cnr Morris Spence Ave and Wycl, Onekawa, Napier
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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.
Bright Futures is a community home-based education and care service operating under the governance of the Napier Family Centre. Educarers are available for children aged from birth to five years. This is a quality funded network licensed for 80 children and includes 80 up to two years old. Of the 56 children currently enrolled, 19 are Māori.
The recently reviewed philosophy emphasises the importance of relationships, community connections and supporting children's identity and culture.
There are four Bright Futures home-based education and care networks. These operate in Napier, Hastings and Central Hawkes Bay. A service manager is responsible for oversight of these services and oversees the work of visiting teachers. She reports to the Napier Family Centre chief executive officer (CEO) and board of governors.
Two qualified visiting teachers have responsibility for this network. Their role is to support educarers to implement suitable early learning programmes for children in their homes. They also provide community playgroups in Hastings and Napier that many of the educarers and children attend.
Since the December 2014 ERO report, there have been significant changes in the management team, including the appointment of a new home-based service manager and the disestablishment of the divisional manager role. The service manager now undertakes the duties and responsibilities of this position alongside the manager of the Napier Family Centre Sunny Days service.
The previous ERO report identified areas for improvements in self review, evaluation and strategic goals that focus on children. Good progress has been made in these areas.
This review is one of a cluster of three home-based network reviews in the Bright Futures service.
Children engage in a curriculum mostly based on their interests. They are given plentiful opportunities to revisit and extend their learning. A range of experiences grows children’s knowledge of the world around them. Excursions into the community offer an extension to the programme.
Bright Futures playgroups give children and educarers the opportunity to form relationships with a wide range of children and access resources not always offered in the home. Visiting teachers should consider how they can better use this time to develop educarers' skills and knowledge. Documentation of planning, assessment and evaluation that is responsive to children's interests requires further strengthening.
Resources provided by educarers promote infant, toddlers and young children’s engagement in learning. Visiting teachers identify and supply additional resources to enable challenge and extension of children’s interests.
Infants and toddlers are adequately supported to achieve success in a mixed age environment. Visiting teachers and educarers carefully consider how to fully engage them in the daily programme.
Good relationships with parents are evident. Educarers regularly communicate with parents and whānau about their child’s progress and wellbeing. Visiting teachers inform parents after each home visit. It is timely to evaluate the effectiveness of the current system to promote learning partnerships with parents and whānau.
Visiting teacher reports to educarers reinforce sound assessment, planning and evaluation of individuals. Children’s profile books record their interests, participation and progression of learning over time.
To further strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation, visiting teachers should:
consider how their contribution to profile books can develop educarer understanding of assessment and evaluation
ensure educarers regularly gather, record and respond to parent aspirations for their child’s learning and development
support educarers to plan and make visible connections to children’s culture, language and identity.
Regular visits by the visiting teacher provide educarers with useful ongoing feedback and opportunities to increase their knowledge of children’s learning. Educarers use this information to inform their programme and progress of children's learning over time. The content and focus of visiting teacher reports is variable across the network.
Management has identified that strengthening the bicultural curriculum is a next step. ERO's evaluation affirms this development. Visiting teachers and educarers require further support to deepen their knowledge and understanding of te ao Māori and how this can be meaningfully integrated within the home based setting. Management should also consider how to better reflect the bicultural context of the service in guiding documents.
Developing adults’ confidence and capability to promote educational success for Māori is ongoing. Current participation in community initiatives provides opportunities for visiting teachers to explore ways to achieve this.
There is an appropriate focus on promoting stronger links with Pacific families to support children's culture, language and identity. The Pacific project recently undertaken by Hastings visiting teachers has developed closer relationships between educarers, Pacific parents and local schools.
Self review contributes positively to organisational improvement. Spontaneous and planned reviews from other Bright Futures networks influence outcomes for children within this service. A key next step is to increase understanding and use of internal evaluation to:
include specific consideration of the context of this network
include clear, measurable indicators that align to the evaluative focus
monitor and evaluate how changes made have impacted on outcomes for children.
Visiting teachers are encouraged to develop areas of the curriculum and service operations. Ongoing opportunities for professional learning are focused on the organisation’s strategic goals. Regular meetings provide collegial discussion. Appraisal allows teachers to set goals for growth that relate to the needs of the service. Further improvements to the appraisal process are required to meet Education Council expectations.
The strategic plan is clearly focused on outcomes for children. Increased representation of Bright Futures Home Based Childcare and Learning on the Napier Family Centre Executive Board has resulted in a clearer alignment of strategic direction between levels of the governing body.
