding licensing conditions covering curriculum, premises, and management (see Appendix Three below).
March 21, 2021 – In a press release to the media Darius Singh said in his capacity as head of the Early Childhood Council that government was failing centre owners such as himself who needed to bring in foreigners to staff their centres. Darius Singh sought to bring in 15 foreign teachers to staff a new centre he was intending to open in Auckland.
November 15, 2021 – Fern Garden’s full licence was restored, and it was granted an increase in licence capacity from 40 children (including 8 infants) to 50 children (including 12 infants).
Fern Garden – Ministry’s findings from licensing check on Oct 14 2020
- Reg 45/PF13: Infants and toddlers do not have any direct access to the outdoor play space.
- Reg 46/HS31: The centre’s Child Protection Policy does not have provisions for identifying child abuse and neglect. The response flow chart does not have all required responsive steps if a staff member has allegedly abused a child. There is no mention of reporting to Ministry of Education when reporting to other agencies.
- Reg 46/HS12: The centre has a daily checklist that does not meet the minimum hazards that must be included for consideration.
The centre is unsure of how to use information on children’s accidents and injuries to make changes to mitigate risk to children.
The service has a risk register split last updated July 2019. Ministry discussed how visitors and or new staff are inducted into the service to be aware of these potential risks. This process could be strengthened. - Reg 46/HS17: Trips have not all been approved by the Person Responsible (wording on the template is ‘Manager sign’ – however signatures were missing). The procedure was last reviewed in 2018 and does not have compliant information guiding practices to implement when undertaking an excursion.
- Reg 46/HS18 The procedure does not require staff to obtain written permissions from parents before travel in a motor vehicle whilst in the car of the service begins.
- Reg 47/GMA1: No Licencing Criteria 2008, displayed at the centre for parents and visitors.
- Reg 47/GMA1 Documentation: The centre’s complaint procedure referred parents to the Auckland Ministry of Education contact phone number and not the local Tauranga office.
- Reg 45/PF12 #: There was no means of checking temperature in the play space at .5m.
- Reg 46/HS22: Observed a child sitting by herself at the dining table with a plate of food. Asked the cook whose responsibility it is to supervise the child, she said she doesn’t mind keeping an eye on them – this is possibly normal practice. Observed the children eating lunch. Teachers were inconsistent with their supervision. Up and down getting items. Observed all 3 teachers with their backs to the children while standing at the bench.
- HS27 Documentation: Most entries of accidents, injuries and illnesses that occurred at the centre were complete. Some were missing parent acknowledgement.
- S27 Documentation: The service procedure does not have information regarding when to notify the Ministry of Education in case of a serious and or reported incident/accident.
- S28 Documentation: An action plan for managing a child’s health and medication was displayed but was not signed or dated. It states that it will be reviewed every 3 months with the parents.
The service policy and procedure are not relevant to Fern Garden centre – contact details. It has category 1 medications the centre can administer that do not correspond to the permissions form. The enrolment form – requires updating. - Reg 46/HS29: No evidence of, and no written record of training and/or information provided to adults who administer medicine to children (other than their own)
- HS9: Observed poor practice of checking two babies in the cot room.
Use of a monitor in the cot room, while teachers and other babies are outside.
Physical checks were not being routinely performed. Then signed off of an hours’ worth of sleep times in one go after this was observation was mentioned to the centre. - Reg 46/HS10 #: Observed a toddler asleep in the lower of a bunk cot. This toddler could stand and walk and would not be able to wake safely due to the space around the cot.
- Reg 45/PF2: There were plenty of teachers. However, observed a child outside on his own and no staff noticed him missing from the group of children eating.
- Reg 46/HS1 #: The light/ extractor in the nappy change bathroom needs to be cleaned and recovered. See photo. The drink fountain outside needs to be cleaned and unclogged from bark and sand. See photo. In the Nappy changing room, the shower could not be accessed safely as it has excess equipment.
- Reg 46/HS7: The service needs to increase their emergency supplies for the number of children and adults.
- GMA4 Involving Parents: The service was unable to provide evidence that parents were offered an opportunity to contribute towards internal evaluation.
- GMA6 Centre Reviews: The service undertook an internal evaluation/self-review of planning and assessment which was completed in 2020. However, there is no evidence of recorded outcomes or how the review has improved the centre’s quality of its education and care.
- GMA8 Annual Plan: The services annual plan has ‘who’ missing in some sections.
- GMA10 Enrolment Records: Service declarations were not signed.
- GMA11 Attendance Records: The service currently uses Discover and have complete separate forms for under two’s and over twos. The service’s staff do not mark the attendance records daily.
- Reg 43/C2: Inconsistent evaluations made for children, this needs to be strengthened and in place for all learners.
- Reg 43/C3 and C4: A new child (2 years old) was at the centre on only her second day of attendance. She spent 2-3 hours crying, unsettled, and mostly by herself. Observed one staff member walk right past her as she cried and did not stop to comfort, talk, or acknowledge her. The practice of several staff on the day was especially noted when no comfort, distraction or attempts were made to help settle a new 2-year-old. Staff were not using any strategies or techniques, they also let her cry for an unreasonably long period of time.
- Curriculum criteria C2: The centre needs support to evaluate children’s learning. C3: Teaching staff need support to ensure they are providing nurturing relationships for all tamariki. C4: Teaching staff need to develop and grow their knowledge of theory and best practice to support tamariki.
- Reg 47/GMA7: Equal employment opportunities policy was last reviewed in 2011. New staff roles and positions policy last reviewed in 2014. The HR induction procedure was updated in 2015 to include the Children’s Act but this was not in the procedures.
- GMA7 Human Resources: Not all staff had evidence of a completed induction or engagement with the staff appraisal process.
The service provided a written procedure for staff safety checking that does not meet requirements.
First Provisional Licence
A provisional licence was issued to the service provider on Nov 23, 2020 for compliances that had not been met following the licence inspection visit on Oct 14, 2020.
Second Provisional Licence
On March 3, 2021 the Ministry of Education issued another provisional licence, showing an extension of time to June 30, 2021 to meet 6 outstanding licensing conditions.
- Reg 43 Curriculum Criterion 2: To provide documented evidence that the service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts.
- Regulation 43 Curriculum Criterion 3: To provide evidence of how adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Specifically, documentation to support changed practice of how adults respond to and support children settling.
- Regulation 43 Curriculum Criterion 4: To provide evidence that the practices of adults providing education and care demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning and development, and knowledge of relevant theories and practice in early childhood education.
- Regulation 45 Premises and Facilities Criterion 13: To provide evidence that outdoor activity space is: *connected to the indoor activity space and can be easily and safely accessed by children;
*safe, well-drained, and suitably surfaced for a variety of activities;
*enclosed by structures and/or fences and gates designed to ensure that children are not able to leave the premises without the knowledge of adults providing education and care;
*not unduly restricted by Resource Consent conditions with regards to its use by the service to provide for outdoor experiences; and
*available for the exclusive use of the service during hours of operation. Specifically, provide evidence of how children access for under two’s from outside to inside easily. - Regulation 47 Governance and Management Criterion 6: To provide evidence that an ongoing process of self-review helps the service maintain and improve the quality of its education and care.
- Regulation 47 Governance and Management Criterion 7: To provide evidence that suitable human resource management practices are implemented.
