The leader of Hamilton-based ECE, Te Kōhao Kōhungahunga, would like to help whānau get back to work. To do that, she is hoping that the MoE (Ministry of Education) will help her implement Alert Level 3 safety measures for her facility.
Tere Gilbert, Tumuaki of Te Kōhao Health says, "What we haven't got is more detail yet. So we've had a bulletin from the Ministry of Education. But unpacking that bulletin, we need to see what the detail of that is."
Gilbert says that her organisation will need to know how they will implement the legal and safety standards that ECEs are governed by. While these rules are easy to follow in normal situations, adapting them for a global pandemic is a completely different matter.
Should they receive the clarifications they need, the ECE Tumuaki believes that they should be able to provide quality and safe care for 4-6 children at Alert Level 3.
"If you’re an essential worker and have to go back to work and you have no care for your tamariki, then in our small bubble, we’ll try to support you,” Gilbert says.
Te Kōhao staff, Gilbert says, are implementing a wide range of online measures to stay connected to whānau. Her workers have set up a Facebook page and are using Zoom.