Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd

Education institution number:
46941
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
101
Telephone:
Address:

250 Lakes Boulevard, Tauriko, Tauranga

View on map

Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama- indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

ERO’s judgement

What the service knows about outcomes for learners

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

ERO’s judgement

He Whāriki Motuhake

The learner and their learning

Whakawhanake Sustaining

Whakangungu Ngaio

Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability

Whakawhanake Sustaining

Ngā Aronga Whai Hua

Evaluation for improvement

Whakaū Embedding

Kaihautū

Leaders foster collaboration and improvement

Whakawhanake Sustaining

Te Whakaruruhau

Stewardship through effective governance and management

Whakawhanake Sustaining

2 Context of the Service

Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd, located in the suburb of Tauriko, is one of five services in the Bay of Plenty region under the same ownership. Four age-based rooms cater for children from birth to school age. The philosophy prioritises ‘love at the heart of our teaching’.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience a responsive curriculum consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Their learning dispositions are valued and children’s agency, independence, and decision-making are encouraged. Teachers are increasingly intentional in using the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki in assessment. Children and their whānau are provided with feedback that recognises their efforts, challenges and successes and grows children’s learner identity.

Te reo and tikanga Māori are valued and purposefully integrated throughout teaching and learning. Leaders and teachers have engaged with tangata whenua to grow the team’s understanding of the history of the local area and the importance of sustainability. Whānau Māori provide cultural knowledge and support. Teachers are embedding this knowledge into the curriculum and working towards growing their Te Tiriti o Waitangi based practice. Children experience te reo Māori as a living and relevant language. 

Effective leadership fosters collaboration and high relational trust. This promotes openness to change and continuous improvement. Recent professional development, ongoing mentoring and collegial support has ensured intentional and consistent approaches to teaching and assessment. The service has established conditions to do and use evaluation for improvement and are increasing capability and capacity to carry out internal evaluation across the teaching team. They are yet to include child, parent, whānau and community voice. Recent reviews and improvements in pedagogical knowledge and practices promote valued outcomes for all children.

Governance actively works to ensure that children’s learning and wellbeing is the primary consideration in decision making. Highly effective systems and processes support equitable learning opportunities. Generously resourced environments are provided for children’s learning. A positive working environment creates the conditions for children and their whānau to experience quality relationships.

4 Improvement actions

Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • continue to collaborate with iwi and whānau Māori to grow the local curriculum and build the service’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
  • continue to strengthen teachers’ capability to respond to children’s culture, language, and identity in the curriculum and through documented assessment
  • implement service wide strategic internal evaluation using child, parent, whānau and community voice, to identify priorities and actions for improvement.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd 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.

Shelley Booysen
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

28 October 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd
Profile Number 46941
Location

Tauranga

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

87 children, including up to 27 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

118

Ethnic composition

Māori 13, NZ European/Pākehā 68, Indian 14, Chinese 7, Other ethnic groups 16.

Review team on site

August 2021

Date of this report

28 October 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, April 2018.

Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd - 16/04/2018

1 Evaluation of Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd

How well placed is Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd is a privately owned and operated early education and care service in the new 'Lakes' housing area on the outskirts of Tauranga. It is one of four Above and Beyond services that operate across the Western Bay of Plenty. This is the first ERO review for the service, which opened in 2016.

The centre offers all-day education and care and is licensed for 85 children, including 25 aged under two years. Currently 117 children attend, which includes four Māori and many children from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Four age-related areas operate to meet the needs of infants and children up to school age. The centre is supported by an educational leader. Governance is provided by the Above and Beyond Education and Care organisation. The centre has a commitment to appointing teachers with a recognised early childhood education qualification. Currently the ratio of qualified teachers exceeds Ministry of Education requirements.

The philosophy is based on the belief that ‘children should be immersed in love and that childhood is a time for fun and exploration’. The curriculum is arts-based and follows children’s interests and strengths.

The Review Findings

Governors and leaders have developed effective systems that promote stability in staffing, leadership and management in the centre. A clear vison and annual plan have been established to guide centre development. Comprehensive policies and procedures are in place to monitor children’s health and safety. Centre governance and strategic direction reflect a commitment to quality outcomes for children and contribute to high levels of engagement with families.

Expectations and guidelines have been established to support effective self review of all aspects of the service. Leaders' systematic implementation of these guidelines is resulting in improvement to the service for children and families. Ongoing review includes consultation with parents and whānau to involve them in decisions about their children’s education and care. Leadership across the Above and Beyond organisation is contributing to positive outcomes for children and ongoing improvement to the service.

There are effective systems in place to successfully build teacher capability and improve the quality of the service. Ongoing reflection and targeted professional learning for teachers are evident. High levels of relational trust are also evident across the service and collaborative ways of learning are successfully promoted. Leaders have developed a new process for teacher appraisal. This approach is due to be fully implemented in 2018, which is an important next step for the service.

The centre curriculum effectively supports children’s ideas, allows them to lead their learning and follow their interests. The programme in action recognises and supports children to learn through play. The environment is well resourced with a variety of equipment to support children’s learning and exploration. The outdoor area is large and set up to promote children’s physical play, risk taking and challenge. Children under two enjoy a calm slow pace where they have time and space to lead their learning. These young children experience interactions that are responsive and respectful in a home-like environment. Children are becoming confident explorers and enquirers, increasingly able to make sense of their world.

Programme planning practices are effective and allow children to contribute to decisions about their learning. Planning and ongoing evaluation effectively guide teachers to provide a programme that focuses on learning outcomes and next steps. Oral language is strongly promoted. Language and mathematical concepts are integrated throughout the learning programme. Significant learning and development information is shared with parents and whānau using a web-based system that documents children's assessments. Leaders are working with teachers to ensure assessments consistently show children's progress over time.

Teachers use a range of effective strategies to promote positive outcomes for infants, toddlers and young children. Respectful, reciprocal and responsive relationships between children and teachers are evident across the centre. Routines are well established and support continuity of learning for children. Teachers respond to children’s interests, strengths and capabilities and reflect on their teaching. This leads them to question, modify and enhance their practice.

Transition practices through the centre have been reviewed and improved to promote the involvement of children and families throughout the process. Communication with local schools supports children's transition to school. Teachers use karakia, waiata and model te reo Māori as a functional language to support children’s understanding of the Māori world. The integration of te reo and tikanga Māori to support the language, culture and identity of Māori children is an ongoing area for development.

Key Next Steps

The centre is in the process of reviewing bicultural practice and perspectives in the programme, environment and teaching interactions. This review is needed to ensure the language, culture and identity of Māori children and New Zealand's dual cultural heritage are strongly promoted across the centre.

The new appraisal system that was developed in 2017 now needs to be fully implemented centre wide. The implementation of this process needs to include coverage of all teachers, and mentoring and guidance for provisionally registered teachers. This is likely to further enhance processes to build teacher capability leading to improved outcomes for children.

Educational leaders need to work with teachers to ensure assessments more clearly show each child's learning progress over time. This should enable teachers to plan and assess more effectively and share information about progress with parents.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd 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.

ERO identified an area 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Above and Beyond The Lakes Ltd will be in three years.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region

16 April 2018

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

Location

Tauranga

Ministry of Education profile number

46941

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

85 children, including up to 25 aged under 2

Service roll

117

Gender composition

Boys 50%

Girls 50%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Indian
Chinese
Latin American
Other European
Other Asian
Other

2%
80%
2%
2%
2%
7%
3%
2%

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:3

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

January 2018

Date of this report

16 April 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

No previous ERO reports

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

  • Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
  • Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
  • Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
  • Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.