12 Morgan Street, Johnsonville, Wellington
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 |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management, and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Premier Preschool Johnsonville is a small, privately owned early learning service providing education and care for children from two years to school age. The centre serves a culturally diverse community. Since the 2018 ERO review, there have been significant changes to staff including the appointment of a centre manager and an additional qualified teacher.
The service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture. Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.
The design and layout of the premises and facilities support the provision of a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. Increased monitoring of health and safety practices is required to meet all aspects of regulatory compliance.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to consistently:
ensuring written parental consent is obtained for special excursions and assessment and management of the risk is undertaken for excursions
maintaining full records of injuries, illnesses and incidents that occur at the service
recording all medicine given to children.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS17, HS27, HS28.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
Ensuring there is a documented risk management system for the management of hazards [HS12]
Ensuring parental access to information about Ministry of Education funding [GMA3].
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
16 June 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Premier Preschool Johnsonville |
|
Profile Number |
55271 |
|
Location |
Wellington |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
20 children aged two years and over |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
25 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 8, Chinese 9, other ethnic groups 6 |
|
Review team on site |
May 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
16 June 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, December 2018; Education Review, January 2015 |
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 regulated 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; police vetting; teacher certification; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Premier Preschool is a privately owned early learning service in Johnsonville, Wellington. In August 2016, the service was bought by Happy Adventurers Education Limited. The owners manage the day-to-day operations of the centre. The centre is licensed for 20 children aged over two years and the roll reflects the multicultural community in which it is situated. Of the 22 children enrolled at the time of this ERO review, 11 identify as Chinese. Ongoing developments are being undertaken to improve indoor and outdoor environments for children.
The teaching team is made up of two teachers with early childhood qualifications. Both are provisionally certificated and one is an owner of the service. Another educator has a certificate in early childhood practice (Level 4).
The January 2015 ERO report identified areas requiring further development. These included reviewing the balance between structured activities and child-initiated play, and continuing to review strategic planning, appraisal, assessment and curriculum. These areas continue to require further refinement and development.
The centre has experienced significant changes to leadership and staff since August 2016.
Premier Preschool's philosophy reflects the owner's values. Aspects of these beliefs are seen and heard in staff practice. A priority should be to review the philosophy, with the new team, and further consider what this means in terms of teacher practice and learner outcomes.
Children are busy, purposeful learners engaging in spontaneous and planned experiences. A positive tone is evident in the centre. Teachers are respectful and affirming in their relationships with children.
Teachers' approach to planning for learning requires strengthening. Observations and photographs show children's engagement and enjoyment in activities. Programme evaluation requires further development and refinement to identify next learning and teaching steps. Teachers need to build their knowledge and use of effective assessment practice to:
plan learning experiences responsive to individual children’s interest, strengths and needs
demonstrate intended outcomes of the services curriculum and goals for individual children are achieved.
Daily routines and programmes reflect the bicultural and multicultural nature of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Some te reo Māori is spoken by staff, and children recognise and use Māori words. Continuing to build teachers’ cultural awareness and responsiveness is important as part of the ongoing integration of tikanga Māori in teaching and learning.
An external provider is contracted to mentor and appraise the owner/teacher. While the process is improvement-focused, implementation lacks rigour. When this appraisal system is fully introduced to all staff, the revised appraisal approach should help to identify priorities to strengthen teachers' practice. Implementation should further consider:
provision of regular constructive feedback
focused observations of practice.
Practices to support continuing improvement and evaluate progress are developing. Evidence is used systematically to review processes and practices and, to some extent reflect on the quality of teaching and learning. This process continues to be refined and systems, policies and procedures developed. Strategic planning provides useful direction for centre operation and teaching and learning. Further consideration should be given to reviewing the desired objectives in the strategic plan and how these contribute to improving outcomes for children.
Leaders and ERO agree on the following key next steps:
building the team's understanding and use of evaluation to promote decision-making and improve outcomes for children
ensuring all policies reflect current practice
continue to access appropriate and ongoing support for the owner/teacher in his role, including a robust appraisal process.
Before the review, the staff and management of Premier Preschool Johnsonville 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:
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; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
To improve current practice, the owner/teacher should ensure the policies and procedures are fit for purpose and inform centre practices.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance:
the service provider must ensure that furniture or equipment that could topple and cause injury or damage is secured. [Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS6]
The next ERO review of Premier Preschool Johnsonville will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
10 December 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.
|
Location |
Johnsonville |
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
55271 |
|
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
|
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
|
|
Number licensed for |
20 children, aged over 2 |
|
|
Service roll |
22 |
|
|
Gender composition |
Boys 14, Girls 8 |
|
|
Ethnic composition |
Pākehā |
3 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
|
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
November 2018 |
|
|
Date of this report |
10 December 2018 |
|
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
January 2015 |
|
Education Review |
April 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2009 |
|
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.