Tauraroa Road, Maungakaramea
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Maungakaramea Playcentre is open for two sessions each week for up to 27 children from birth to school age. The Playcentre philosophy values parents/whānau as the first and best educators of their children. They take on roles and responsibilities that contribute to the running of the centre. This structure offers opportunities for emergent leadership.
In the past three years the centre has experienced a significant growth in membership. Centre members have responded positively to areas for development identified in ERO's 2014 report, which included strengthening curriculum and self-review processes. Many parents/whānau are currently enrolled in Playcentre adult education programmes.
The centre is part of the Northland Playcentre Association, which provides governance and management support for 31 Playcentres in Northland. The Association provides systems and adult education programmes to help members manage centres and support their children's learning. A centre support worker (CSW) regularly visits each centre. The Association also provides education support for five Playcentres in the Far North.
Playcentre Aotearoa is in the process of a national restructure. It is expected that a new regional manager and centre support personnel will be appointed towards the end of 2017.
This review was part of a cluster of 10 Playcentre reviews in the Northland Playcentre Association.
Children and their whānau benefit from a welcoming environment that helps them to develop social connections with the local community. Many parents/whānau choose to travel some distance to attend this centre with their children.
Children are encouraged to make choices about how and where they play. Infants and toddlers have access to appropriate resources and equipment to support their exploration. Older children engage in imaginative play and negotiate with adults and other children to support their investigation and learning.
The indoor environment promotes children's curiosity and sustained play. A spacious outdoor environment offers toddlers and older children a variety of challenges. Parents/whānau work alongside children to support their learning. ERO observed good examples of adults skilfully responding to children's ideas in ways that can extend children's thinking.
Centre members have developed useful planning and assessment processes. A day-book and individual assessment records celebrate children’s learning. Members are considering ways to use this good foundation to build newer members' knowledge and understanding of how they can record children’s progress over time.
Children have opportunities to hear te reo Māori through greetings, waiata and karakia. The new whare iti is a positive addition to the play area. Adults are continuing to develop their bicultural practices and understanding of te ao Māori. As cultural diversity in the centre changes, members could consider ways to include cultural backgrounds and languages in the programme.
Centre members work collaboratively, encourage emergent leadership and share decision making. They use internal evaluation to identify what is working well and what improvements are needed. As centre members complete Playcentre courses, this knowledge contributes to improvements in programmes for children. They could now record the positive outcomes for children that happen as a result of changes made.
The centre support worker (CSW) is aware of the strengths and needs of the centre. Her support helps members to foster positive learning outcomes for children. The CSW provides good leadership to sustain improvement and growth. Centre members appreciate that the CSW is available to answer their questions and share information that adds to their collective knowledge.
The Association continues to provide a sound management framework to assist members in managing their centres. Centre members' leadership and increased participation in adult education courses help to sustain the Association and centre viability. The governance board works collaboratively to share information with centre members as they respond to changes, including the national restructure.
Next steps for centre members are to:
To enhance current practices in all Northland Playcentres, the new regional manager and support personnel should assist centre members to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Maungakaramea Playcentre 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 Maungakaramea Playcentre will be in three years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
2 October 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 |
Whangarei |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
17669 |
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Licence type |
Playcentre |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
26 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
27 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 16 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
Parent led |
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Reported ratios of adults to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
August 2017 |
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Date of this report |
2 October 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
September 2010 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2007 |
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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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Maungakaramea Playcentre is a small rural centre that operates as a parent cooperative. The centre practices are based on the Playcentre philosophy of families learning and growing together. The centre is open for two sessions per week and is licensed for up to twenty-six children from birth to school age.
Since the 2010 ERO report long-term members have worked to support the transition and retention of newer members into the centre. They have also worked on increasing members’ training levels. Course three training has been targeted as it enables the playcentre to run sessions independently and to qualify for Ministry of Education funding. The playcentre has had a high turnover of members and the roll is currently made up of mainly children under three years of age. Since the last ERO report the centre has been relicensed under the 2008 Early Childhood Regulations.
The centre operates as part of the Northland Playcentre Association. The Association is the umbrella organisation for twenty-three playcentres. Many of these centres are rural or semi-rural also with a high turnover of membership. The Association manages and distributes funding to the playcentres and provides qualification training for members. The Centre Support Workers carry out the administrative workload to enable members to focus on the programme. The Association has reviewed ways to make courses more manageable and accessible for rural members and has implemented a ‘course two in a term’ initiative.
This review was part of a cluster of four playcentre reviews in the Northland Playcentre Association.
Maungakaramea Playcentre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children. Children are engaged and settled in the programme. Periods of sustained play are evident. Children lead their own play and use the learning environment to select resources independently. Some good learning conversations are held between adults and children. Members support children to develop leadership skills and encourage cooperative and imaginative play. An infant area is provided to foster their development. Infants are at ease with adults other than their parents.
Members collaborate in promoting learning by contributing to other children’s learning documents. There are some instances of children’s interests being identified and extended during the session. The Day Book is the main planning document and is used to record activities that are offered each session. This record would be more useful if it were evaluated at the end of each session to identify how the programme could be improved to further develop children’s learning experiences in the next session. Parents could also document how they continue developing children’s learning opportunities between sessions in the home environment. Teaching and learning practices could be further promoted amongst members if Centre Support Workers modelled good practice across the membership team.
Parents take responsibility for supporting their own children to transition into school. Many children leave playcentre to attend other early childhood centres from about three and a half years of age and older. Some parents prefer their children to attend kindergarten as a transition process prior to attending school.
Commitment to promoting a bicultural partnership with Māori whānau is evident in the Northland Playcentre Association policies and procedures. The Association has developed Te Roopu Whakaaro Kotahi as a forum to support whānau Maori in playcentres. However, bicultural practices now need to be further strengthened. The New Zealand Playcentre Association’s Te Tiriti O Waitangi Framework could be used to promote ongoing development if Association support is to impact authentically on bicultural practices in Northland Association Playcentres.
Association management systems provide a basic framework for operations. The Playcentre philosophy statement has been personalised to the Maungakaramea Playcentre. The quality of practices could be strengthened considerably by members fully embedding the playcentre’s philosophy into the programme. Strategic and annual planning is in place. Annual plans should now be linked to strategic plans and include timelines and details that ensure that the strategic plan is implemented over time. Self review should be used regularly as a tool to bring about improvement.
The quality of practices could be strengthened by members:
continuing to explore ways to improve planning, assessment and evaluation of children’s learning
using the New Zealand Playcentre Federation’s Te Tiriti O Waitangi Framework to further develop bicultural practices
embedding the playcentre philosophy in the programme
linking annual and strategic planning and monitoring the implementation of this planning
Before the review, the staff and management of Maungakaramea Playcentre 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.
The next ERO review of Maungakaramea Playcentre will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services Northern Region
21 February 2014
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 |
Whangarei |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
17669 |
||
|
Licence type |
Playcentre |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
26 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
27 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 14 Girls 13 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā USA/ European |
4 21 2 |
|
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
November 2013 |
||
|
Date of this report |
21 February 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2010 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2007 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2004 |
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.