21 Buisson Glade, West Harbour, Auckland
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 Little Star Montessori House Of Children are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding |
Little Star Montessori House Of Children is privately owned and operated. A qualified owner is responsible for daily operations, and governance and management. There are three additional qualified teachers and three unqualified staff. Half of the children enrolled have Chinese heritage. There are increasing enrolments of children with diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The practices of kaiako are informed and guided by the service’s Montessori philosophy, vision, and Te Whariki, the early childhood curriculum. The Montessori curriculum places emphasis on exercises for practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics, art and music and movement. A positive working environment facilitates low turnover of staff and is conducive to building and sustaining quality adult-child relationships.
Children at this service are settled and engaged in sustained play. Kaiako interact with children in respectful and caring ways and are responsive to their interests. They provide children with regular opportunities for self-directed learning. These approaches support children’s confidence, creativity, curiosity, problem solving and social skills.
Children’s learning is supported by the collaborative partnerships kaiako have formed with parents and whānau. Kaiako actively seek the cultural expertise of parents to design and implement a rich and responsive curriculum. Leaders are now working to ensure assessment practices are consistent with the competencies outlined in teaching resources such as Tātaiako and Tapasā.
The service has sustained in-depth and comprehensive evaluation practices identified in ERO’s 2018 and 2013 reports. Kaiako have established a team culture of critical reflection, knowledge building and inquiry. They gather a wide range of relevant and authentic data to identify priorities and actions for improvement. The information collected is used to respond to identified inequities within the curriculum. Leaders agree there is a need to focus evaluative documentation on identifying the impact of the curriculum and teaching practices on improved learning outcomes for children.
Service leaders have introduced a strengths-based mentoring and coaching approach. This fosters relational trust and collaboration amongst the teaching team. Opportunities for professional learning and development focus on building the collective capability of the team. New knowledge is effectively shared across the team to increase children’s participation and learning.
Little Star Montessori House Of Children will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
To systematically evaluate the quality of the curriculum to show improved outcomes for children.
To continue to refine curriculum assessment information to reflect the teaching competencies in Tātaiako and Tapasā.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Star Montessori House Of Children completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following
non-compliances:
Having records of parental acknowledgement of the administration of medication (HS28).
Ensuring furniture and items intended for children to sleep on are hygienically stored when not in use (HS11).
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
8 March 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Little Star Montessori House Of Children |
|
Profile Number |
20503 |
|
Location |
West Harbour, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
45 children over 2 years of age |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
35 |
|
Review team on site |
January 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
8 March 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2018; Education Review, June 2013 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Little Star Montessori House of Children is a well-established service in West Harbour. Licensed for 45 children aged two to six years, the centre provides full day learning programmes in purpose built facilities. The community attending the centre is predominately Chinese, Pākehā, and increasing numbers of families from other ethnic backgrounds.
The centre’s Montessori philosophy, vision and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum inform the programme and guide teaching practice. Centre goals include offering children a programme where they can thrive as socially competent, independent thinkers and develop a lifelong love of learning.
The centre is staffed with an onsite owner/manager and experienced teachers. Most teachers have additional Montessori qualifications. The centre owner and teachers continue to focus on maintaining positive relationships and learning partnerships with families.
The centre has a history of positive ERO reports. Since the last review the centre has enhanced the outdoor learning environment to further support the centre's philosophy and positive learning outcomes for children.
Children and their families are warmly welcomed into the attractive and inviting centre. Well planned and managed arrival routines help children to develop independence. Children make choices, access play equipment and settle quickly into self-directed exploration, learning activities and play.
Children play and learn in mixed age groups at their own pace in a calm, and supportive learning environment. Children engage well in the programme. They benefit from extended periods of uninterrupted play that enable them to develop and sustain their interests. Teachers support children to be capable, confident and articulate learners. Teachers respond well to children's interests. They use skilful questioning and rich conversations to extend children's thinking and vocabulary.
Teachers plan and provide well-prepared Montessori resources, activities and provocations to specifically meet children's development stages and learning needs. They affirm and build on the strengths children bring, and model the Montessori philosophy in their practice.
Teachers are culturally responsive and they acknowledge and affirm children’s cultural backgrounds. Children have many opportunities to hear and use home languages as they learn English. Teachers use te reo Māori in waiata and in learning programmes. Leaders and teachers plan to continue to build their knowledge and capability in te reo and tikanga Māori, so children can benefit from a strong bicultural curriculum.
Consistency of care and learning is evident throughout the centre. Transitions into the centre and onto school are very well planned and managed. Leaders and teachers encourage families to take an active role in their children's learning. They develop inclusive relationships and learning partnerships with families. They work collaboratively with parents and other agencies to support children who have additional learning needs. Parents are provided with very good information about the curriculum and their children's progress. Children’s assessment portfolios are highly valued records of learning.
The centre is very effectively led and managed. Rigorous performance management practices and strong professional leadership enable the centre to maintain its focus on providing high quality early childhood education and care. The centre places emphasis on developing teachers as leaders, and on the continued professional development of staff. Professional learning for teachers positively influences teaching practice and enhances learning outcomes for children.
Highly effective management systems and regularly reviewed policies guide centre operations. There is a strong focus on continuous improvement. Leaders and teachers are reflective practitioners and continually improve their practice to support children's learning. Internal evaluation and self-review processes are strong. These processes are an integral part of the centre, and continue to strengthen teaching practice.
Centre leaders have identified relevant next steps that include:
continuing to strengthen bicultural practice
further developing teachers' leadership capability
evaluating how well the new outdoor environment provides challenge in children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Star Montessori House Of Children 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 Little Star Montessori House Of Children will be in four years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
16 May 2018
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 |
West Harbour, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20503 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
45 children, over 2 years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
36 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 20 Boys 16 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
April 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
16 May 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
June 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
May 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.