8 Leed Street, Wellington CBD, Wellington
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
BestStart Leeds Street is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
BestStart Leeds Street, previously Early Years Leeds Street is located in Wellington city. It is licensed for 60 children, including up to 26 aged under two years. Of the total roll of 68 children, five are Māori. The centre serves a diverse range of cultures. BestStart Educare Ltd (the organisation) owns a number of early childhood services across New Zealand.
The service vision is to 'extend children’s learning and sense of belonging to Wellington City through being urban explorers in our neighbourhood'.
Regional managers have oversight of curriculum and operation while day-to-day responsibility is delegated to a centre manager. The majority of teachers are fully qualified. Many are long serving.
The June 2017 ERO report identified areas requiring improvement, including assessment, planning and evaluation, conversations to support learning, shared understandings of educational success for Māori and Pacific children, use of te reo Māori and internal evaluation. These areas continue to require development.
This review was one of five in BestStart Educare Ltd, Wellington region.
Children have many opportunities in the rich learning environment to create, explore, be imaginative, investigate and have fun. Independent and sustained play is clearly evident. An engaging art programme effectively fosters creative and imaginative thinking, as well as fine-motor skills. Well considered excursions into the local area extend the learning environment for older children. They are confident and socially competent learners who demonstrate a strong sense of belonging.
Teachers are positive, respectful and responsive in their interactions with children. Warm relationships are evident.
Infants and toddlers benefit from a respectful approach to their care. Teachers are attentive and supportive of their interests and needs.
Aspects of kaupapa Māori are evident in the learning environment. Leaders and teachers should continue to grow their understanding of te ao Māori, and the integration of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in the programme to further enrich children's learning.
As the service continues to review its philosophy, leaders should ensure they engage with whānau Māori and their Pacific community to determine what education success means for these families and their children in this context.
Children with additional needs are well served. Teachers work closely with parents and external agencies to support their wellbeing and learning.
While suitable guidelines for practice are in place, the quality of planning for learning requires strengthening. Key next steps in the development of teachers’ approach are to:
more strongly acknowledge families’ cultures, languages, identities and aspirations for their children’s learning
clearly show in assessment records, strategies they are planning and using to progress children’s learning over time.
A well-considered appraisal process supports teachers’ ongoing development and inquiry into the effectiveness of their practice. Purposeful appraisal goals focus on strengthening leadership and practice to promote children’s learning and wellbeing.
Teachers regularly review elements of practice using key early learning research as a guide. Their collective approach and well-considered actions result in improvements for children. A next step is to strengthen the use of internal evaluation processes, with a focus on measuring the impact current practices are having on child outcomes. This should better support teachers’ decisions about where to make refinements to their practice.
The organisation should establish clear and consistent understandings, expectations and practices around promoting educational success for Māori and Pacific children. Leaders and teachers should be supported to purposefully draw on the cultural expertise and aspirations of families and whānau, key staff and community. The organisation should then monitor the impact of this development, on teacher practices as well as outcomes for Māori and Pacific children.
Senior managers effectively foster a collective sense of responsibility to implement the vision, values and mission of the organisation. Systems, processes and guiding templates are well developed and regularly reviewed to continually improve provision for children. Recently revised induction information for relieving teachers includes clearer guidance around expectations for interactions and positive guidance, specific to individual centres and their learners. Embedding its use across BestStart centres should further promote consistency of practice, benefitting children.
The well-established, committed teaching team works effectively to provide a positive environment for families and children strongly focused on learning and wellbeing.
ERO, managers and teachers agree that priorities are to:
further develop assessment, planning and evaluation including parent and whānau aspirations and children's culture, language and identity
grow understanding of te ao Māori and use of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori
focus internal evaluation on the impact of practice on positive outcomes for children.
In addition, the organisation should support teachers’ understanding around promoting success for Maori and Pacific children.
Before the review, the staff and management of BestStart Leeds Street 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.
To improve practice, the service provider should ensure:
mattresses in the sleep room are consistently spaced to allow clear adult access and sufficient air movement.
Since the onsite phase of the review, this has been addressed.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
3 June 2020
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 |
Wellington |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
55383 |
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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 |
60 children, including up to 26 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
68 |
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Gender composition |
Female 35, Male 33 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
March 2020 |
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Date of this report |
3 June 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2017 |
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Education Review |
April 2014 |
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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:
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 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.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Early Years Leeds Street in situated in Wellington city. It provides education and care for children from birth to five years of age, five days a week. At the time of this ERO review, five of the children enrolled identified as Māori and four as Samoan.
