You can look after a maximum of four children at any one time, with a maximum of two of those four children being under two years of age.

We collect the payments for you on behalf of your families so you can be assured of regular, consistent payment. This removes any awkward situations where you might come across the need to ask parents for late payment.

Payment is made to you weekly on a Wednesday night.

As an Educator with Home Grown Kids, you contract yourself to us to provide childcare from your own home. You are therefore classed as self-employed and not entitled to holiday pay. Any time you are unable to provide care to children, the parents are not charged and you will not receive payment for that day.

As an Educator with Home Grown Kids you are classified as self employed but its not as scary as it sounds. In fact, it has many benefits. You are responsible for declaring your income to IRD, and for paying your own income tax but you also receive generous tax benefits.

IRD has a worksheet (IR 413) especially for home-based Educators to calculate their taxable income. Home Grown Kids send you a summary of your hours and gross income at the end of each financial year. Where possible, we also hold a tax evening each year to help you understand and complete your tax return.

The real cool thing about working from your own home is that the IRD give you a concession towards the cost of running your business. This concession varies each year but for 2020 it is $3.70 per child per hour. In simple terms this means you do not get taxed on the first $3.70 per child per hour you earn. This goes straight into your pocket!

So for example:

If one child is enrolled with you for 40 hours and your reimbursement rate is $6 per hour

40hrs x $6 = $240 (Total fee)

40hrs x $3.70 (Your concession from IRD) = $148

$240 (Total fee) – $148 = $92 (Taxable income)

So for one week  providing education for one child, you will have recieved  $240 but only will only have to pay tax on $92. The $148 goes straight into your pocket. Ching Ching!

If you had 4 tamariki enrolled for 40 hrs your total income is $960 but you will only have to pay tax on $368!

There are other benefits too which will also further reduce your tax obligations but we can go over this in more detail later.

Visit https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/types-of-individual-income/home-based-childcare to find out more

Potential parents are aware it is a negotiable rate with the Educator. Educators set their rates based on their experience. You obviously don’t want to set your rate too high, or you won’t attract any families, and not too low either. As long as you are willing to be flexible you can usually come to an agreeable rate with parents. Depending on where you live and your experience, we can advise you on what a competitive rate is. Call us to discuss.

A home-based Educator cares for a small group of up to four preschool children in the home of the Educator. A Nanny provides education and care in the child’s home.

We provide early childhood care and education for children from birth to six years.

You do. We will provide you with a choice (where possible) of Educators or Nannies suitable to you and your child’s needs. You can contact the Educator or Nanny yourself to arrange a suitable time for you and your child to visit with them, or we can organise a meeting and accompany you and your child to offer extra support if needed. You can check out our Educators and Nannies here.

Following the Ministry of Education’s regulations, all our Educators/Nannies are thoroughly checked and screened to ensure the safety of your child in the Educator’s home environment. This includes a vetting process with police, previous employers and referees. Educators are then interviewed and a safety check of their property is completed. All our Educators and Nannies of children enrolled in our ECE programme are supported by our Visiting Teachers who are qualified registered ECE Teachers with many years’ experience and expertise in Early Childhood Education.

Home Grown Kids is committed to providing a high quality educational home-based programme that reflects our New Zealand ECE curriculum Te Whāriki and is tailored to children’s individual interests, strengths and cultural needs.

Each child’s learning and development is supported by an individual learning plan. This is documented in an e-portfolio in the form of Learning Stories as well as photos and captions through Storypark These will be recorded by your child’s Educator, Visiting Teachers and yourself.

Yes, you are able to visit your child anytime while in care.

Yes, you are most welcome to continue to breastfeed your child while they are in childcare.

Yes, we want you and your child to feel at home and get to know their Educator. We recommend orientation visits before childcare begins and during these visits you are required to stay.

We will do our best to provide you with an alternative Educator or Nanny should you require one.

Yes you can. We are an approved Work and Income provider and can support you to access a childcare subsidy if you are eligible. Find out more about WINZ subsidies.