5 Inverness Road, Browns Bay, Auckland
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 East Coast Bays Community Creche are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
|
What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
|
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
East Coast Bays Community Creche has served local families since 1982. The centre is licensed for 32 children. It offers morning and extended sessions in a mixed-age group setting. A senior teacher manages the centre and leads a team of fully trained staff. It is governed by a board of elected parents.
Children experience a strong sense of belonging in a supportive environment created by leaders and teachers. They develop important early learning skills through the centre's wide-ranging curriculum. Teachers’ ongoing communication support children to be confident and capable learners. Children treat others with respect, enjoy opportunities to explore their world and play for sustained periods.
Children under two years of age experience nurturing, calm interactions with teachers who know them well. The environment supports their exploration and development. Teachers’ responsiveness to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues and signals supports their social and emotional development.
Teachers have inclusive, respectful relationships with children and whānau. Their responsiveness to families during transition times nurtures children’s sense of belonging. Teachers value the contribution that whānau make to children's learning. They use highly effective teaching practices that enhance each child's sense of themselves as successful learners.
Teachers have a strong commitment to developing their knowledge and skills in te reo Māori and tikanga Māori. They are strengthening planning and assessment information to further document children’s diverse cultures and experiences. This approach is consistent with the way staff value and celebrate the uniqueness of each child.
Leaders and teachers use internal evaluation to inform decisions that promote successful learning outcomes for all children. Effective professional learning has strengthened leaders’ and teachers’ capability and collective capacity to do and use evaluation for improvement. Evaluation practices enable teachers to work collaboratively and promote an openness for change and improvement. In addition, parents are given opportunities to participate in evaluation and review.
Governance and management enact the philosophy of the service, which reflects a strong commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. The service’s positive working environment contributes to a stable staff which supports secure and consistent care for children.
East Coast Bays Community Creche will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of East Coast Bays Community Creche 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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
23 July 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | East Coast Bays Community Creche |
| Profile Number | 20043 |
| Location | Browns Bay, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
32 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
64 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 6 |
|
Review team on site |
May 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
23 July 2021 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, November 2016 |
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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.
East Coast Bays Community Creche is a community based centre located in Browns Bay. It caters for children up to five years of age in a mixed age group setting, and offers both morning and extended sessions. The centre has served children and families for over 30 years and is licensed for 30 children, including 10 children up to two years of age. The centre philosophy embraces Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and the principles of Reggio Emilia.
Key aspects that are integral to the centre philosophy are respect for children, relationships with families, and nurturing children's positive learning dispositions to support their success. Teachers have developed good systems to link with local schools and support transitions.
The creche is governed by a management committee made up of parents, the senior teacher and a staff representative. This committee provides management support for employing staff, finances, planning and policy development. The senior teacher has overall responsibility for running day to day operations. The teachers, who are all registered, have developed strong relationships with families and the community.
The creche has a positive reporting history with ERO. The 2013 ERO report identified many positive features of the service. These included an inclusive environment, a strong emphasis on children's wellbeing, and good use of self review to increase the effectiveness of the programme. These areas of good performance are still evident and have been further consolidated and strengthened.
Children are highly engaged and motivated, learning through play and routines. There is a calm and settled tone, modelled and affirmed by teachers, but also a strong sense of fun and enjoyment in discovery. Children initiate and lead their play. The arrangement of resources, and teachers' comments and questions, provoke children's curiosity and extend their thinking. Leaders have invested in good quality resources to promote exploration and creativity. A distinguishing feature is the wide range of art and craft media that children are encouraged to explore.
Skilful teaching and teachers' deep commitment to strong relationships and children's wellbeing play a powerful role in supporting learning. Teachers foster children's sense of belonging, confidence and independence as children pursue their own interests. Children are viewed as competent learners and teachers encourage them to collaborate with others and investigate ideas. Teachers use open questions well to extend children's conversations and thinking. Early literacy, mathematics and science concepts are well integrated into children’s play.
Teachers are committed to embedding bicultural practices in the centre. The programme incorporates waiata, tikanga Māori, te reo, karakia, kapa haka, pepeha, creation stories, manaakitanga, and kaitiakitanga. Teachers build partnerships with whānau, the local community and marae to develop bicultural practices in the creche. These features provide a solid foundation for Māori to succeed as Māori, and for the languages and cultural identities of other children to be affirmed.
Teachers provide a curriculum that is highly responsive to children's interests. Planning is focused on individual children and teachers frequently discuss strategies for extending learning. The learning environment inspires children's curiosity and engages and challenges them. High adult to child ratios help teachers to notice, recognise and respond to children's interests and strengths, including those who have additional needs. Teachers make very good use of the limited space to support children's learning.
Parents are encouraged to be partners in their children’s learning. They have many opportunities to participate in the programme, contribute to reviews and support their children’s progress. Parents discuss and have input into children's learning stories and portfolios. They are highly involved in special events such as the Matariki celebration for the beginning of the Māori New Year. Parents, teachers and children share information and lots of stories on a daily basis.
High quality leadership is focused on children's education and the creche's community-based culture. Leadership decisions are guided by the values of equity, excellence and advocacy. Teachers are valued as professionals. Professional development for teachers is research-based, meaningful and relevant. There is a strong focus on building leadership capability and strengthening professional practice. Sound appraisal processes support teachers to reflect on and improve their teaching practice.
Strategic and annual planning is well developed, relevant and aligned. The creche has clear, coherent systems and a sound framework for monitoring and evaluating practices and processes. Evaluative and reflective practice is strongly evident. Self review is ongoing, collaborative, wide-ranging and robust. Board members are supported by the centre leader to connect back to the centre's vision, values and philosophy.
Centre leaders have identified relevant next steps that include:
continuing to build te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in the programme through professional learning for teachers
making children's learning in mathematics more visible in portfolios and learning stories
further developing the outdoor learning environment so that it is well used to support children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of East Coast Bays Community Creche 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 East Coast Bays Community Creche will be in four years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
2 November 2016
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 |
Browns Bay, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
20043 |
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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 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
92 |
||
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Gender composition |
Girls 50 Boys 42 |
||
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Samoan Argentinian South African other |
56 7 6 4 3 3 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 |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
July 2016 |
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Date of this report |
2 November 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
November 2010 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2007 |
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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 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.