Prepare policies, procedures and processes
We suggest you:
A. Read the home-based licensing criteria booklet and visit the Developing policies page to identify which policies are required.
B. Write drafts of documentation required for licensing and other policies, procedures and processes you think would be useful. If your service is part of an umbrella organisation they may require additional documentation or have examples you can adapt.
C. Consider how you will ensure that your service operates in accordance with the Regulations and Licensing Criteria, and that documentation reflects this.
Resources:
D. Contact your local Ministry of Education office to have a form called the probationary licence application form Home-based ECE services EC/1Hm sent to you. You may also find the Licence Assessment Tool for Home-based ECE Services useful to support your preparations. You can request a copy from your local Ministry of Education office. It is helpful to have the form at this stage as some of your documentation of policies, procedures and processes need to be submitted as part of the application. The other policies, procedure and processes will be looked at later, on site, when your service is visited by the Ministry of Education as part of the licensing process.
Send all documentation required for licensing (policies, procedures, processes and administration records) to your local Ministry office with your probationary licence application EC/1Hm. Check with your Ministry official about how much lead in time they will require for receiving these records. It is likely that they will need to be sent at least one month before you want to begin operating.
E. After receiving your probationary licence application, your local Ministry office will contact you to make an appointment for your licensing visit. When satisfied that a licence application is fully complete and the service provider is fit and proper to hold a licence, a licence assessment visit to at least 2 homes (unless there is only 1 home in the service) to assess the home-based ECE service’s compliance with the 2008 regulatory framework must be carried out.
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