Most teachers are fully qualified and represent a diverse range of cultures. Day-to-day operation of the centre is the responsibility of the centre manager, who supports two head teachers. At the time of this review, the service is in the process of recruiting a new head teacher.
The April 2014 ERO report identified areas requiring further improvement. These included:
further developing assessment, planning and evaluation practice to more effectively show learning over time
consulting with Māori and Pacific families about their cultural aspirations
providing ongoing support and guidance for teachers to build effective teaching practice and leadership capabilities.
Good progress has been made in these areas.
Early Years Leeds Street is owned and operated by BestStart Educare Ltd. BestStart (previously known as Kidicorp Ltd) is a large national organisation that owns early childhood services across New Zealand.
This review was part of a cluster of four services in BestStart Educare Ltd.
The philosophy has recently been reviewed in consultation with the centre's community. This provides a shared direction for the teaching programme. Leaders and teachers have developed useful indicators to support the effective implementation.
There is a strong emphasis on extending the curriculum, by using surrounding neighbourhood spaces to enable regular opportunities for children to explore the local environment.
Teachers are warm and responsive to children. They work alongside and encourage them in play. Respectful interactions and sustained group play are evident. Visual and dramatic arts are well supported and promoted in the programme. Teachers should consider ways they can use conversation with children more purposefully to extend their thinking and learning.
Teachers sensitively respond to infants’ and toddlers’ needs for strong and secure attachment. They use information from parents and whānau to support children's care routines, and respect their rights to be informed and consulted about decisions that affect them. Consistently implementing these approaches across the teaching team is a key next step.
Te ao Māori is well promoted and evident in the centre. Te reo Māori is used in general conversations with children. A next step is to support teachers to meaningfully use te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in everyday aspects of the centre.
Building strong relationships with whānau, parents and families is an ongoing focus. Targeted professional learning and development supports leaders' and teachers' understanding of educational success for Māori and Pacific children. Developing learning partnerships with parents, whānau Māori and the Pacific community is a key next step. This should assist the centre to determine what success for them looks like in this context.
The centre has recently implemented a new group planning and evaluation framework to support teachers to implement the programme that is responsive to children’s emerging skills, and interests. As this process develops, leaders and teachers should consider ways they can be more specific about planning and evaluating intentional teaching strategies.
Leaders have identified the need to develop a system for individual planning that includes clearly identified intentional teaching strategies to support children’s progress. ERO's evaluation affirms this direction.
Children’s learning portfolios show their interests, friendship and participation in the programme. Teachers encourage parents, families and whānau to share aspirations for their child. The use of an on-line assessment tool for recording and sharing children’s learning successfully fosters close links between home and centre.
Leaders are focused on improving the quality of education and care through ongoing, systematic self review. A key next step is for leaders to build teachers' evaluative understanding and capability. This should assist them to better evaluate the impact of their practices on children’s learning.
A clear framework guides the appraisal process. This includes self reflection, appraiser assessment, and has a developmental focus. Formal observations of practice provide useful information about the quality of teaching. In addition, teachers and leaders are building their capabilities through an inquiry and knowledge-building framework to help improve outcomes for children. BestStart provides opportunities for teachers to participate in a wide range of professional learning and development.
Professional service managers provide regular feedback, support and guidance about the curriculum in action. This clearly identifies strengths and areas for development. Roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers are clearly articulated and well understood. A comprehensive policy framework, including procedures and systems, guides the operation of the centre.
ERO and leaders agree that key next steps are to continue to:
strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation
encourage teachers to use meaningful conversations with all children to support and enhance their learning
further develop shared understandings of educational success for Māori and Pacific children, and support teachers to actively use te reo Māori across the centre
develop teachers' understanding of effective internal evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Early Years Leeds Street 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.
The next ERO review of Early Years Leeds Street will be in three years.
Patricia Davey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
6 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.
|
Location |
Wellington |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
55383 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 26 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
70 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 34, Girls 36 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Samoan Asian Other ethnic groups |
5 35 4 20 6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
April 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 June 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review Education Review Education Review |
April 2014 February 2011 October 2007 |
|
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.