25 Chadbury Street, Parklands, Christchurch
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
BestStart Parklands is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
BestStart Parklands, previously known as ABC Parklands, operates under the BestStart management structure. BestStart Educare Limited is a large organisation that owns early childhood education services across New Zealand.
The centre provides full-day education and care for a maximum of 50 children, including up to 16 under two years of age. The older children are in a preschool area and the infants and toddlers in a separate nursery room. Each room has its own separate outdoor area.
The centre manager has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the centre and the teaching team. Most of the staff are qualified and certified teachers.
The centre's philosophy emphasises the provision of an environment in which every child:
is respected to feel safe and secure
has their culture and heritage respected
is supported to develop social competencies in their interactions with teachers and other children.
Since the December 2016 ERO review, there have been significant changes in the teaching and leadership team. Assessment, planning and evaluation, and internal evaluation, were identified as areas for improvement in the 2016 report and remain as key next steps in this report.
Strong, positive relationships between children and their teachers, and between children and their peers, are evident. Children are well supported to develop social competencies, and to be respectful, kind and inclusive of others.
Children have a broad range of learning experiences either individually or in groups. They have easy access to a variety of resources. The programme is underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Infants and toddlers are nurtured in a calm and settled environment. Routines are flexible to meet the preferences of children and their families. Teachers communicate regularly with parents and know the children well. Relationships are respectful and interactions are positive and engaging. Children's sense of belonging is evident in the way they play with and alongside each other.
Progress has been made in establishing a bicultural curriculum. Leaders are developing a useful relationship with Ngāi Tahu. Teachers value parents' cultural expertise. This is shared with the children in appropriate and meaningful ways.
Teachers have recently reviewed the assessment, planning and evaluation processes to show increasing complexity of children's learning and development. An online assessment tool encourages parents to actively contribute to their children's learning. To strengthen the process leaders and teachers need to improve the assessment, planning and evaluation process, to more visibly identify children's learning progress over time, and evaluate the impact of their intentional teaching.
Leaders and teachers have a useful process for internal evaluation that is helping to contribute to centre improvements. They now need to more consistently identify the impact of improvements on outcomes for children's learning. The centre's strategic direction is now clearly linked to the philosophy, and the three strategic goals are aligned to the centre's vision.
BestStart has a well-established management structure. Policies and procedures provide clear guidance to centre managers for the operation of the centre and maintaining health and safety for children, staff and parents. BestStart leaders are working collaboratively with the new team to build leadership capability and a strong team culture.
BestStart, centre leaders and ERO agree, that key next steps for BestStart Parklands are to continue to:
embed the assessment, planning and evaluation process, including clearly identifying intentional teaching and learning outcomes for children
embed strategic planning and internal evaluation processes, including a shared understanding across the teaching team about monitoring outcomes for children
develop leadership capability across the teaching team
build a bicultural curriculum.
Before the review, the staff and management of BestStart Parklands 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
28 April 2020
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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65096 |
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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, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
61 |
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Gender composition |
Male 33, Female 28 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
16 |
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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 |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
December 2019 |
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Date of this report |
28 April 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 2016 |
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Education Review |
May 2013 |
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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 will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ABC Parklands with the support of BestStart managers is developing its capacity to promote positive outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
ABC Parklands is owned and operated by the BestStart Group. The service provides full-day education and care for up to 50 children aged from three months to school age. Infants and toddlers have separate indoor and outdoor areas. A preschool room caters for older children.
Since the 2013 ERO review, there have been significant staffing changes. This includes teaching staff, a new centre manager and most recently a new BestStart Professional Services Manager. At the time of this review, the centre was actively recruiting new staff. The staff changes have impacted on the service's ability to fully address the recommendations outlined in the 2013 ERO report.
The centre manager manages the day-to-day operations. There is a team leader for the nursery and an acting team leader in the preschool. A BestStart business manager and BestStart professional services manager visit regularly to support the service.
This review was part of a cluster of six centre reviews in the BestStart Group in Canterbury.
The centre leader, with the support of the BestStart managers have created a centre culture that supports a teaching team that is collaborative and motivated.
Leaders and teachers have used a framework for ongoing evaluation and development of aspects of the centre's programmes and practices. For example, there are now smoother transitions for children between the nursery and preschool. Service leaders and the centre manager have identified that the framework for internal evaluation needs to be strengthened to be more effective.
This includes being more evaluative (asking "how well...?") and making better use of indicators at all stages of the evaluation.
The centre philosophy affirms the importance of respectful relationships and this is evident in practice. Learning records show teachers fostering positive relationships with children and their whānau. With staff changes it is timely to review and redevelop the philosophy to:
clearly state the centre's desired outcomes for children's learning
include key Māori values relevant to the centre.
The philosophy could be used more meaningfully to guide curriculum decisions and internal evaluation.
Infants and toddlers benefit from a small group size that enables a calm and settled atmosphere. Teachers have responsive, nurturing relationships with the children. Parents and teachers regularly share information about children's changing needs. Teachers use this information to create individualised routines. Recent professional learning has led to a programme that increasingly:
is responsive to the learning and care requirements of infants and toddlers
fosters and supports children's interests and active exploration
recognises children's diverse cultural backgrounds
includes opportunities for children to hear te reo Māori, waiata and experience tikanga Māori.
The mixed-age grouping in the preschool allows older children to support and care for younger children as they play and learn. Teachers have adapted the programme to better respond to the increased numbers of younger children. As a result of parent feedback, the outdoor environment has been enhanced with equipment that provides greater physical challenge for children. Learning records show teachers knowing and responding to children's interests, fostering friendships and supporting them as they prepare to transition to school. A wide range of community and cultural events are celebrated. These are used to create a sense of belonging and community for children and whānau within the centre. Teachers include some te reo Māori. They are aware that this is an area to further develop.
The centre leaders and BestStart managers have been improving systems for planning, assessment and evaluation for groups and individual children. They agree this still needs to be further developed and strengthened.
Planning for individual children needs to show more clearly how teachers have worked in partnership with parents to determine the next learning steps for their children, and show how learning progresses over time. Teachers need to clearly identify priorities for learning in group planning and the strategies they will use to support this. They should ensure evaluations show what learning has occurred and how effective the experiences and strategies have been in supporting learning.
There are well-developed systems and processes in place to help services achieve the BestStart’s expectations for high quality education and care. This includes regular monitoring and support for the quality of practice (identifying what is going well and what the centre needs to do next to improve). A strengthened appraisal system leading to greater reflection is in place and would be further enhanced by making links to Tātaiako (cultural competencies). Professional learning is promoted at all levels of the organisation.
ERO and the centre leaders agree the next steps to improve outcomes for children are to:
identify the service's desired outcomes for children's learning within the philosophy and use this to guide curriculum priorities
continue to develop and strengthen planning, assessment and evaluation
strengthen internal evaluation by using an evaluative question and use relevant indicators to guide the evaluation
embed the new appraisal system.
Before the review, the staff and management of ABC Parklands 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.
The next ERO review of ABC Parklands will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Waipounamu Southern
14 December 2016
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 |
Christchurch |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
65096 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
76 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys: 38 Girls: 38 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Tongan South African Other ethnicities |
11 59 1 4 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
November 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
14 December 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
May 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
December 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:
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.