100 Belford Street, Dunedin
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Grant Braes Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Grants Braes Kindergarten provides early childhood education for children aged over two years of age. The kindergarten is licensed for up to 43 children. Children participate in half or whole day learning programmes running from 8.30am to 2.30pm. The day-to-day operation of the kindergarten is managed by a head teacher, supported by four qualified early childhood teachers and one teacher aide.
The kindergarten's kaupapa states that children will:
experience a warm, caring, fun and safe learning environment
develop reciprocal learning relationships with their peers, teachers and wider community
foster ongoing and diverse learning within a bicultural curriculum framework.
The kindergarten has sustained the effective practices noted in ERO's 2015 review and continues to make good progress with curriculum assessment, planning and evaluation practices, teacher appraisal and internal evaluation systems. Significant changes to the outdoor environment have contributed positively to teaching and learning opportunities for children.
Grants Braes Kindergarten is one of 24 kindergartens administered by Dunedin Kindergartens (DK). A general manager oversees the association under the governance of a board. Senior teachers provide ongoing professional advice and guidance to each kindergarten on teaching and learning. This review was part of a cluster of five reviews in DK.
Children play in a calm, unhurried environment where teachers give them time to make decisions and learn from watching their peers. They experience warm, responsive and respectful interactions with each other and their teachers. Children feel a sense of belonging and place in the programme and are confident, competent and capable learners.
There are caring and respectful relationships at all levels of the kindergarten. Teachers have established reciprocal relationships with children, parents, families and whānau. As new families arrive into the kindergarten, teachers are deliberate in their approach to get to know them well.
The indoor and outdoor environments are very well planned and resourced. There is a strong focus on kaitiakitanga - care for self, the environment (sustainability) and others. There is a good balance of quiet and busy spaces for children to use in their play. The natural outdoor spaces are large and interesting and provide opportunities for children to take risks, challenge themselves and explore.
The curriculum is broad based and resourced appropriately to support the needs, interests and ages of all children. There are positive levels of engagement by children in a range of curriculum areas. Children play cooperatively and collaboratively alongside their peers.
Core Māori values and practices are evident in the programme. The programme supports and promotes aspects of te ao Māori such as whanaungatanga, maanakitanga, kaitiakitanga and tuakana teina.
Diverse learners are well supported and planned for. Teachers work closely with migrant and new families to support their transition into the kindergarten. Transitions into, within and beyond the kindergarten are well managed by teachers.
The teaching team is collaborative, reflective and improvement focused. The head teacher models a culture of shared leadership. Teachers use the strengths and expertise of each other to support their professional practices. There is a strong commitment from teachers to ongoing professional learning.
Teachers participate in reflective practice that contributes to effective internal evaluation. Findings from internal evaluation are used to bring about continued improvement in the programme and practices. The senior teacher continues to provide a high level of professional support to the teachers.
The DK board has made good progress in addressing the governance recommendations from ERO's 2015 reviews. The DK’s mission and strategic priorities are well known and reflected in each kindergarten's strategic and annual plans. The DK has a sound policy and procedure framework that provides guidance for kindergartens and sound systems to monitor health and safety. Leaders and teachers benefit from relevant professional development and leadership support. The DK actively supports equity of outcomes for all children by funding additional teaching resources to support children with additional needs.
The board has clearly identified, and ERO agrees, that the key next steps to further improve outcomes for children are to:
ensure that reporting and monitoring at all levels is evaluative to clearly show how desired outcomes for children have been improved in relation to the DK’s and kindergartens’ priorities for learning and other strategic priorities
ensure that a robust and systematic quality assurance framework is implemented to inform and monitor ongoing improvements in each kindergarten.
The teaching team has identified, and ERO agrees, that the key next steps to further improve outcomes for children is to:
continue to strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation practices to clearly reflect the learning priorities for children and the role of the teacher to support these
continue to strengthen learning-focused partnerships with parents and whānau.
Before the review, the staff and management of Grant Braes Kindergarten 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
7 May 2019
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 |
Dunedin |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5494 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
43 children aged over two years |
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Service roll |
50 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 21 Boys 29 |
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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 |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2019 |
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Date of this report |
7 May 2019 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
November 2015 |
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Education Review |
June 2012 |
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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.
