Hi Dawn,
As you are no doubt aware, if you and/or Gaz get a Work Permit, Lauren will automatically get a Student Permit which entitles her to study in NZ. The wording on the NZIS site says
If you are in NZ on a Visitor or Student Permit and engage in employment without authority, your permit may be revoked and you may be required to leave NZ.
If you read through
this, about half way down it talks about working while on a Student Permit and mentions the special circumstances under which a student can take on work.
However, with Lauren wanting to work before she's actually started on her course, I'm not sure how that would pan out. I was also trying to find out if there was any age restriction on a young person working, like if you had to be over 17, for example, but I couldn't see anything.
Have a read through that NZIS stuff and see if it makes any sense to you. It's getting a bit late here and I think my brain has shut up shop for the day. Can't seem to take in any more info
.