47 Kingfisher Crescent, Wanaka
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 Mountainside Educare Ltd are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
Mountainside Educare Ltd is a privately owned, purpose-built education and care service. It caters for children from birth-to-school age, within a mixed-age setting. All kaiako are qualified and registered. The centre manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation and curriculum provision. Some enrolled children identify as Māori and a small number are of South African heritage.
Kaiako foster meaningful interactions with children to nurture a positive sense of wellbeing and belonging. They purposefully engage children in a wide range of learning experiences and decision making. Children experience rich language development opportunities that support them to express themselves and have fun. Infants, toddlers, and young children are empowered through everyday routines to develop independence and agency.
Children with additional needs are well supported to be successful learners. Kaiako work collaboratively with parents and whānau, and external expertise, to develop useful individual plans to support them to experience success in their learning within the curriculum.
Kaiako are working towards implementing a responsive curriculum that integrates te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in ways that are meaningful to children. Collaborative professional development is in place to build their understandings of the Treaty of Waitangi and tikanga practices. However, the language, culture, and identity of children are yet to be visible in assessment documentation and throughout the curriculum.
Kaiako are increasingly integrating the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, when planning for and assessing children’s learning. Assessment information makes children’s learning visible but does not consistently show parents’ aspirations for their children’s learning or how teachers have responded to these. Kaiako are yet to seek parents’ meaningful input into the philosophy, vision, and goals of the service.
Leaders and kaiako have sought external support to build their understanding of internal evaluation processes. They are becoming increasingly clear about what they are evaluating and why. This remains a work in progress and the team is still developing understanding and use of highly effective internal evaluation for improvement. Leaders and kaiako consistently implement suitable systems, processes and practices that contribute to the smooth running of daily operations.
Mountainside Educare Ltd will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Ensure that parent and whanau aspirations materially influence the service philosophy, vision, goals and consistently inform planning for children’s learning and wellbeing.
Integrate the identities, languages, and cultures of children throughout the curriculum and in assessment documentation.
Continue to build all kaiako capability and to undertake effective internal evaluation by widening the range of data gathered and analysing this information to better know what is working or not.
Before the review, the staff and management of Mountainside Educare Ltd 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; 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
1 September 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Mountainside Educare Ltd |
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Profile Number |
46926 |
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Location |
Wānaka |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
51 |
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Review team on site |
May 2022 |
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Date of this report |
1 September 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2018 |
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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.
Mountainside Educare is a privately-owned education and care service. It has been open for two years and this is its first ERO report. The purpose-built centre is well designed to take advantage of natural light and indoor-outdoor flow.
Mountainside is licensed for 40 children up to school age, including up to 10 children under two years of age. Children learn and play in a mixed-age environment, with provision for older children to work in a side room. A centre manager provides overall centre leadership, and also has teaching responsibilities. All teachers are qualified.
The philosophy is based on the principles of relationships, respect and communication. Teachers endeavour to provide a high-quality education and care centre that is a home-away-from-home experience.
Children show a strong sense of belonging to their centre. Records of learning show that children make good progress against their individual learning priorities and the centre's priorities. Planning for individual children:
Children's progress is well tracked, shared with parents and whānau, and used to inform children's next learning directions. Teachers regularly evaluate the overall progress children are making over time.
Leaders and teachers have a growing commitment to providing an environment that includes Māori language and culture. The mixed-age group effectively supports the values of tuakana-teina/older supporting younger, manaakitanga/caring and whanaungatanga/relationships.
Teachers have caring and respectful relationships with the children and their whānau. They are nurturing and responsive to infants' needs and actions. The well-thought-out physical environment provides strongly for children's emotional and physical wellbeing, and their intellectual stimulation. The centre is strategic in its staffing to ensure good attachments and relationships. Children under two have strong secure attachments with their teachers.
Leaders use effective systems to build collective capacity amongst staff and sustainability within the centre. The useful long-term planning is carefully aligned to the centre's vision and philosophy. The strategic plan is thoughtfully set out to ensure good use and understanding of what is to be done, why, and by when.
Teachers are empowered to take responsibility for their own professional growth through the centre's well-designed appraisal process. Leaders and teachers effectively identify what is going well, and what would benefit from further improvement through the internal evaluation practices.
Teachers need to formally evaluate the impact of their teaching practices as part of their individual reflections and to inform the centre's overall review findings.
To know how well the centre is achieving its philosophy and learning priorities, leaders and teachers should extend their internal evaluation to incorporate relevant aspects of these key documents into review topics.
Before the review, the staff and management of Mountainside Educare 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 Mountainside Educare will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
28 June 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.
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Location |
Albert Town |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46926 |
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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 |
40 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 25 Boys: 22 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific |
10 35 2 |
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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 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2018 |
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Date of this report |
28 June 2018 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
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.