11-1 Record keeping requirements
Introduction
This section explains what records services must keep to support their funding claims.
Keeping records
Records are subject to periodic on-site checks by the Ministry of Education and reviewers from the Education Review Office (ERO).
Records must be kept and made available on request to Ministry of Education staff, reviewers from ERO, and others who are authorised to enter the service.
Maintaining Records
Records may be kept in a form to suit your service as long as the requirements set out in this Handbook are met.
Paper-based enrolment, attendance and staffing schedules must be maintained in pen. If these documents are electronically generated alterations and verification must be in pen.
Do not use ‘white out’ on these records. If you need to make changes do so by crossing out the error and making the corrections in pen.
Services risk losing funding if their records cannot be audited because they are unclear or ambiguous, or are not available for audit.
Records for all services
All Services must keep the records listed in the table below.
This information allows the Ministry to ensure that the correct amount of funded child hours have been claimed by the service.
See Chapter 6 of this Handbook and the relevant section for your service type (in Chapter 3) for further information on record keeping requirements.
Teacher-led services
Teacher-led services must also keep other records listed in the table below.
See Section 3B for further information on record keeping for teacher-led services.
Record keeping requirements
All services
| Requirement |
Purpose |
Relevant Section |
Template Example |
| Enrolment Records |
Enrolment agreements are used by the Ministry to verify the days/sessions that each child is enrolled for and expected to attend. |
6-1 |
Yes |
| Attendance Records |
Attendance records are used by the Ministry of Education to verify that the children have attended the service as claimed and to identify when a child is absent, and to verify that the absence rules have been applied correctly. Hospital-based services have slightly different requirements; this is covered in Section 3-B-3. |
6-3 |
Yes |
Additional requirements for teacher-led services
| Requirement |
Description |
Relevant Section |
Template Example |
| Staffing Record |
The staffing record is used by the Ministry to verify that the correct number of Registered Teacher Hours has been claimed. |
3-B-2 |
Yes |
| Copies of practising certificates |
Copies of practising certificates are used by the Ministry to:
- verify the registration status of teachers employed by the service
- verify that the correct number of support grants for provisionally registered teachers has been claimed.
|
3-B-2 |
Yes |
| Copies of ECE qualifications |
Services will need to provide certified copies of their staff’s qualifications to verify they are ECE qualified. |
3-B-2 |
No |
| Copies of primary qualifications |
Services will need to provide certified copies of their staff's qualifications to verify they are New Zealand qualified primary teachers. |
3-B-2 |
No |
| Attestation of registered teachers salaries |
Education and care services that attest to paying registered teachers at least at the level identified in the most current Education Circular Attestation: Registered Teachers’ Salaries. |
3-B-2 |
No |
| Enrolment records for children claiming 20 Hours ECE |
Services will need to indicate whether a child is receiving 20 Hours ECE, any agreements by parents/caregivers to pay optional charges, and that the attestation section of the enrolment form has been completed by the parents/caregivers. |
4-4 |
Yes |
| Payment records for 20 Hours ECE |
Services must keep records of fees, donations and optional charges received from parents. |
4-4 |
No |
Requirements for Home-Based Services
| If your home-based ECE service... |
you must... |
| is funded at the standard funding rate |
- have enrolment records for each child and
- keep attendance records to show the hours each child attended and
- keep records for Christmas coverage when services have been reconstituted over the holiday period.
|
| is funded at the quality funding rate |
- have records as for services funded at standard funding rate
plus
- keep a record of coordinators':
- names
- qualifications
- hours during which they were on duty or on-call
- breaks when the coordinator was not on duty
- keep records to show that coverage was maintained at all the required times (e.g. coverage by a relief coordinator)
- keep a record of educators' names and training.
|