Your service's AI policy, written in ten minutes.

This policy sets out how Our service uses artificial intelligence tools to support, never replace, the professional work of documenting tamariki's learning.

Documentation at our centre is assessment for learning, grounded in Te Whāriki. It belongs to the relationship between kaiako, tamariki and whānau. AI may help with the drafting. It does not observe, interpret, or decide what a tamaiti learned.

The kaiako has the final word. Every AI-assisted draft is reviewed and edited by the person who saw the moment before it is shared or kept.

Interpretation, never invention. A draft may only describe what was actually observed. Anything the observation does not support is removed, not smoothed over.

A tamaiti's own words are kept exactly as they said them. They are not tidied into correct grammar, and no words are put in a tamaiti's mouth that they did not say.

We document tamariki in their full context, including their relationships, culture and whānau aspirations, not as a checklist of developmental milestones.

Only these tools may be used to help draft documentation about tamariki at our centre:

• StoryLoop

A tool is added to this list only after we have checked that it keeps drafts private to the kaiako, does not use our documentation to train its models, lets us export or delete our records, and supports human review before anything is shared.

Kaiako must not enter tamariki's names, photos, health or developmental information, family circumstances, or any other identifying details into general-purpose or publicly available AI tools that are not on our approved list. This includes free chat assistants used on a personal device.

This follows the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's guidance on artificial intelligence and the Information Privacy Principles, which asks organisations to understand how a tool handles personal information before using it, and to be transparent about its use.

No AI-assisted documentation is shared with whānau, placed in a tamaiti's record, or used for planning until it has been reviewed by the kaiako who wrote it. Where our centre requires it, the centre manager also approves it.

Reviewers check that the draft matches what happened, that nothing has been added, that curriculum links are genuinely supported, and that no other tamaiti can be identified.

We tell whānau that kaiako may use approved AI tools to help draft documentation, and that a kaiako reviews every word before anything is shared. This is included in our enrolment information and on request.

We handle all documentation in line with the Privacy Act 2020 and its thirteen Information Privacy Principles. Records created with AI assistance are held, corrected, and destroyed under the same rules as any other record about a tamaiti.

If AI-assisted documentation is ever shared in error, or a tool is found not to meet this policy, we treat it as a privacy incident under our existing procedures.

Using an approved tool is a legitimate part of professional practice at our centre, not a shortcut to be hidden. Kaiako are encouraged to talk openly about how they use it, what works, and where a draft got something wrong.

We support kaiako to use these tools well, and we never measure or rank kaiako by how much documentation they produce.

This policy is reviewed every 12 months, or sooner if our tools, the law, or regulator guidance changes. Kaiako and whānau are invited to contribute to each review.