48 Aro Street, Aro Valley, Wellington
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Aro Valley Community Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
|
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakaū Embedding |
|
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whāngai Establishing |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whāngai Establishing |
|
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
Aro Valley Preschool is a not-for-profit community-based early childhood service situated in central Wellington. It is governed by an Incorporated Society, made up of parents of enrolled children. Responsibility for day-to-day management is undertaken by the head teacher. The centre serves a diverse ethnic community.
Children’s mana and identity as learners are fostered by the responsive curriculum. The well organised and resourced environment invites children’s interest and participation and celebrates the various cultures in the local community. Complex, open-ended creative play opportunities are features of the learning programme. Kaiako view children as competent learners and use a range of teaching strategies to promote their ideas, working theories and perseverance in their play. Children confidently lead their own learning.
High levels of parent participation in the service are evident. There is a shared approach to supporting children’s learning with purposeful partnerships between families and teachers. Children benefit from families’ strong sense of ownership of, and support for, the centre. Teachers, parents and the committee work well together to enact the vision, goals and priorities for the service. Relational trust enables collaboration and a strong team approach.
Planning for individual children is strongly focused on their interests. Good models of assessment practice are evident with intentional teaching strategies recorded in some learning stories. Use of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, has yet to be embedded across the team. While families’ home languages are visible in learning records, reflection of cultures is not yet consistently strong.
The teaching team continues to work on developing understanding and knowledge of Te Titiri-based practice as a strategic priority. Te ao Māori is valued. Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are woven through the curriculum. Māori values are evident in the philosophy. While teachers have worked with families to identify values to underpin teaching and learning, they have yet to create a localised curriculum that is inclusive of tangata whenua.
Teachers are reflective and involved in regular self-review that results in new knowledge and improvement to outcomes for children. Shared understanding of internal evaluation, to better inform team decisions about change, is not yet evident.
Aro Valley Community Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to continue to develop:
Before the review, the staff and management of Aro Valley Community Preschool 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education & Care Services 2008 HS17.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
15 February 2022
| Early Childhood Service Name |
Aro Valley Community Preschool |
| Profile Number | 60246 |
| Location |
Wellington |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
25 children aged two years and over. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
26 |
|
Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā 11, Indian 4, other ethnic groups 11 |
|
Review team on site |
October 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
15 February 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2017; Supplementary Review, April 2015. |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Aro Valley Community Preschool is situated in central Wellington. It is a not-for-profit service led by a parent cooperative. A parent committee oversees governance and management.
The preschool opens Monday to Friday from 8:30am until 2:30pm. It offers full and half day places for children aged two to five years. Many children on the roll are new to New Zealand and are English language learners.
A new philosophy guides the programme. It stresses the importance of learning through play and of building a caring learning community.
The April 2015 ERO report, identified a number of areas for review and development. These included: assessment, planning and evaluation for children's learning; teacher appraisal; internal evaluation; bicultural practices; and teachers' response to supporting Māori children's culture, language and identity. The report also identified a need for the preschool to improve its performance in meeting regulatory requirements. In response to these concerns, teachers and committee members have undertaken a programme of professional learning and development.
Since the previous ERO review, there have been changes in the teaching team. A new senior teacher was appointed in February 2016.
Committee members, teachers and leaders worked collaboratively in response to the areas for development and review in the previous ERO report. Most concerns have been addressed. Internal evaluation has developed and now requires further strengthening.
The centre philosophy is strongly evident in practice. Children benefit from a curriculum that nurtures their sense of belonging. Teachers model respectful relationships and positive skills. Children share and collaborate. They show care and concern for one another.
Warm relationships with families are evident. Teachers and parents plan experiences that respond to children's emerging interests. Assessment practices identify children's learning and their relationships with people and places. Teachers are continuing to develop assessment practices by strengthening consistency across the teaching team.
Children's connections to their cultural identities are successfully extended. With their parents, they lead cultural celebrations and share language knowledge. Teachers show a shared commitment to bicultural practices. Te reo Māori is woven naturally throughout the programme. Māori children and whānau lead tikanga Māori.
Children and whānau are warmly welcomed into the centre in a gradual, unhurried manner. They are encouraged to settle at their own pace. A useful range of strategies supports older children and families as they prepare for their move to school.
Children with additional needs play and learn alongside their friends. Teachers work with families and external agencies to meet individual learning goals. Their responsiveness to children's wellbeing is evident.
Committee members, leaders and teachers have a strong commitment to ongoing improvement. Teacher appraisal is established and continues to be refined. There is a well-planned and deliberate focus on supporting continual professional growth.
The senior teacher has a well-considered approach to leading her new team. She encourages teachers' individual interests and fosters their emerging leadership skills. A shared understanding of curriculum requirements and teaching practice expectations is evident.
Self review for improvement is ongoing and has led to some positive changes. The focus for internal evaluation should now progress from how teachers can solve a problem to how well the curriculum and teaching practices are supporting improved outcomes for children.
The senior teacher, committee members and ERO agree, that the following key next step for Aro Valley Community Preschool is for staff to continue to strengthen internal evaluation practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of Aro Valley Community Preschool 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 Aro Valley Community Preschool will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central
14 March 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.
|
Location |
Wellington |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
60246 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
25 children, aged over 2 years |
||
|
Service roll |
31 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 18, Boys 13 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Other ethnic groups |
6 10 2 13 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
January 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
14 March 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
April 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 2008 |
||
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.
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