Daisies Fees

New Fee Structure Applicable from 1 April 2024.

All rates are GST inclusive.

Children under 3

For children aged under 3 years, i.e. aged 0, 1 and 2 years, the fees are:

Full time, long days $480 per week or $96 per day for part-timers (minimum 3 days). This rate gives families complete flexibility to access childcare Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 6pm.
Full time, short days $400 per week or $80 per day for part-timers. This option is available to all families and is particularly suitable for younger children who may find a full day quite stressful. It is also designed to suit families with older school aged siblings. Short days are strictly 8.30am to 3.30pm.

Combinations of short and long days are also possible. A discount for a sibling attending Daisies is available. This is $22 a week for the sibling, at either house.

Note that all children aged 2.5 years and over are required to be enrolled a minimum of 35 hours per week as soon after this age as can reasonably be accommodated, and no later than age 3.

Children aged 3 and over

Daisies participates in the Government’s “20 Hours ECE” scheme for 3 and 4 year olds. Parents and guardians are required to complete an attestation form stating the days and hours (up to 6 hours per day, 20 hours per week) they want provided by Daisies under this scheme.

All children aged 3 and over must be enrolled a minimum of 35 hours per week, which may be comprised of a minimum of 5 short days, or 4 days with a mix of 2 short and 2 long days. Other options are available up to 5 full days per week, as laid out below. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with these well in advance and we will work with you to increase their enrolment from age 2.5 years.

For all children over 3 years (assuming families of 3 and 4 year olds have signed the attestation for the full 20 hours), the following fees apply:

Minimum fee $290 per week for up to 35 hours. This can be any combination of short days (8.30am to 3.30pm, 7 hours) and long days (fully flexible between 7.30am and 6pm, 10.5 hours) that in aggregate add up to no more than 35 hours.
For each additional block of 3.5 hours, an additional fee of $16 per week will apply.
The minimum enrolment of 35 hours can be spread over either 4 or 5 days as per the table below.

Most children transition across to Te Pihinga House somewhere between the age of 2.5 and 3.5 years, and this can be a good time to increase their days enrolled up to 4 or 5 days. However for some children it may be necessary to increase your enrolment while at Te Purapura and we will work with you to find an additional day or days from 2.5 years of age. We would be very happy to discuss this with you in advance or at the time.

Families can enrol their child based on a combination of days from the table below:

            
              Max hours

                per week

              Fees

                per week

              Possible

                combinations

              35 hours
              $290
              5 short days.

                2 long days + 2 short days (4 days).

              38.5 hours
              $306
              4 short days, 1 long day (5 days).

                3 long days, 1 short day (4 days).

              42 hours
              $322
              3 short days, 2 long days (5 days).

                4 long days.

              45.5 hours
              $338
              3 long days, 2 short days (5 days).

              49 hours
              $354
              4 long days, 1 short day (5 days).

              52.5 hours
              $370
              5 long days fully flexible.

The fees above assume uptake of the “20 Hours ECE” scheme. This is not mandatory and in some circumstances families do not choose to sign up for these. In this case the rates for children under 3 continue to apply. Note that all children aged 3 and over are required to be enrolled a minimum of 35 hours per week, regardless.

Casual days

Children enrolled part-time may be able to attend for a Casual Day on a day they are not usually enrolled. However, this will only be possible when another child is away and it is not often possible to advise if this will be the case until the morning of the day in question (e.g. if a family calls in to advise a child will be away sick). Please discuss with the Head Teacher of your house. Fees for Casual Days are as follows:

Under 3 years – Long Day - $96; Short Day - $80
Aged 3 years and older – Long Day - $48; Short Day - $32 (being the differential between the current enrolled hours and the higher hours attended in that week)

All Children

Adjusting Enrolments

We require families to enrol for specific combinations of days and hours, and these can not be changed from week to week. It is possible to swap from long days to short days (or vice versa) but we do require at least one week’s notice and for more than 1 or 2 days the change must be for a minimum of 4 weeks’ duration.

