Starting school at five? Save your daycare photos before your child leaves

In New Zealand, the end of daycare doesn't always come at the end of the year. Many children start school around their fifth birthday, so the last day at daycare or kindy can fall in any term.

Whenever it comes, it's the moment to make sure years of photos are safe. Depending on the app, what you can see may change once your child leaves, and the centre isn't keeping a copy for you.

Here's a short checklist to work through before that last day.

1. Find out which app your centre uses

Many New Zealand centres share photos through Storypark or Xplor Home, including centres that run Discover. If you're not sure, check the app you open to see your child's day, or ask the centre.

2. Save every photo and video, not just the favourites

Saving one photo at a time is fine for a handful. For a few years of daycare it's hundreds of clicks.

NurseryDownloader is a Chrome extension that saves everything in one go: every photo and video, at full quality, sorted into a folder for each child and month, with the date at the start of each filename.

• How to download your Storypark photos
• How to download your Xplor photos

3. Back them up somewhere else

Once the files are on your computer, copy them to a second place: an external drive, or a cloud photo service. One copy is a start. Two is safe.

4. Ask about the learning stories

Storypark and Xplor are built around learning stories as well as photos. Ask the centre what they'll give you, and save anything you want to keep while you still have access.

5. Do it a few weeks early

Saving everything a few weeks before the last day means there's nothing to worry about when it comes.

The free trial saves your first 20 photos with no card and no sign-up, so you can check the results first.