Fame Preschool

Education institution number:
10334
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
59
Telephone:
Address:

6 Karepiro Drive, Stanmore Bay

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Fame Preschool

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 Fame Preschool are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

ERO’s judgement

What the service knows about outcomes for learners

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

ERO’s judgement

He Whāriki Motuhake

The learner and their learning

Whakaū Embedding

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

Te Whakaruruhau

Stewardship through effective governance and management

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Fame Preschool is a privately owned service. The owner oversees the service’s governance, management, and the curriculum. She is supported by an operations manager, four team leaders and a cook. Children are cared for in a mixed-age environment and grouped according to their age in two separate learning areas. The service has responded very positively to the findings of ERO’s 2017 report.

3 Summary of findings

Children’s mana is fostered through a responsive teaching programme. Children are encouraged and supported to take increasing responsibility for their own wellbeing, that of others, and to care for the environment. Teachers provide learning settings that challenge children to explore and become fully involved in a wide variety of learning experiences. They actively promote children’s independence and decision making.

Leaders and teachers establish responsive and respectful partnerships with children, whānau and the wider community. They work well with parents, external agencies and community organisations to access support for children with additional learning needs. Inclusive and affirming teaching practices support all children to be successful learners.

Teachers develop individual learning plans for all children. Those who work with infants and toddlers set a calm pace to the programme and are responsive to each child’s needs. They respond to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues and demonstrate an understanding that respectful relationships and sensitive care are important foundations for learning.

Leaders are embedding new knowledge and teaching practices around how they respond to the identities, languages, and cultures of all children and whānau. They are seeking ways to strengthen te reo and tikanga Māori in the learning environment and daily practices.

Leaders and teachers take personal responsibility for professional learning. They engage in critical reflection, asking themselves what works and why. Professional learning opportunities are provided to support teachers’ ongoing inquiry into teaching practices. They make evidence-based changes to their professional practice and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of these changes.

Leaders build strong relational trust that supports collaboration, openness to change, and promotes improvements in teaching and learning. Participation in internal evaluation and knowledge-building activities challenges teachers’ thinking. Inquiry has become a strong focus for the teaching team’s continuous growth and development.

4 Improvement actions

Fame Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • continuing to extend ways to maintain children’s cultural connections
  • managing leaders’ abilities to build distributed leadership across the organisation during growth.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Fame Preschool 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.

6 Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite review the service has addressed areas of non-compliance relating to:

  • medication records to include evidence of parental acknowledgement of medicine having been administered (HS28).

Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

8 July 2021 

7 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name Fame Preschool
Profile Number 10334
Location Stanmore Bay, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

70 children, including up to 15 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

83

Ethnic composition

Māori  14
NZ European/Pākehā  45
South African  6
British  4
Chinese  4
other Asian   8
other ethnic groups  2

Review team on site

May 2021

Date of this report

8 July 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, October 2017
Education Review, April 2014

Fame Preschool - 25/10/2017

1 Evaluation of Fame Preschool

How well placed is Fame Preschool 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

Fame Preschool is licensed to provide all-day education and care for 70 children, including up to 15 aged under two years. Infants and toddlers have a separate area where they are free to explore. This area allows them clear visibility into the play space of the older children. Children are encouraged to play together in mixed-age groups and there is easy access for them between the two play spaces.

The centre owner manages the service alongside a curriculum manager. In 2014 the centre moved to new, larger premises and increased the number of children on the licence. The teaching team now comprises nine qualified teachers and five unqualified staff.

The service's philosophy strongly values respectful relationships. The performing arts feature highly in the programme and other structured group times are included in daily routines for all children.

Areas for development from the 2014 ERO report were teacher appraisal, self review and the consistent documentation of children's progress. These aspects of practice require a continued focus for improvement.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from the mixed-age group. When centre routines allow, siblings are able to play together and there are opportunities for tuakana/teina learning. At these times children confidently choose where they will play and the resources they will use. Friendships are evident amongst the children.

Teacher interactions with children are mainly positive. Children under two benefit from sensitive, consistent caregiving. They form secure attachments with their caregivers.

The learning environment is well maintained and attractively presented. As a result of an evaluation, the outdoor area now includes a good range of physical challenges for children, inviting places to engage in imaginative play and opportunities for exploration.

Centre leaders show good commitment to the ongoing development of teachers' bicultural practice. Some teachers are skilled in their knowledge and use of te reo Māori. Consideration should now be given to how te ao Māori perspectives can be woven throughout the programme.

Parents participate well in numerous planned centre events. The teaching team is researching ways to strengthen partnerships with parents by including their aspirations for their children's learning in programme planning and evaluation.

The centre's morning routine revolves around a series of planned group activities. Children move from one specialised programme to another. Some are able to engage in brief periods of independent play between these sessions. Centre routines and the content of these specialised programmes, particularly the transition to school programme for four year olds, require in-depth evaluation.

The teaching team is in the beginning stages of implementing a new programme planning system. Children's portfolios of learning currently contain numerous group learning stories. Teachers should document more individual learning stories for each child that show how their learning becomes more complex over time.

Teachers need to align their planned programmes with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and current understandings of high quality practices in an early learning environment. Programmes and routines should more consistently empower children to make decisions about their play and learning, act on their own ideas and develop knowledge and skills in areas that interest them.

Centre leaders have established a framework of policies and procedures to guide practice. A strategic plan has been developed with input from staff. The ongoing improvement of teaching and learning should be prioritised in the strategic plan. This would support alignment between strategic goals, internal evaluation, teachers' appraisal goals and the programmes that teachers provide for children.

The process of internal evaluation would be strengthened through the use of a more evaluative process and greater use of research. A stronger focus on goal setting for teachers and the use of the Ministry of Education resource Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners, would strengthen appraisal processes.

Key Next Steps

The manager has developed a comprehensive action plan for addressing the following priorities for centre development:

  • evaluating routines and group activities to assess their impact on children's learning and engagement, and the extent to which they reflect the principles of Te Whāriki

  • implementing effective processes for assessment, programme planning and evaluation that build on children's interests and strengths

  • strengthening internal evaluation by increasing evaluative critique, and making more substantial use of research and indicators of best practice in early childhood education

  • strengthening teacher appraisal processes.

Recommendation

ERO recommends that the manager work with the Ministry of Education to reassess the use of the centre's licensed space and to ensure that sufficient activity space is independently accessible by children at all times.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Fame Preschool 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 Fame Preschool will be in three years.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

25 October 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

Location

Stanmore Bay, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

10334

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

70 children, including up to 15 aged under 2

Service roll

92

Gender composition

Girls 49 Boys 43

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
British
Chinese
Indian
Cook Islands Māori
South African
other

14
60
3
3
3
2
2
5

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:3

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

August 2017

Date of this report

25 October 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

April 2014

Education Review

February 2011

Education Review

February 2008

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.