Waha Rumaki/PITA Return

The Ministry of Education has introduced four new licensed service types within the centre-based, teacher-led category for Māori medium and Pacific bilingual and immersion services:

1. Puna Reo
2. Reo Rua Education and Care
3. Leo O Fanau Moana Immersion
4. Leo O Fanau Maoana Bilingual

These new service types are available to existing and newly establishing education and care services that can attest to meeting the description of one of the four new service types. 
Services self-attest to meeting the minimum language requirements.
Services currently receiving the Waha Rumaki allowance or PITA need to transition to one of the four new service types by 1 August 2025 to continue to receive the allowance funding.

Services will still need to comply with the ECE regulatory requirements, and funding conditions, set out for education and care services.

There is no change for Te Kōhanga Reo.

The following service types are not eligible to change to one of the four new service types:

• Homebased
• Kindergarten
• Hospital-based
• Te Kura
• Playcentre
• Whānau-led kōhanga reo managed by the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust.

Eligible services can complete an EC8 form and send it their local Te Mahau office:

EC8 form – Application to amend a centre-based early learning service's details

Enabling the Waha Rumaki/PITA Return feature in Discover

Following submission of the EC8, the Ministry will send a letter of Change of Service Type to your centre.
Please forward this letter to our Support Team so that we may change your service type accordingly.
Once the change has been made, a new menu item (Waha Rumaki/PITA Return) under the Ministry tab will be visible in Discover (this will only be visible to staff with Ministry Access selected in their profile).

From here, your service will need to submit the return monthly.

Additional Staffing Information

Similarly to information collected from staff profiles for Census, there will be a new section available to complete for the Waha Rumaki/PITA Return, found in the Staff Profile > Staff Details tab.

At the top of the Waha Rumaki/PITA Return details section, tick the check box to indicate whether a staff member should be included in the return, enter the applicable information in the fields, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'Save'.

Repeat for each staff member as needed. 

Please note: Years of Applicable Experience refers to the number of years of experience a certificated teacher has as a certificated teacher in a teaching role and/or management position in a Pacific immersion or bilingual environment within New Zealand. This can include experience as a certificated teacher working for other immersion or bilingual services that does not use the same Pacific language.

 
Completing the Waha Rumaki/PITA Return in Discover

The Waha Rumaki/PITA Return will need to be completed monthly.

Submission periods will usually open at the beginning of the month and close one week later.

After ensuring all return information has been completed in the Staff profiles:

1. Navigate to Ministry > Waha Rumaki/PITA Returns.

2. Next to the relevant submission period, select 'Submit'.

3. Review the Teacher Data to ensure all information is correct*.

4. Tick the checkboxes next to the attestations, confirmations and acknowledgements as needed.

5. Type in your name, designation, email address and date of application.

6. Click 'Submit' at the bottom right of the screen.

*If needed, you may adjust teacher information in a separate tab, then click the red 'Refresh Data' button at the top right of the Teacher Data table to update the page.

If you miss the submission period, your service will need to submit the information to the Ministry of Education manually.