18 Cardiff Avenue, Somerfield, Christchurch
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Waka Huia Childcare, previously known as ABC Somerfield, is a privately owned childcare centre. The owner has responsibility for governance and leads the teaching team to develop and implement the curriculum. All teachers are fully qualified. This is the service’s first review under new ownership.
Kaiako respond to the wellbeing, strengths, and capabilities of tamariki. A variety of indoor and outdoor equipment and materials are provided to foster children’s differing abilities. There are opportunities for tamariki to develop an awareness of their own and other cultures within the environment. The centre philosophy, developed in consultation with parents, underpins the learning priorities of the service.
A policy framework and annual plan guide centre operations. Health and safety procedures are monitored. Premises and facilities are resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the tamariki attending.
Next steps include to increase:
opportunities tamariki have to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful learning contexts
the visibility of how kaiako are responding to tamariki interests and dispositions, and whānau aspirations, in assessment, planning and evaluation documentation.
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
8 April 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Waka Huia Childcare |
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Profile Number |
70423 |
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Location |
Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
31 children aged over 2 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 7, NZ European/Pākehā 16, Other ethnic groups 8 |
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Review team on site |
February 2022 |
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Date of this report |
8 April 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, January 2017; Education Review, June 2014. |
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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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.
ABC Somerfield is owned and operated by the Best Start Group. The service provides full-day education and care for up to 30 children aged from two years old to school age in a modified family home.
Since the 2014 ERO review, there has been good progress in addressing the recommendations outlined. Two recent developments are the revamped outdoor area, and a review of the centre's philosophy. A focus on healthy eating within the centre has led to a Gold Healthy Heart award.
The centre manager manages the day-to-day operations. A Best Start business manager and professional services manager visit regularly to support the service.
Children are empowered to take increasing responsibility for their learning and wellbeing. Teachers regularly seek children's opinions to make improvements to the environment and programmes. Teachers work in partnership with parents to encourage self-help and independence skills. Teachers are intentional in the way they recognise and respond to opportunities to engage in and extend children's learning.
Children play and learn in an environment that supports their strengths, needs and capabilities. They interact with other children and teachers in a calm and spacious environment. The 'Pockets of Learning' approach provides a rich variety of choices leading to meaningful learning. Teachers provide interesting contexts for developing numeracy and literacy skills, indoors and outside.
Leaders and teachers promote a safe physical environment, while also offering challenges and interests that encourage children to explore and become fully involved in a wide variety of activities. Natural resources are incorporated in meaningful ways, and include a vegetable garden and fruit trees. Produce is shared with families which helps to strengthen learning and sharing with others as a theme at the centre. This includes a focus on children learning collaboratively with and alongside other children.
The service's vision and philosophy are strongly linked to positive learning outcomes for children. There is good alignment between the centre philosophy, teaching goals and planning.
Leaders establish a culture in which children are valued, celebrated and affirmed. There are positive relationships among staff, between staff and children, and among children. Teachers all have leadership roles. Collaborative ways of working are fostered with everyone involved in the service.
Leaders encourage and invite parents and whānau to take an active role in their children's learning. A survey of parents led to a change to six-monthly teacher/parent conferences. An online resource enables parents and other whānau members to see up-to-date information about children's learning and activities, and to contribute their views. Parent aspirations are highly visible in the centre, and are reflected in children's learning stories.
There are well-developed systems and processes in place to help this service achieve BestStart’s expectations for high quality education and care. This includes using evidence to reflect on and improve practice. A strengthened appraisal system leading to greater reflection is in place. This would be further enhanced by stronger evaluation of the impact of change and making links to the Tātaiako document about cultural competencies. Professional learning is promoted at all levels of the organisation.
ERO and the service managers have identified that the key next step is to embed the good practices that have been developed since ERO's last review. These include:
strengthening internal evaluation
ensuring more consistency in identifying learning and next steps in learning stories
further developing bicultural practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of ABC Somerfield 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.
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 Somerfield will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern/Te Waipounamu
27 January 2017
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 |
70423 |
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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 |
30 children two years and over |
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Service roll |
44 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 25; Boys 19 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pasifika Asian Other ethnicities |
1 34 2 3 4 |
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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 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2016 |
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Date of this report |
27 January 2017 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
June 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
March 2011 |
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Education Review |
May 2008 |
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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.