Grants Braes Kindergarten is one of 24 kindergartens operating under the Dunedin Kindergarten Association (DK). It is located in Waverley close to local schools and provides learning for up to 40 children in the morning and 30 in the afternoon. Children may attend for the full day if their family chooses.
The kindergarten is well supported by families from the local and surrounding areas. Many of the families come from diverse cultural backgrounds. A dedicated parent committee raises funds to improve the kindergarten’s resources. Parents help to maintain the buildings and grounds.
Teachers at Grants Braes Kindergarten aim for children to be confident, competent learners and to provide a warm, safe, fun and empowering environment for children and their families.
The qualified teaching team is experienced and the head teacher has provided stable leadership in the kindergarten for 10 years. Since the June 2012 review, the teachers have improved their knowledge and use of self review and are planning more purposefully for individual children.
This review was part of a cluster of 24 kindergarten reviews in the DK.
Children show a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing at Grants Braes Kindergarten. They appear settled and purposeful as they play by themselves, with and alongside others. Children benefit from close nurturing relationships with their teachers. Teachers challenge and extend children’s thinking and ideas. They have genuine conversations with children. They give positive guidance to children as they learn to manage themselves and relate to others with empathy.
Teachers get to know the children and their families very well. They provide meaningful learning in the kindergarten based on their knowledge of the children’s home backgrounds. Teachers value children’s cultures, language and identity. This is evident in the way they acknowledge and celebrate special events such as Chinese New Year and Mātariki. Children with particular learning needs are effectively supported by teachers sharing and using specific strategies.
Children enjoy a broad range of well-planned learning experiences within and beyond the kindergarten. They have many opportunities for creative and dramatic play, ICT learning, early literacy and mathematics, exploration and making choices about what they want to do.
Children's learning is supported by effective group planning. This includes specific strategies to:
Children are well supported as they enter kindergarten and move through to school. Parents receive information to help them choose and enrol their children at school. Teachers could explore more ways of sharing their knowledge of the children’s learning with the schools the children will be attending.
Since the 2012 ERO review, teachers have a better process so they all know what children’s next learning steps are. They are increasingly using social media as a means to share children’s learning with parents and extended family. They have found families are quick to give feedback and share their wishes for their children through this means. Online and paper records of learning are enjoyed by children and their families. The next step is for teachers to be more consistent in recording what they will do to support children’s next learning steps.
There is a useful framework to guide self review. Teachers often use the findings from self review to improve outcomes for children.
The teachers work well as a team. They know and use each other’s strengths to support children’s learning and wellbeing. They focus on improvement and proactively access and attend relevant professional learning. They have developed priorities for Grants Braes Kindergarten. However, these have not been linked to the kindergarten’s philosophy or DK’s strategic direction.
The vision of the DK is to provide excellence in early childhood education for all children. The DK is governed by a board and managed by a long-serving general manager. The kindergarten teachers told ERO they appreciated the support they receive from the association and the advice and guidance of the senior teachers.
The board, general manager and senior teachers:
Some aspects of the kindergarten practices could be further developed and improved. Teachers, with the support of the senior teacher, need to more consistently state in records of children's learning what they plan to do to extend and support the identified next learning steps.
Self-review practice could be strengthened by having a very clear focus to investigate and ensuring the indicators of good practice relate to the focus. Teachers should then identify how well their practices match those outlined in the indicators.
When the teachers next review the philosophy they should make clear what is valued as important learning for children. They should also ensure the philosophy expresses their commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Teachers have some ideas about what they want for the future of the kindergarten. Their ideas could be developed into a strategic plan that shows the priorities and actions to achieve the desired outcomes. Related systems such as professional learning, appraisal, self-review topics and senior teacher support could then be aligned to strengthen the strategic focus.
Next steps for the board, with the support of the general manager and senior teachers, are to:
With the appointment of a new senior teacher, it is timely for the board and general manager to review the role of the senior teachers and strengthen systems to ensure consistent high-quality practice across all kindergartens within the association.
Before the review, the staff and management of Grants Braes Kindergarten 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.
The next ERO review of Grants Braes Kindergarten will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
6 November 2015
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 |
Dunedin |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
5494 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children over two years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
47 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 26 Boys: 21 |
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|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
7 |
|
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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 |
N/A |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 November 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
June 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
November 2008 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 2006 |
||
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.