18H Polaris Place, East Tamaki, Auckland
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Atamai Education and Care East is one of two quality-funded homebased networks governed by CE New Zealand Limited. A managing director and office manager guides a team of four qualified coordinators, 13 educators, and support staff. Most children attending the service are of Samoan heritage.
Coordinators and educators respect and support the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourage children to respect other cultures. Educators engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.
The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children have opportunities to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The service curriculum provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning.
Service leaders must ensure all aspects of regulatory compliance are consistently implemented, monitored, and maintained.
A next steps is to:
develop the service’s local curriculum to reflect the things that are important to children and their families, the educators and the wider community.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Having safe and comfortable (indoor and outdoor) spaces for infants and toddlers not walking to lie, roll, creep, crawl, pull themselves up, learn to walk, and to be protected from more mobile children (PF5).
Ensuring outdoor activity spaces are safe, and suitably surfaced for a variety of activities (PF11).
Having space (away from where food is stored, prepared, or eaten) where a sick child can be temporarily kept at a safe distance from other children, lie down comfortably and be supervised. (PF14)
Providing safe and hygienic nappy changing facilities (PF17).
Ensuring space is available for the restful sleep of children who need it at any time they are attending (PF19).
Ensuring furniture and items intended for children to sleep on are of a size that allows then to lie flat and are of a design to ensure their safety (PF20).
Ensuring mattresses intended for children to sleep on that will be used by more than one child over time are securely covered or made of a non-porous material (PF21).
Having a written emergency plan that includes at least: a list of safety and emergency supplies and resources sufficient for the age and number of children and adults present in the home and details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency and a communication plan for families (HS4).
Securing heavy furniture, fixtures and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage (HS6).
Ensuring educators are familiar with relevant emergency drills and carry out each type of drill with all children present in the home on at least three-monthly basis (HS7).
Ensuring that, if not permanently set up, furniture or items intended for children to sleep on (such as cots, beds, stretchers, or mattresses) and bedding are hygienically stored when not in use (HS10).
Ensuring that equipment, premises and facilities are checked every day of operation for hazards to children, and hazards to the safety of children are eliminated, isolated, or minimised (HS11).
Implementing safe and hygienic handling practices with regard to any animals and ensuring that all animals on the premises are able to be restrained (HS13).
Undertaking assessment and management of risk and developing and implementing a supervision plan specific to each excursion (HS14).
Ensuring that food is prepared, served, and stored hygienically (HS17).
Ensuring that children are supervised and seated while eating (HS19).
Maintaining a record of all injuries, illnesses and incidents that occur at the service and coordinators reviewing and implementing practices as required (HS24).
Having a written supervision plan that ensures the health, safety and wellbeing of children enrolled in the service is maintained at all times. The plan must be specific to the premises and the number, age, abilities and enrolled hours of the children attending must show how the educator will actively supervise children attending the service (HS34).
Ensuring every children’s worker is safety checked every three years and having a record of all safety checks and the results; and that anyone over the age of 17 years, who lives in a home where home-based education and care is being provided are police vetted (GMA6A).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
20 April 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Atamai Education and Care East |
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Profile Number |
47445 |
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Location |
East Tamaki, Auckland |
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Service type |
Home-based service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
44 |
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Review team on site |
December 2022 |
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Date of this report |
20 April 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2019 |
All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.
Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.
having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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:
curriculum
premises and facilities
health and safety practices
governance, management and administration.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; hygiene; excursion policies and procedures)
suitable staffing (including qualification levels; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
discussions with those involved in the service
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Atamai Education & Care East is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Atamai Education & Care East is a home-based service licensed for up to 50 children from infancy to school age. Educators and children are from diverse cultural backgrounds. Most of the children are Samoan. Educators deliver programmes in their homes for up to four children at a time.
Programme coordinators use Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and the service's philosophy to guide children's learning. The philosophy acknowledges and promotes the uniqueness of each child and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
A leadership structure is in place to oversee governance, management and administration. The leadership team consists of the director, office manager, head teacher and three programme coordinators.
This is the service's second licensed network which received its full license in 2019. This is the first ERO review of this network.
Relationships are a strength of the service. Coordinators and educators know tamariki well. Partnerships formed with children and families provide a smooth transition into the service.
Managers, coordinators and educators are highly responsive to the diverse languages, cultural customs and celebrations represented in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The service philosophy, policies and curriculum records reflect Pacific and other cultures enrolled in the service. Tamariki use their home language with educators. Environments promote resources and learning experiences that affirm children's languages and cultures.
Coordinators support tamariki learning and wellbeing through monthly visits to educators' homes. Regular professional development opportunities are offered to educators to guide improved teaching approaches. Tamariki attend monthly playgroups which are intentionally planned around Te Whāriki. Coordinators could deepen educators' understanding about the value of learning through play for both infants and older children.
Well-documented systems to plan and assess the learning and progress of individual tamariki are evident. Assessment records show children's interests and engagement in the programme. Coordinators identify how children's independence, exploration and relationships are fostered. Whānau aspirations for tamariki are sought and used in the child's everyday learning experiences. Linking planning and assessment more closely to the learning outcomes identified in Te Whāriki could help to build families' understandings about the learning that happens in the context of play.
Coordinators work collaboratively and have good opportunities for team building and professional learning. They know educators well through their monthly home visits, which are well documented. Reporting systems keep service leaders informed of the wellbeing of each child.
The service has comprehensive strategic and annual plans that usefully guide ongoing improvement and the service's future direction. Development of staff capability is a primary goal for the service. Service leaders undertake regular self review. Developing shared understandings of the purpose and use of self review information could contribute to ongoing improvement.
Key next steps are for service leaders to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Atamai Education & Care East completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
10 March 2021
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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Location |
East Tamaki, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47445 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
46 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Ethnic composition |
Samoan |
31 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
3 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
10 March 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes 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.