18 De Havilland Road, Hobsonville, Auckland
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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.
This is the first Education Review for Hobsonville Point Early Learning Centre, a purpose built centre that opened in October 2015. The centre operates as a full day service and is licensed for 80 children including up to 20 children aged under two years. The indoor environment is divided into three age-related rooms. The spacious outdoor area allows for older children to play together. Infants and toddlers have their own outdoor space.
The centre's philosophy is well enacted. Children are viewed as capable and competent learners. Tuakana/teina relationships support them to learn from each other. The programme includes a focus on environmental sustainability. Children and teachers work together as kaitiaki of the environment.
The Northern Auckland Kindergarten Association (NAKA) provides this service with support personnel and an overarching governance and management structure. The current centre manager was appointed in July 2016 and provides leadership in the centre. She works closely with a designated teaching services manager (TSM) and other personnel from NAKA.
Children are friendly and confident, and interact well with their peers and teachers. Their social and emotional competence is promoted well and families are valued members of the centre.
The education and care provision for infants and toddlers is very good. Highly responsive caregiving supports their need for secure attachments with adults. Teachers are responsive to children's temperaments, and their changing preferences and interests. The importance of play as a means of learning is valued and respected.
Children over two years of age participate in a semi-structured programme and explore the environment freely. They confidently make decisions about their own play. The learning environment is well organised and children have easy access to a wide variety of interesting learning resources. Children who have additional learning needs are well supported.
Teachers work well together. Effective teaching practices support children’s play and extend children's thinking. Teachers value children's ideas and contributions to the learning experience.
The manager and teachers promote equity for children. They are committed to promoting and developing their own understanding of bicultural practices. Teachers and children are learning and using sign language to support children with additional learning needs.
Teachers continue to develop planning, assessment and evaluation processes. They keep good quality records about children's interests and participation in the programme. Attractive learning records support parents and children to revisit learning.
Leaders encourage and invite whānau to take an active role at the centre. Teachers offer parents many formal and informal opportunities to talk about their children's learning. On-line learning records allow families ready access to information about their children’s learning.
The manager has a collaborative style and has implemented and reviewed systems and processes for centre operations. She fosters a distributed leadership model. Teachers are able to lead in areas of interest, develop the capability of their colleagues and improve outcomes for children. Good support is provided for teachers who are new to the service.
Well documented internal evaluation processes guide centre improvement. This evaluation is well understood, systematic, and responsive to identified priorities. It impacts positively on outcomes for children.
The manager and NAKA personnel agree that key next steps for ongoing improvement include:
developing a plan to better support the enactment of the service's strategic goals and priorities
reviewing the service's policy framework and aligning policies and procedures with early learning service requirements and best practice
reviewing and strengthening the service's appraisal processes
strengthening planning to extend children's individual learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Hobsonville Point Early Learning Centre 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 Hobsonville Point Early Learning Centre 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.
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Location |
Hobsonville, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46522 |
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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 |
80 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
90 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 50 Boys 40 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
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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 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
June 2017 |
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Date of this report |
4 August 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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:
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.