A Letter from the association to families......Important!

9 October 2015

Tēnā koe

Message for Parents and Whānau - What’s happening at kindergarten?

At Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens we are having to cuts costs because of ongoing funding shortfalls.  Recently, we have been working with our staff on a change management process to help us cut costs.

We want to assure parents that we will continue to offer a quality service for your children.  We are very proud of the quality education we provide across our 85 kindergartens and our homebased services, but we have to make changes to ensure we stay viable. 

In 2010, the government cut our funding by 14% as it did not believe that kindergartens needed to be fully staffed by trained, registered teachers.

We know that quality teaching makes the difference, and we are determined to ensure that all kindergarten children are taught by fully trained and registered teachers.  All the research, both from New Zealand and internationally, supports the need for qualified teachers to work with our young children.

Since the government cuts in 2010, the government has not adjusted its funding for inflation, another effective cut we have had to absorb.   During this time, we have continued to provide a quality service which is affordable to families as we believe every child is entitled to a high quality education.

Now, unfortunately the time has come for us to make some difficult decisions to preserve our kindergartens.  Salaries are our greatest cost, accounting for almost 90 per cent of our budget.  In some of our kindergartens, we are proposing opening for longer hours – moving to five six hour days – which will increase our income, as well as providing more options for families.  In other kindergartens, we are proposing to reduce the non-contact time teachers have.   We have given teachers more generous non-contact time than most other services, but we can no longer afford this.  We are planning on asking teachers to volunteer for a part-time role, and we hope some teachers may be attracted to this option.  We are endeavouring to avoid any forced redundancies of teachers, although it is possible that this may be a last resort.

As an employer, we know that our teachers are the great strength of our kindergartens and we know that you also recognise this.  We are consulting staff at the current time.  We have always prided ourselves on our record of being a good employer and we are continuing to honour that commitment.

This is a difficult time for everyone but you can be confident that we will continue to provide the same great service to your children.  If you have any concerns we are very happy to hear from you at any time.  You can email me, at amanda.coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz or phone  029 2626322.

Mauri ora

Amanda Coulston

Chief Executive