Children First Early Childhood Centre

Education institution number:
60292
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
52
Telephone:
Address:

Corner 414 Fergusson Drive and 1A Suther, Heretaunga, Upper Hutt

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Children First Early Childhood Centre

ERO’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.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

CurriculumMeeting
Premises and facilitiesMeeting
Health and safetyMeeting
Governance, management and administrationMeeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Children First Early Childhood Centre is a privately owned service catering for children aged from birth to school age. A small number of the children enrolled are Māori. The philosophy places value on developing catering children’s confidence and self-expression. The service has new management since the 2020 ERO review.

Summary of Review Findings

The service is responsive to children as capable and confident learners. They are involved in decisions about their experiences and engage in positive interactions with peers and adults. Children are provided with a range of learning experiences to enhance and extend their learning and development. The curriculum is underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Positive steps are taken to acknowledge parent aspirations.

A process of internal evaluation is being implemented to help the service maintain and improve the quality of education and care. A policy framework and an annual plan guide the centre operations. Health and safety practices are monitored, and changes made when required.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

  • strengthening the extent to which information documented about children’s learning, reflects their identity, languages and cultures
  • increasing the opportunities children have to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful contexts.

Next ERO Review 

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

1 December 2023

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service NameChildren First Early Childhood Centre
Profile Number60292
LocationUpper Hutt, Wellington
Service typeEducation and care service
Number licensed for45 children, including up to 15 aged under 2
Percentage of qualified teachers80-99%
Service roll41
Review team on siteOctober 2023
Date of this report1 December 2023
Most recent ERO report(s)Education Review, March 2020; 
Education Review, February 2017

General Information about Assurance Reviews 

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. 

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 regulatory 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:

  • 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
  • relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

 As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

  • discussions with those involved in the service
  • consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
  • observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice. 

Children First Early Childhood Centre - 26/03/2020

1 Evaluation of Children First Early Childhood Centre

How well placed is Children First Early Childhood Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Children First Early Childhood Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Children First Early Childhood Centre is a privately owned and operated service located in Upper Hutt. It is licensed to provide education and care for 45 children, including 15 aged under two years. There are currently 49 children on the centre's roll.

The licensee, two centre managers and two head teachers oversee the day-to-day running of the centre.

Since ERO's February 2017 report, the service has changed ownership, new centre managers and head teachers have been appointed and there have been changes in the teaching team.

The centre’s vision "encourages children to their full potential through respectful, responsive relationships in a play-based environment". This is supported by its mission of preparing children for life-long learning.

In 2017 ERO identified that growing leadership, developing the centre’s philosophy and practice for children up to two years, and internal evaluation were key next steps for improvement. There has been some progress towards addressing these next steps.

The Review Findings

Children engage in a play-based programme. A strategic move towards implementing this programme, in line with the recently-developed philosophy, is enabling children to lead their learning. This is fostering sustained play and promoting creativity. Children engage collaboratively with each other. Teachers are responsive in their interactions with children. They work together to implement the daily programme. A next step is to further develop intentional teaching strategies to better support children’s learning through play.

Kaupapa Māori concepts are strongly evident in the environment. Children are familiar with and participate in karakia and waiata. Teachers use te reo Māori in conversations with children to enrich the programme. The bicultural curriculum is also evident in learning stories.

Teachers are responsive to the care needs of children under two years of age. They communicate with each other and with parents about children’s ongoing needs. The centre has identified that continued development of the environment, through increasing learning resources and encouraging exploration, is an ongoing focus. Increasing one-to-one responsive interactions and following the children’s leads will continue to support the learning of infants and toddlers.

Children’s transitions into, through and out of the centre and to school are well supported.

A collaborative approach to planning the programme is in place. An online platform allows teachers to share learning with families. Parent aspirations for their children are gathered. A current focus for the centre is the continued development of practice in relation to assessment, planning and evaluation. Further developments should:

  • increase the emphasis on individuals' progress in relation to their goals, emerging interests, parent aspirations and learning needs
  • articulate next learning steps for the child
  • show progress in learning over time.

These steps should sharpen the focus of teachers’ approaches and ensure consistency across the team regarding the frequency and quality of children’s learning stories.

Leaders' and teachers’ appraisals are appropriately linked to the Standards for the Teaching Profession. Teachers reflect on their practice in relation to these. The process should be strengthened by documenting the current appraisal process and utilising Teaching Council resources to develop a shared understanding of evidence.

The centre has a sound framework to support internal evaluation. Regular, in-depth review leads to positive changes in processes and activities. Increased emphasis on evaluation in relation to expected outcomes for children will help to strengthen this process.

The service has increased the number of leaders by appointing head teachers in the two learning areas. Appropriate leadership training has been provided. A more strategic focus on centre-wide valued outcomes should help clarify centre priorities, inform ongoing professional development for staff and guide the purchase of relevant resources for children’s learning.

