Under the Ministry of Education’s policy, children can attend an early childhood education (ECE) service for up to 20 hours per week, at no charge. When you enrol your child in education and care, you decide where to use (attest) this funding.

The Government directly funds Ruahine Kindergarten Association on a per-child, per-hour basis. This goes towards salaries and covers a portion of our running costs but does not cover the cost of employing 100% qualified and registered teachers, so sometimes we have to charge fees.

20 Hours ECE Subsidy

All three, four and five-year olds (not enrolled at a primary school) are eligible to receive a maximum of 20 hours ECE per week. To access the 20 hours ECE, parents/caregivers must attest their ECE hours in the Enrolment Form. Once enrolled, the parent/caregiver must sign the Attendance (Sign-In) Sheet every time their child attends their RKA service.

Fees

All children aged over 3 years (not enrolled at a primary school) are eligible to receive a maximum of 20 Hours ECE funding per week. These must be attested on the RKA enrolment form.

Fees are charged for booked hours after 20 Hours ECE funding (if eligible), including absent days. Fees are not charged when RKA services are closed for instruction or public holidays.

Payment of Fees

Invoices for fees are produced weekly for the week ahead, with payment due by Friday.

Payment of fees by Automatic Payment or Internet Banking can be made to the RKA bank account, 12-3211-0001349-01. Please include your child’s name and reference number found at the bottom of the tax invoice/statement.

Fee Holiday Requests

• There is no fee charged when RKA Early Learning/Kindergartens are closed for instruction or Public Holidays.

• Families can opt to take up to 2 weeks (calculated on their booked days over the week) during each calendar year as a fee holiday if they are going to be absent when their RKA service is open for instruction.

• This can be taken over the course of the calendar year, across all RKA services, in blocks of days.

• To be eligible for this fee holiday all fees must be paid and up to date and the application is made 2 weeks in advance and the Fee Holiday Request Form must be filled out and approved by the Head Teacher/Centre Manager.