• In child care centres, the director or designate and 50% of staff are required to hold a one-year ECE certificate or equivalent training.
• Staff in designated centres are required to participate in 10 hours of professional learning annually. There are no professional learning requirements for educators at non-designated centres.
• All staff must be at least 16 years of age and must be supervised by one primary staff who is at least 19 years of age.
• Child care centre staff and early learning and childcare home providers who do not hold at least a one-year early childhood certificate must successfully complete the Introduction to Early Learning and Child Care 30-hour curriculum course, and the Orientation to Early Childhood Education 60-hour course.
• All staff counted in the staff:child ratio must have first aid training, a CPR certificate, and a criminal record check/vulnerable sector check.
• There are no ECE certification requirements for staff working only with school-age children.

• Staff:child ratios address the number of staff required per number of children.
• Group size is the number of children, usually of one age group, that stay together throughout the day in a defined group – often a room.
• Family child care homes have a specified number of children by age.

Child care centres

Each child care centre may have a maximum of 60 spaces overall (unless established prior to 1983 and grand parented under new regulations).

Family child care

The maximum number of children a licensed home provider may care for is determined by age group and must include the operator’s own children under 12 years.

A family child care provider may care for a mixed-age group, as long as at least one child is school-age and no more than two are infants.

A part-time family child care provider caring for preschool-age children may operate two four-hour sessions per day, each for a different group of children. A part-time family child care provider caring for school-age children may operate before school in the morning, after school in the afternoon, and when schools are closed per the regular school year calendar or otherwise.

Regulated centres and homes must serve a snack at least every three hours, a meal at each recognized meal period, and must have access to water throughout the day.

Food supplied by the family may be served as long as it is labelled with the child’s name. Where food brought from home falls short of nutritional or safety requirements, an operator is required to discuss the concern with the parent.

Meals must be planned in accordance with Canada’s Food Guide and a menu with notes regarding substitutions must be made available to parents in advance and kept on file.

The outdoor play area must be within 350m of the indoor play area in full-time centres and 700m in part-time centres.

The play area itself must be large enough for at least half the centre’s licensed capacity to be outside at the same time, have a fence of at least 1.22m, and must consist of more than one type of surface and include a shaded area that is at least 10% of the total area.

There must be a separate play area for infants, or they must use the area separately from all other groups.

The daily routine must include at least one hour of outdoor play in every four hour block of time , except in extreme weather or when it is unsafe to do so.

A facility operator must ensure staff use behaviour guidance strategies that are positive, that celebrate and encourage effort and recognize accomplishments. Operators must ensure that no child is subjected to any form of physical punishment, deprivation of physical necessity, or verbal or emotional abuse. They must also develop procedures for dealing with staff who are suspected of having abused a child.

If a child care centre is a non-profit organization, its board of directors must consist of at least five elected members, of which 20% or at least one must be a parent or guardian of a currently enrolled child. 

The provincial regulations require basic health and safety precautions to be met. For example, service providers are required to:

• Ensure that medication is locked away at all times. Operators must ensure that prescription medicine provided by families is in the original container with the label showing the child’s name and dosage, and that consent to administer is provided.
• Require families to notify the centre of absences and develop and implement illness and exclusion policies.
• Develop an evacuation plan and complete fire drills monthly.
• Ensure staff adhere to diaper changing procedures.
• Permit no smoking on the premises. In the case of family child care homes, inform the parent or guardian of each child if someone in the household smokes outside of operating hours.

New Brunswick’s Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care and Le Curriculum éducatif pour la petite enfance francophone du Nouveau-Brunswick provide the foundation for an appropriate and stimulating curriculum for children from birth to five. Their use is mandatory at Designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centres and Homes.