Systems and policies that guide operation continue to be developed. These are regularly reviewed in collaboration with educarers and parents. Health and safety in homes is sufficiently monitored through spot checks by visiting teachers. Quality assurance systems should be further developed to ensure timelier monitoring of documentation and actions required.
ERO has identified that leaders and visiting teachers should continue to develop and strengthen:
implementation of the bicultural curriculum
assessment, planning and evaluation that responds to individual children’s whānau and culture.
understanding and use of internal evaluation
appraisal for staff.
Before the review, the staff and management of Bright Futures Napier 1 completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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 service manager should:
ensure systems and processes to monitor educarers' health and safety records are consistently applied.
The next ERO review of Bright Futures Napier 1 will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
27 February 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.
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Location |
Napier |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
55319 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
56 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Quality |
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Gender composition |
Girls 32, Boys 24 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
19 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
January 2018 |
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Date of this report |
27 February 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 2014 |
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Supplementary Review |
March 2012 |
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Education Review |
February 2011 |
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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:
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Bright Futures operates under the umbrella of the Napier Family Centre, a not-for-profit communitybased organisation. Other services of the Napier Family Centre are an early childhood centre, parent education, family and youth support, a budget service, and psychological and counselling services. These services are available for Bright Futures whānau at any time if required.
There are six Bright Futures home-based education and care networks in Napier, Hastings and Central Hawkes Bay. An early childhood education manager is responsible for the oversight of Bright Futures. She is responsible to a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a board of governors.
Qualified and registered visiting teachers support educarers to provide education and care for children in the educarers’ homes. Bright Futures also assist educarers by providing financial services and safety equipment where necessary.
Of the present roll of 97 children, 30 are Māori and 14 are Pacific.
This review was part of a cluster of three home-based network reviews in the Bright Futures umbrella organisation.
The approach to curriculum development promotes positive outcomes for children. Their interests are important. Educarers are supported by visiting teachers to provide children with learning experiences to extend their interests and strengths. Children participate in a wide range of learning experiences within the home and community. Many attend Bright Futures playgroups, the gym and excursions which provide opportunities for socialising with other children.
Assessment practices are in the early stages of development. Visiting teachers provide educarers with regular feedback about children’s learning. They should consider how they can more effectively support educarers make links between children’s learning and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, more explicit and further extend children’s learning.
Secure child, educarer and family relationships are promoted to foster the development of children’s sense of belonging. Positive steps have been taken to develop educarers’ approach to bicultural practice. Managers and visiting teachers should also consider the extent to which the curriculum builds upon the knowledge and expertise of Māori and Pacific children and families and what they bring to the service.
The board, manager and visiting teachers are successfully consolidating the service’s capacity to promote positive learning outcomes for children. Since the March 2012 ERO report, a new CEO, manager and visiting teachers have been appointed. They are actively involved in fostering purposeful relationships with educarers and families. There is a good team approach across networks. Professional development and the achievement of qualifications are strengthening educarers’ and visiting teachers’ practice. Many educarers have Level 4 qualifications in home-based early childhood education. New educarers are well supported through the induction process.
Systems to monitor and improve the quality and effectiveness of visiting teacher practice across the networks are developing. The manager is starting to provide feedback to visiting teachers about the quality of their records of learning. The recently revised appraisal process is designed to be more responsive to individual visiting teacher needs. The manager should consider providing more regular and constructive feedback to individual teachers about the quality of their work with educarers.
The recently established self-review process is useful and has the potential to assist the board, visiting teachers and educarers to know about the effectiveness of education and care for children. It is beginning to be used to improve the quality of learning outcomes. With the assistance of an external facilitator, staff have enquired into their practice. As a result, they have identified ongoing areas for further improvement. These include development of a bicultural curriculum, partnership between visiting teachers and whānau, and assessment practices linking to Te Whāriki. ERO’s evaluation supports these as next steps.
Managers and teachers should continue to strengthen self review to improve practice. Strategic goals do not clearly focus on promoting quality or effectiveness of practice in relation to children. Continuing the evaluative approach to review focused on the quality and effectiveness of practice and the impact on outcomes for children should be the major focus.
Before the review, the staff and management of Bright Futures Napier 1 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.
The next ERO review of Bright Futures Napier 1 will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
National Manager Review Services Central Region
17 December 2014
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 |
Napier |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
55319 |
||
|
Licence type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
97 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Quality funded |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 50, Boys 47 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Pacific Other ethnic groups |
30 49 14 4 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
3 |
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Reported ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2014 |
||
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Date of this report |
17 December 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Supplementary Review |
March 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 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:
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.