Early childhood education facilities contacted this week by the Central App were unanimous in their concerns: the sector is in crisis and there’s no quick fix on the horizon.

Waiting lists to get into a childcare centre are as long as mid 2024, with the earliest available in June 2023.  

There is a mix of early childhood education in Cromwell including privately owned centres and home-based educators for babies to school-aged children, and kindergarten for children aged two years old to school age.

For Cromwell working mother of one Maddy Albertson, securing childcare for her daughter Frankie is “the biggest stress” in her life. 

When her maternity leave ended, the resource management planner was faced with a real lack of options for the care of her child.

Maddy says there is a lack of information about the critical state of the waiting lists. 

“Without much wrap-around care from Plunket, midwives and maternity care in our area, I was completely unaware I should have been ringing centres when my baby was only three-months-old,” she said.

Cromwell Early Learning Centre manager Lisa Lowrey is “very concerned” about the impact a lack of early education is going to have on children entering primary school. 

“Access to pre-school education is essential,” she says.

Sally Dalzell, centre manager at Little Wonders, said she is exasperated. 

“We need another centre in Cromwell – like yesterday,” she said. “We need to be able to attract more staff, and pay them more.” 

Home-based care is becoming more available with Barnardos recruiting and training four new educators in recent months.

For Maddy, however, the cost is prohibitive.  

“Standard day-care is around $4.00 per hour, some home-based is $6-$8 per hour, but some are charging $10-$12 an hour. That’s $500 a week,” she said.

Not having both parents working is not an option for them. “Trying to live here on a single wage is impossible”.

A glimmer of hope is the possible construction of a new early childhood centre in the Wooing Tree Estate.  

An early childhood facility is planned for Wooing Tree Estate

Development manager Stephen Cornwall confirmed this week they are in conversation with a potential operator.

“Having an early childhood facility in our neighbourhood centre was always envisaged,” he said. “We’re working closely with an operator and hope to announce our plans prior to Christmas”.

If successful, the centre will have a capacity for 70-90, from babies to school-age children, and open in early 2024.