13 North Road, Kaitaia
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 are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Footprints Educare are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding |
Footprints Educare has a Christian philosophy and is guided by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The service is governed by the Kaitaia Abundant Life Centre Trust, and a centre manager oversees daily operations. Māori children make up a significant percentage of the roll.
Children learn in a play-based curriculum that reflects the service’s Christian philosophy. The diverse cultures of children and teachers are reflected in the room environments. Children’s views and ideas are encouraged, accepted, and respected by teachers. Children have space and time to lead their play and to form nurturing relationships with their peers and younger children.
Teachers know the children well and use a range of strategies to encourage exploration and expression. They regularly include te reo Māori in their interactions with children. Teachers are responsive to the needs and individual routines of infants and toddlers. Older children are provided with resources and environments that prompt meaningful and enjoyable investigations. Teachers support children to choose resources and interests, experience challenge and to revisit prior learning. They are continuing to think about how to better support children to transition into and out of busy routine times, such as at afternoon tea.
Teachers’ skillful assessment of children’s learning is evident. Assessment records include children’s voices, learning dispositions, and show the learning that is occurring during children’s play. Whānau participation in, and contribution to, assessment of their children’s learning is not yet embedded.
A process is in place for internal evaluation, and teachers are building their capability to use this system. Evaluations are not yet identifying how teachers’ practices support improved learning outcomes for children. Developing meaningful evaluative questions and identifying indicators of effective practice could strengthen teacher understandings about how to do and use internal evaluation for improvement.
Footprints Educare will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
continue to build learning partnerships with parents and whānau, specifically around increasing the visibility of whānau contributions in the assessment of children’s learning
continue to build teacher capability to do, use and embed evaluation for improvement to promote valued learning outcomes for all children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Footprints Educare 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance that include:
having evidence of how evaluation of emergency drills have informed the annual review of the service's emergency plan
ensuring the procedure for monitoring children's sleep includes a record of the time each child attending the service sleeps, and checks made by adults during that time
having a procedure outlining the service’s response to injury, illness and incidents, including the review and implementation of practices as required.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS9, HS27.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following
non-compliances:
equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children, including bodies of water (HS12)
obtaining and recording parental acknowledgement of category (iii) medication having been given to their child weekly or every three months (HS28).
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
24 August 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Footprints Educare |
|
Profile Number |
11004 |
|
Location |
Kaitaia |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
66 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
24 August 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2017 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Footprints Educare is licensed for up to 90 children, including 20 up to the age of two years. Māori children make up 60 percent of the roll. Meals are provided for all tamariki. Since the 2013 ERO review the centre has renovated a separate building has been renovated to make provision for four year old children and an art space.
The service is governed by the Kaitaia Abundant Life Centre Trust. Day-to-day operations are delegated to the newly restructured management team, comprising the centre manager, kaiako mentor, administrator and four head teachers. Most of the teachers are qualified and registered.
Honouring the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa and meaningful partnerships between kaiako, tamariki and whānau, in a caring Christian environment, underpin the centre’s philosophy. Education and care are guided by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Centre managers and teachers are actively involved in The Far North Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL). They use this CoL as a platform to raise awareness of community and whānau aspirations for their centre.
The centre has sustained the positive features recognised in ERO’s 2013 report. Key areas for development identified in 2013 included improving self review, teacher appraisal and planning for extended learning.
Children and families benefit from the welcoming environment. Children have a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing. Parents who spoke to ERO value teachers' care, and the way they build children's confidence in all aspects of the programme. They appreciate many aspects of the centre’s wider support services in promoting positive outcomes for children and their families.
Whānau are encouraged to contribute to their children's learning and to share their knowledge and skills in the centre programme. Bicultural practices and te reo me ōna tikanga Māori are an integral part of the centre. A kaumātua and kuia advise and support the centre.
Children have opportunities to lead and participate in uninterrupted play. They are focused and highly engaged in their learning. Children are free to choose activities based on their interests and preferences. Friendships between children are well established. They play in collaborative and friendly mixed-age groups.
Teachers work alongside children and listen to them carefully to promote learning. There are good examples of some teachers' skilful use of questioning to extend children’s thinking. Teachers interact respectfully with children. Children's independence is encouraged and they develop practical life skills that support self-management.
Children up to the age of two benefit from a calm and peaceful environment. They have easy access to a separate outside area for their exploration and play. Teachers are continuing to explore ways to further personalise routines for these children. Children and their whānau are well supported when transitioning into and through the centre, and on to school.
The carefully planned and attractive centre environments stimulate children’s interest and involvement in the programme. Well defined areas of learning and rich resources support children's play. Children have easy access from their rooms to the spacious outdoor play areas.
Assessment portfolios show evidence of individualised programmes based on children's interests and parents' aspirations. Teachers use this information to plan learning experiences. It is timely now for teachers to consistently show how children's learning is progressing over time.
Teachers meet regularly to plan programmes. They are well supported to take on leadership roles and work collaboratively towards centre improvements.
Governance and management practices are effective. Policies and procedures have been streamlined and are regularly monitored. A robust strategic plan guides the centre's future direction.
The management team works collaboratively and provides a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers. It is now timely for them to evaluate the impact of professional development on teaching practice. Good progress has been made to strengthen the teacher appraisal system. Teachers should now document the impact that their changing teaching practices have on learning outcomes for tamariki.
Centre managers agree the key next steps are:
continuing to build leadership capability across the team leaders
strengthening programme planning, assessment and evaluation and considering how best to extend children's learning
developing indicators of success in relation to strategic goals, that can be used to measure progress over time.
Before the review, the staff and management of Footprints Educare 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 Footprints Educare will be in three years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
4 August 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 |
Kaitaia |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
11004 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
69 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 38, Girls 31 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
42 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
4 August 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
August 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
March 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.