91 Shakespeare Road, Milford, Auckland
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P is very well placed to promote learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P, is owned and administered by Kindercare Learning Centres Limited. All centres operate under the Kindercare vision, values, philosophy and strategic goals. Together these form the philosophy on which each centre and the organisation base their practices.
The preschool provides education and care for young children from three years to school age, in two separate rooms. Children from both rooms share a spacious, outdoor play area. The preschool is adjacent to another Kindercare centre that caters for infants and toddlers aged up to three years. Children and their families come from an increasingly diverse range of cultural backgrounds. Many speak more than one language. Parents have the opportunity to participate in a Kindercare parent education programme.
The centre director has responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the infant and preschool centres. She works collaboratively with leaders from both centres. Most staff are qualified early childhood teachers. An experienced cook provides children with nutritious meals and snacks. This centre is part of the Kindercare trial for the Nourished Beginnings programme.
Since 2015, leaders and teachers have continued to build on the strengths outlined in the very positive ERO report. They have made very effective progress in addressing the key next steps.
This review was part of a cluster of eight Kindercare Learning Centre reviews in the Auckland area.
Children have many opportunities for uninterrupted play in the calm, unhurried learning environment. They:
Leaders and teachers are welcoming and inclusive. They build respectful, responsive relationships with children, parents and whānau. Teachers:
Leaders and teachers have identified important learning for children transitioning to school. These valued outcomes include building children's social skills, confidence, resilience, independence and self-help skills.
Parents are well informed about children's learning and participation in the centre. Parents who spoke with ERO appreciated the many opportunities provided for children's learning. They spoke positively about teaching practices, centre facilities and recently upgraded playgrounds, and the regular communication between the centre and families.
Leadership of the preschool is highly effective. The collaborative leadership team have high expectations of themselves and teachers. They use well-considered change-management approaches that support teachers to refine and improve their teaching practices and to ensure positive outcomes for children.
Internal evaluation is well established and an integral part of centre practices. Leaders continue to build a reflective, improvement focused team culture. They recognise the need to have a more evaluative focus in internal evaluation, and appraisal-related 'teaching as inquiry'.
The Kindercare organisation provides a broad range of support for centres and families. Comprehensive management and accountability systems across the company include:
Centre leaders agree that their key next steps include:
Key next steps for the Kindercare organisation include continuing to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
When is ERO likely to review the service again?
The next ERO review of Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P will be in four years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
13 November 2018
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
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Name of the Service |
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P |
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Location |
Milford, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
20086 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children aged 2 years and over |
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Service roll |
57 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 32 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
September 2018 |
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Date of this report |
13 November 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2015 |
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Education Review |
March 2012 |
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Education Review |
March 2009 |
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ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford Preschool is one of two adjacent centres that serve local North Shore families. The centre provides a full day education and care service for children over two years of age. The layout and routines of the centre enable children to interact in mixed aged groups as well as with children of the same age. Most children transition from the nearby centre that caters for children from six months to three years of age.
The service is part of the Kindercare umbrella organisation that provides administrative and professional support. The centre manager has dual roles. Besides having overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of both centres, she provides curriculum leadership for the Preschool. She is supported in her curriculum leadership role by the two lead teachers from the adjacent centre.
Since the 2012 ERO review, teacher professional learning and development has focused on the teacher’s role of extending children’s learning. The centre benefits from having low staff turnover and all teachers being qualified.
Centre leaders have responded positively to ERO’s suggested areas for improvement outlined in the centre’s 2012 ERO report. These areas focused on developing teachers’ understanding about their engagement with Māori learners and their whānau, and on giving greater prominence to science in the curriculum. The centre’s collaborative self-review processes that were evident at the time of the 2012 report have helped address these and other areas for development identified by centre management.
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford Preschool provides high quality care and education for children. Kindercare’s key priority of keeping children ‘Safe, Loved and Learning’ is evident in the centre’s programme and interactions between people.
Children are confident communicators and are curious learners. They enjoy rich opportunities to use their imagination, solve problems and extend their thinking. Children support each other in their learning through collaborative play. Bicultural teaching practices benefit all children. Tuakana/teina relationships, where younger children learn from their older peers, are evident in the programme.
Children’s transitions to, and within, the centre are well managed. As a result of the centre promoting successful partnerships with local schools, transitions of older children from the centre and on to school have been enhanced.
Highly effective centre leadership contributes to the very good quality education and care for children. Centre leaders use well researched early childhood theory and methodology to focus on what is best for children. They are confident in their role as enablers of learning for teachers and children.
Teachers have high expectations of themselves in their role of extending children’s learning. They are committed to their professional learning and take a collective responsibility for ongoing centre improvements. Adults learn from each other within an environment of high trust. Centre leaders and teachers actively contribute their ideas and talents to provide children with an innovative curriculum.
Teachers’ planning and assessment is highly responsive to individual children’s interests and strengths. Teachers use children’s preferences and ways of learning as a basis for shaping the programme. Children experience literacy, mathematics and science learning experiences within the context of play. They express their ideas in the knowledge that their teachers will value and build on their contributions.
Parents have ready internet access to informative records of their children’s learning. They are able to see their children’s progress clearly and are encouraged by teachers to give feedback on these learning records. Increasingly, parents provide learning stories to complement those recorded by teachers.
The culture and identity of Māori children are well catered for. Teachers take time to get to know Māori children and their whānau. They reinforce the bicultural principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and Te Āo Māori is integrated into daily centre practice. Māori children hear and see their language and culture in the programme. Centre leaders have appropriately identified that to sustain these very good practices, biculturalism could be more visible and celebrated in key centre documents.
Centre staff acknowledge Pacific children’s different island heritages. They share their understanding of the culture and language of different Pacific nations. As a result, Pacific children benefit from programmes that reflect and recognise their own culture.
Centre leaders and teachers have a very good shared understanding of self review. They use it well to promote positive outcomes for children. High quality evaluative practice is evident in the way they use review findings to reflect on their teaching and leadership roles.
Governance and management of the centre is efficient and effective. Operational systems and processes are well aligned. ERO is confident that the centre has the capability through its high quality leadership, effective long-term planning and review practices to sustain its successful development.
The centre’s very good self-review processes could be used to evaluate:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
During the review, ERO looked at the service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
The next ERO review of Kindercare Learning Centres Milford P will be in four years.
Dale Bailey Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
27 March 2015
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
|
Location |
Milford, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20086 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
57 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 30 Girls 27 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Korean Indian Russian Egyptian Samoan South African Swedish |
5 30 11 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
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|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
February 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
27 March 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
March 2006 |
ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.