Honeybees Preschool

Education institution number:
46310
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
35
Telephone:
Address:

Level 5 127 Hobson Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland

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Honeybees Preschool

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Honeybees Preschool is privately owned and operated. The service manager is responsible for daily operations and is supported by two administration staff. There is a team of five qualified teachers and four unqualified staff, including the service’s chef. Children who attend this service are from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Summary of Review Findings

The curriculum is inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own and other cultures. Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.

The curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts. Children’s preferences are respected. They benefit from a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning.

Leaders need to continue to strengthen systems, processes, and practices to ensure regulatory standards are maintained.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

  • strengthening the extent to which the curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua.

Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • Monitoring the temperature of water delivered from taps that are accessible to children is no higher than 40°C, and comfortable for children at the centre to use (HS13).

  • Having evidence that water stored in any hot water cylinder is kept at a temperature of at least 60°C (HS14).

  • Ensuring all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

9 November 2023 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Honeybees Preschool

Profile Number

46310

Location

Auckland CBD

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

50 children over the age of 2 years

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

49

Review team on site

October 2023

Date of this report

9 November 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

Previously reviewed as Honeybees:

Education Review, March 2019; Education Review, September 2015

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation

  • previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’

  • that has moved from a provisional to a full licence

  • that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership

  • where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)

  • relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

  • discussions with those involved in the service

  • consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems

  • observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.

Honey Bees - 08/03/2019

1 Evaluation of Honey Bees

How well placed is Honey Bees to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Honey Bees is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Honey Bees is a privately owned centre that delivers care and education for children over two years of age. It is located on the fifth floor of an inner-city building, which has been designed to provide a bright and spacious setting for children. Most parents work and/or live nearby and many are recent immigrants.

The owners are involved in the centre's operation. The teaching team is led by a head teacher and an assistant head teacher. The centre employs six qualified teachers, a teacher assistant, office manager, part-time administrator and a chef/housekeeper. The staff reflects the cultural diversity and bilingual skills of the children who attend.

The philosophy honours the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand and children's cultural diversity. It promotes a commitment to Reggio Emilia approaches and environmentally friendly practices. The philosophy views children as confident and competent learners and values children's creativity, fun and learning through play.

Leaders and staff have sustained the positive aspects and progressed the areas for development that were identified in the 2015 ERO report.

The Review Findings

Children are well respected as individuals, and supported to develop a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging. They are confident decision makers and collaborators, and experience authentic opportunities to communicate and investigate their ideas. Children spend much of their day in group or individual play. They develop their own learning goals and explore and extend their interests. Children visit the local community parks and facilities and teachers are continuing to enrich these excursions with other outdoor experiences and school visits.

High quality leadership is enabling teachers to provide a rich bicultural programme. It is strongly underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, the centre philosophy and the principles of Reggio Emilia. Leaders continue to support teachers to deepen their understanding of the 2017 revision of Te Whāriki.

Leaders and teachers have embedded internal evaluation for continual improvement. Leadership inquiries have improved the team's responsiveness to children's cultures, languages and diverse needs. Leaders agree that they should continue to progress this work to support children's diverse needs, and further promote Māori and Pacific children's success.

Children with additional learning needs benefit from a well-embedded, inclusive and individualised approach that supports their progress and development. Leaders and teachers work collaboratively with parents/whānau and external professional agencies to regularly review children's learning goals. Targeted professional development assist teachers to support children and whānau to achieve these learning goals.

Planning, assessment and evaluation processes are well embedded. The visually attractive records of learning and online portfolios are effective ways to share children's learning with parents. Teachers use photographic and documented records to highlight the value of play, and invite parent contributions to programme planning. The teaching team works collaboratively to provide a highly responsive programme that supports children's individual and emerging interests.

Leaders are open to learning, and foster a culture of improvement based on relational trust. They model high quality leadership through good mentoring approaches, and support staff to build their individual professional practice. Appraisals for teachers are robust and meet Teaching Council requirements. Leaders are continuing to support teachers to implement their own inquiries and promote distributed leadership.

Leaders have implemented effective systems and processes to support the centre's vision for providing high quality education and care for children. A sound policy base that reflects recent changes and legislated requirements is in place. The 2019 strategic plan is responsive to staff and parent input and includes curriculum and professional development goals. Leaders could enhance strategic planning by identifying specific outcomes for children, and through systematic internal evaluation to monitor progress towards those outcomes. This could include documenting a cyclical three year process that specifies responsibilities, budget, timeframes and review.

Key Next Steps

Centre leaders agree that the priorities for continual improvement include:

  • refining internal evaluation systems and processes
  • continuing to build staff evaluation capability
  • increasing opportunities for emerging leaders.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Honey Bees 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.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

8 March 2019

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

LocationAuckland CBD
Ministry of Education profile number46310
Licence typeEducation & Care Service
Licensed underEducation (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008
Number licensed for50 children aged over 2 years
Service roll52
Gender compositionGirls 26 Boys 26
Ethnic compositionMāori 
Pākehā 
Chinese 
other ethnic groups

10 
18
23
Percentage of qualified teachers80% +
Reported ratios of staff to childrenOver 21:8Better than minimum requirements
Review team on siteJanuary 2019
Date of this report8 March 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education ReviewSeptember 2015

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 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.

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.