Key Next Steps

ERO and the centre agree that their priority next steps are to continue to strengthen:

  • teaching strategies and resources, to support children’s learning through play
  • consistent curriculum planning, assessment and evaluation practices, to ensure documentation captures children’s learning, development and progress over time
  • internal evaluation processes, to know the impact of actions taken on outcomes for children
  • quality assurance, to ensure centre processes and practices are consistently implemented.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Children First Early Childhood 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:

  • 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.

To improve practice leaders should:

  • ensure that centre processes are implemented consistently
  • develop an appraisal policy
  • improve the process for managing complaints and concerns.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

26 March 2020

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

LocationUpper Hutt
Ministry of Education profile number60292
Licence typeEducation & Care Service
Licensed underEducation (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008
Number licensed for45 children, including up to 15 aged under 2
Service roll49
Gender compositionFemale 26, Male 23
Ethnic compositionMāori 
NZ European/Pākehā 
Other ethnic groups

39
6
Percentage of qualified teachers80% +
Reported ratios of staff to childrenUnder 21:4Better than minimum requirements
Over 21:8Better than minimum requirements
Review team on siteDecember 2019
Date of this report26 March 2020

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education ReviewFebruary 2017
Education ReviewFebruary 2014

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

The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

  • Very well placed
  • Well placed
  • Requires further development
  • Not well placed

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.

Children First Early Childhood Centre - 09/02/2017

1 Evaluation of Children First Early Childhood Centre

How well placed is Children First Early Childhood Centre 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

Children First Early Childhood Centre is a privately owned centre in Upper Hutt. It provides full-day education and care for children from eight months to five years of age. It is licensed for 45 children including 15 under two years of age. Steady growth through 2016 has seen the roll increase to 40 children. Of the 40 children enrolled, three identify as Māori.

Recent restructuring has located the area for up to two year old children in a dedicated building. Recent staffing changes have resulted in a more distributed management structure with the centre manager/owner focusing on growing the leadership capability of all staff.

The Review Findings

Children learn in a positive, affirming atmosphere where there are high levels of respect and genuine interest in, and care for, their growth and development. There are warm and supportive relationships among children, teachers and parents. Children have a strong sense of belonging.

Teachers use a range of sound strategies to engage children in purposeful, challenging and sustained play, actively promoting children's thinking and exploration. Children’s social learning is supported and valued. They are encouraged to become capable, active learners. Assessment, recorded in individual profile books, demonstrates children’s progress and continuity of learning.

Parents are warmly welcomed into the centre and they are actively involved in in their child's learning. Regular interactions between parents and teachers, and other centre families, contribute to children’s learning and progress. Five weekly plans for individuals have clear goals that are regularly evaluated. This provides useful documentation of their learning and progress and enables parents to participate regularly and meaningfully in their child's learning.

Teachers respond effectively to the developmental needs of infants and toddlers. Interactions are respectful with children who are alert, engaged and communicating well. 

Staff recognise the importance of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori and they are committed to enhancing bicultural practices. A newly appointed teacher with skills in this area is supporting teachers professional learning to enhance the understanding and use of Māori perspectives in the curriculum. This should also strengthen the centres support for Māori children's culture, language and identity.

A structured transition to school programme operates daily for older children. Leaders have liaised with local primary schools and responded to parental aspirations. There is an ongoing review of the impact and value of this part of the centre's curriculum. ERO and centre leaders agree that this review should also evaluate how well the programme aligns with the aims and objectives of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and current best practice.

Internal evaluation is well supported by a sound framework that guides evidence-based reflection. There is a clear improvement focus. All teachers inquire into aspects of their practice and regularly share findings and suggestions for development.

There is strong professional leadership from the centre manager who provides regular, focused evaluation and feedback to teachers on their assessment and evaluation of children's learning and progress. Professional learning and development are used to promote shared understanding and enhance teacher capability.

Key Next Steps

ERO and the centre manager agree that key next steps for development and improvement are to continue:

  • enhancing internal evaluation capability for all staff by including quality and success indicators in the initial planning stages
  • growing leadership capacity and capability across the teaching team
  • developing the centre's philosophy and practice for the new up to two year area. 

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Children First Early Childhood 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:

  • 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Children First Early Childhood Centre will be in three years.

Joyce Gebbie

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

9 February 2017

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 

LocationUpper Hutt
Ministry of Education profile number60292
Licence typeEducation & Care Service
Licensed underEducation (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008
Number licensed for45 children, including up to 15 aged under 2
Service roll40
Gender compositionGirls 22, Boys 18
Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Other ethnic groups

3

29

8

Percentage of qualified teachers80% +
Reported ratios of staff to childrenUnder 21:3Better than minimum requirements
Over 21:7Better than minimum requirements
Review team on siteDecember 2016
Date of this report9 February 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education ReviewFebruary 2014
Education ReviewJanuary 2010
Education ReviewOctober 2006

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.