2 Woodbine Avenue, Greenlane, Auckland
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Happy Tots In-Home is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Happy Tots In-Home is one of a group of five home-based networks providing education and care for children from birth to school age in the greater Auckland area. This group of services is privately owned by Happy Tots Limited. The owner/licensee works closely with the coordinators and is involved in all aspects of the service operations.
There are currently 80 children enrolled in this network. Most are of Chinese heritage and aged under three years. Educators, who are often family members of the children enrolled, care for up to four children at a time in their homes. The coordinators, who are qualified early childhood teachers, regularly visit each educator. Together they plan and implement educational programmes for children.
The key values of the Happy Tots philosophy include trust and cultural understanding. It states the importance of a culturally rich home environment where children learn through play in accordance with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi underpins professional practice in the service.
Since ERO's 2017 report the service has made progress in building professional partnerships between educators and coordinators and deepening educators' knowledge and use of te reo Māori.
This review was part of a cluster of five home-based education and care network reviews in the Happy Tots In-Home organisation.
Coordinators work collaboratively with educators providing strategies and resources that encourage children's learning through play and their deeper thinking. A sense of belonging is promoted. The specific needs of infants, toddlers and young children are well supported by the presence of a consistent and familiar educator.
A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and respect for te ao Māori underpins the service's bicultural practice. Educators, whose first language is not English, are scaffolded to use and understand some te reo and tikanga Māori, including the importance of cultural practices in the New Zealand context.
High quality curriculum planning and assessment practices inform programmes for children. Monthly planning focuses on children's common interests. It is complemented with personalised plans that reflect the child's individual strengths, interests and developmental goals. Coordinators and educators record learning stories that reflect children's confidence and competence as they learn new skills and meet new challenges.
Children's learning is broadened through planned weekly group experiences and excursions to places of interest in the wider community. A library of quality resources is available to educators to respond to children's interests and foster new learning. Additional equipment is available to ensure that health and safety practices in the home are met.
Inclusive, reciprocal partnerships enhance children's learning. Parents are encouraged to contribute to their children's learning programmes and are kept well informed about their children's learning through a variety of communication tools. Service leaders and staff provide information for families in both English and Chinese as appropriate.
Coordinators benefit from the good range of high-quality professional learning available to them. They are empowered to influence educators' understanding of effective learning practices. The service's inquiry and evidence-based appraisal processes support coordinators and educators to strengthen their teaching practice.
Well-developed frameworks for strategic planning and internal evaluation enable the service to provide high quality care and education. Monitoring of children's health and safety is consistently implemented and maintained.
The service owner provides effective leadership focused on continuous improvement. High expectations and mentoring processes guide coordinators and educators to provide quality learning experiences for children.
ERO and the service have agreed that key next steps include continuing to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Happy Tots In-Home completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
24 March 2021
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 |
Greenlane, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46478 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
80 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā |
3 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
9 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
24 March 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2017 |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes 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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Happy Tots In-Home is one of five home-based education and care networks that provides for up to 80 children, including 80 children under two years of age in Auckland from Karaka to Silverdale. There are currently 67 children enrolled in this network and most children are Chinese and under three years of age. The licensee and staff communicate with and provide information for families in both English and Chinese. This is the first ERO review of the service.
Happy Tots In-Home opened in 2014 and over the past two years the other four networks have been added. The service is led by the owner/licensee who has a business and research background. He works with two coordinators and is involved in all aspects of service operations.
Educators provide programmes in their homes for up to four children at a time. The coordinators are qualified early childhood teachers with current practising teacher certificates. They regularly visit each educator and plan educational programmes for each child.
The Happy Tots philosophy emphasises that relationships are to be characterised by openness, trust and cultural understanding. A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and respect for te ao Māori underpins the service's approach to home-based education and care.
This review was part of a cluster of five home-based education and care network reviews in the Happy Tots In-Home organisation.
The licensee and coordinators work together as a highly professional and supportive team. Their philosophy of home-based education and care and the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, are clearly evident in their planning, practice, and service documentation.
Inclusive relationships and partnerships guide children's learning and the development of the service. The licensee seeks and values parent perspectives about the service. Coordinators regularly communicate with families using a variety of tools and technologies.
Well-considered planning and assessment practices guide relevant programmes for children. Coordinators provide educators with monthly plans that are topical or reflect children's common interests. These thematic programmes are complemented by individual planning for children. Educators and parents contribute to these plans by sharing their perspectives on each child's interests and developmental needs. Literacy and numeracy are an integral part of curriculum programmes.
Curriculum planning, learning assessment and evaluation is well documented and is shared with parents. The coordinators' monthly reports give families good information about their child's individual learning experiences and development towards their learning goals. Coordinators provide families with helpful strategies and resources to extend children's learning at home.
Internal evaluation is a strength of the service and is used at the strategic level through to individual children's learning. Multi-layered evaluation practices are resulting in positive developments in enacting the Happy Tots In-Home philosophy and achieving the service's strategic goals. The licensee takes advantage of educational research and external advice in the service's planning and internal evaluation.
The services' appraisal processes support coordinators and educators to develop their teaching practice. The licensee acknowledges the need to adapt teachers' appraisal processes to align with the Education Council requirements. Teachers' annual appraisal should be based on all Practising Teacher Criteria in order for teachers' practising certificates to be endorsed every three years.
Coordinators benefit from the good range of professional development opportunities available to them. They participate in professional learning together and this is influencing their understanding about effective practices that best promote children's education and care. Coordinators provide educators with professional support and guidance.
The high quality of the service is a result of clear, coherent frameworks for strategic development, evaluation and professional expectations of staff. Rigorous practices for monitoring these frameworks ensure that high standards are maintained.
The licensee and coordinators have identified relevant priorities for development. These include continuing to:
build a professional partnership with parents and educators
deepen educators' bicultural understanding, and their knowledge and use of te reo Māori with children
raise educator capability to integrate mathematics and literacy into children's learning
develop ways to support children's readiness for school.
Before the review, the staff and management of Happy Tots In-Home completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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 Happy Tots In-Home will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
1 March 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 |
Greenlane, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46478 |
||
|
Institution type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
67 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
||
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Gender composition |
Boys 36 Girls 31 |
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Ethnic composition |
Pākehā Chinese Korean |
55 10 2 |
|
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
||
|
Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:4 |
||
|
Review team on site |
January 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
1 March 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
No previous ERO reports |
||
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.