It will not be possible to add days unless we have a spare day available. Let us know if you would like to go on the wait list for an extra day. Likewise it is not possible to reduce days unless another family wishes to pick up a day.

Payment Policies

All fees must be paid in advance by automatic payment. Fees may be paid monthly or fortnightly. Overdue fees may attract a 10% penalty charge. Fees are to be paid for 52 weeks per year. Fees are required regardless of statutory holidays, illness, family vacation times, or teacher only days (two annually). This means that automatic payment facilities do not have to be re-set.

On confirmed enrolment, a non-refundable administration fee of $150 is payable. Fees are payable in advance and the first payment of 2 weeks must be paid in full before starting. This is in addition to the administration fee. Should there be any fees paid in advance at the time your child leaves the centre, these will be refunded.

Receipts are issued at the end of the each tax year - on request.

Work and Income NZ (WINZ) subsides are available for families on low incomes. Please enquire via WINZ. If you are eligible, please let us know so we can advise accordingly on fees payable by you.

Late Fees

Children enrolled for the period below or late fees will apply:

Short days: should not be dropped off before 8.30am and must be collected by 3.30pm (late pick-up by 3.40pm is acceptable in case of parking issues).
Long days: should not be dropped off before 7.30am and must be collected by 6.00pm, no exceptions.

Late fees will be levied in all cases where children are not collected by 6pm/3.30pm at a rate of $16 per instance. We do ask families to respect our teachers rights to leave work when their shift ends as they work long days. Late fees and other optional charges may be paid by internet banking on receipt of invoice.

Optional Services Available

From time to time, excursions will be organised further afield requiring payment of specific charges to cover transport and/or entry costs. These will be notified to parents on a case by case basis and consent will be sought in each case. Other services may be added or offered from time to time. Feel free to make suggestions!

Note on Government Subsidies

The government subsidises teacher-lead education and care services for all licensed centres on a rate per attending child basis. Subsidies are provided in respect of every hour a child attends up to a maximum of 30 hours per week. The rates outlined above take all of these funding subsidies into account. Differentials in funding rates are applied by the government as follows:

Children aged 3 and 4 are funded by government at a higher rate for centres offering the "20 Hours ECE" service, but for up to 20 hours per week only.
Children aged under 2 years are funded at a higher rate than children aged 2 and over (up to 30 hours per week). The rate of funding per hour for under 2s is roughly the same as the "20 Hours ECE" rate for 3 and 4 year olds.
The funding rate for all age groups increases with a higher proportion of qualified and registered staff. Rates are calculated based on the proportion of registered staff on duty at any point in time (i.e. staff on non-contact time are not counted). The regulated minimum proportion of qualified staff per centre is 50%. A higher rate of subsidy kicks in when a centre has over 80% qualified staff – Daisies qualifies for this rate.
There are a slightly higher “Pay Parity” and “Extended Pay Parity” rates for centres who attest that salaries paid to ALL registered teachers for all hours worked meet the regulated “Pay Parity Scale” scale for teachers. Daisies has opted into the Extended Pay Parity arrangement.
No government funding (including for Pay Parity) is provided for hours attended in excess of 30 hours per week (or worked). For 3 and 4 year olds, a reduced rate of government funding applies for hours attended in excess of 20 but less than 30.
The Government does not fund families for both Work and Income NZ (WINZ) subsidies, and “20 Hours ECE”. In most cases families will be better off receiving the WINZ subsidies. For families receiving the WINZ subsidy, this means the “20 Hours ECE” attestation form should not be signed, and there will be no change in the net fees paid by families at age 3, after accounting for the WINZ subsidy. Families should consult with WINZ on a case by case basis to confirm what is best for them. It is the responsibilities of families to correspond with WINZ, not Daisies.
Latest funding rates and rules are outlined on the Ministry of Education website.