40 R Cleek Road, Mangere East, Auckland
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 |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Bula Centre is owned by an incorporated society and governed by a board of trustees. Trustees and staff have worked with the Ministry of Education to improve the provision of education and care for children. The service reopened in 2019 after licence conditions were met and is the only Fijian community early childhood centre in New Zealand.
Children engage in meaningful, positive interactions with adults. The service curriculum is inclusive and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture. It encourages children to understand and respect each other. The curriculum is culturally responsive to the community. It is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that show an understanding of children’s learning, interests and whānau aspirations.
The board is working with centre leaders to support children’s wellbeing and learning. The centre community is engaged and actively contributes to centre events. Centre leaders have implemented effective internal evaluation processes that promote ongoing improvement.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance :
Licensing criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centre 2008.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
25 February 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Bula Centre |
| Profile Number | 45936 |
| Location | Mangere East, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
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Service roll |
21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Tongan 8 |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
25 February 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
First ERO review of the service |
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.
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:
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.
Bula Centre is the only Fijian community early childhood centre in New Zealand. It is licensed for 30 children including a maximum of five up to two years old. Most children are Tongan, with fewer numbers of Fijian, Fiji Indian, Māori and Samoan.
The centre was established in 2012 and is governed by the elected board of the Fiji Community Association of Auckland Incorporated (FCAA). The FCAA receives funding from the Ministries of Education (MoE) and Social Development and Pacific Peoples, and from community funding grants.
There is potential conflict of interest in the board and the management committee, which consists of FCAA trustees and community members. The president of the FCAA is the licensee, and volunteers as the part-time general manager. The centre administrator and supervisor report directly to the licensee. Ongoing leadership and personnel changes include several long-term acting positions, including that of the general manager.
The centre employs five qualified teachers and two support staff. Five of these staff are new since the 2015 ERO review. The supervisor leads the teaching team, and is responsible for Fijian culture and language and the under-two group of children, Mokosoi. A head teacher leads Senitoa, the over-two group, and a senior teacher has a curriculum leadership role.
Since the 2015 ERO report, the management committee and teachers have undertaken professional development provided by the MoE. Although the management committee and staff have worked to address the areas of concern identified by ERO, significant areas need further development. These include governance, management, leadership, teaching and learning programmes for children.
Internal evaluation at all levels of centre operations is not sufficiently well established to ensure that children benefit from ongoing improvements. The management committee has developed:
a process for internal evaluation
systems for reporting and monitoring aspects of compliance, health and safety
strategic and annual planning
a budget and reporting of equity funding
a teacher appraisal process
a mentoring programme for provisionally certificated teachers.
Teachers use a Fijian curriculum, Vula Vakaviti to plan programme themes. They integrate Vula Vakaviti with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to respond to children's individual and group interests. Teachers require external professional development to strengthen their capability:
to contribute to programme planning, assessment and evaluation
to respond to children through intentional teaching practices.
In order to sustain meaningful change, external support is needed to build the collective skills of governors, managers and staff. Establishing a professional environment of trust and respect that fosters open-to-learning conversations will be key to achieving centre-wide improvement.
External support is required to embed and sustain a collaborative centre-wide culture of ongoing improvement that leads to shared understanding at all levels of centre operations. Areas requiring urgent attention include:
formalising a governance, management and leadership structure that clearly defines and separates centre operations and financial management from the FCAA's other core business
developing a centre governance manual and code of conduct to guide board and committee systems and practices, to ensure the centre is meeting legal requirements, and to minimise potential conflicts of interest
implementing a collaborative annual appraisal process for all staff that meets Education Council requirements
continuing to improve the quality of planning, assessment and evaluation of children's learning
Before the review, the staff and management of Bula Centre 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
ERO found significant areas of non-compliance in the service related to:
financial management and reporting to parents to specifically account for MoE funding
human resource management practices that follow centre guidelines and policies, and meet the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014
reviewing and implementing the complaints policy and procedures
internal evaluation that helps the centre improve the quality of education and care
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA3, 6, 7, 7A.
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Bula Centre. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.
The next ERO review of Bula Centre will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Steffan Brough
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
12 June 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 |
Mangere East, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45936 |
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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, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
21 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 11 Girls 10 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Tongan Fijian/ Fijian Indian Samoan |
1 12 7 1 |
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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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
April 2017 |
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Date of this report |
12 June 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
March 2015 |
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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 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.