136 Aldwins Road, Linwood, Christchurch
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
New Beginnings Pre-School is a community based early learning service governed by a charitable trust. A new centre manager leads a team of seven qualified teachers with two other staff in training. The service has received support from the Ministry of Education to strengthen its systems and processes. The service moved from a provisional to a full licence in July 2020.
The curriculum is inclusive, and children’s preferences are respected. There is sufficient quality and variety of equipment both in the indoor and outdoor areas that is appropriate for the children attending. Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The philosophy statement, and annual plan guide the service’s operation. Parents are provided with opportunities to contribute to the development and review of the service’s operational documentation. Internal evaluation and teacher appraisal are implemented. Health and safety policies and procedures are in place and monitored, and changes are made when required.
Next steps include:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
27 October 2020
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Early Childhood Service Name |
New Beginnings Pre-School |
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Profile Number |
70395 |
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Location |
Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
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Service roll |
50 |
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Gender composition |
Male 20, Female 30 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 9 |
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Review team on site |
September 2020 |
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Date of this report |
27 October 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2017 |
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.
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
New Beginnings Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
New Beginnings Preschool is a community service governed by a board of trustees. The centre caters for babies to children of school age. The under two-year-old and over two-year-old groups each have their own indoor and outdoor areas. Nearly all the teachers are qualified and certificated early childhood teachers. The centre roll includes a high percentage of Māori children as well as children from a number of other cultural groups.
Since the 2014 ERO review the service has experienced considerable changes in staff and trustees, including a new curriculum leader and chairperson. The board includes members of the wider community with expertise in governance, finance and curriculum, and parent representatives.
The board, curriculum leader and staff have made significant progress in addressing the recommendations in the previous ERO report. They have made very good use of the additional support that they received from the Ministry of Education, advisory support services and the wider community to foster improvements. These include improvements to the quality and sustainability of governance and management systems and practices, and the curriculum.
Children, parents and staff benefit from the strong focus on establishing and maintaining positive and inclusive relationships at all levels of centre operations. Children are well supported to be respectful and include others in their play and decision making. Parents' views are actively sought and well used to engage them in their children's learning and the life of the centre. Teachers work collaboratively. Their strengths are recognised and well used to improve outcomes for children and families.
Children are confident, settled and engaged in their learning. They play well in small groups and work independently in ways that promote their learning. Teachers spend the majority of their time with children to promote their sustained engagement in meaningful, child initiated learning. Teachers successfully use their involvement in children's play to model positive relationships and problem solving.
Children and teachers make very good use of the well-presented and resourced learning environment to promote independence, taking responsibility and creativity. Children are supported to take managed risks in their learning to achieve success.
Infants and toddlers enjoy a calm and settled environment where their wellbeing is actively promoted. Teachers have an in-depth knowledge of each child and make appropriate use of this knowledge to support infants' and toddlers' learning and development.
Te reo and tikanga Māori are well integrated into the programme. Māori whānau share their culture and Māori children have many opportunities to be leaders and experience success as Māori.
Assessment and planning for individual children is becoming well established. Systems and practices for assessment and planning successfully use children's interests to identify next steps for learning. Parent aspirations for their children are actively sought and well integrated into individual children's goals. Evaluations successfully identify the progress children are making and in some instances the effectiveness of the teaching approaches.
Leaders and staff have a shared understanding of evaluation. They use evaluation effectively to improve the centre culture and to make the best use of individual skills and strengths.
Curriculum, management and governance leaders are focused on improvement and have high expectations for learning and teaching and the sustainability of the centre. They value parent input, and the skills and insights that they bring. Centre events are becoming better attended and parents are spending more time in the centre with their children and staff.
The board and the centre are well led. Effective use is made of skills and knowledge that trustees from the wider community bring to the board.
The board and centre leaders identified and ERO confirms the key next steps for the centre include:
further developing sustainable governance practices
refining the strategic goals and plans, and extending processes to monitor and report progress
revisiting the leadership structure to ensure it is sustainable and ensuring the curriculum leader is well supported in the role
reviewing group planning and evaluation to ensure it builds on assessment and planning for individual children
building on initiatives for cultural responsiveness
strengthening internal evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of New Beginnings Pre-School 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 New Beginnings Pre-School will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
29 June 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 |
Linwood, Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70395 |
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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 |
36 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
55 |
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Gender composition |
Boys: 28 Girls: 27 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
14 |
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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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
March 2017 |
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Date of this report |
29 June 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
May 2014 |
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Education Review |
May 2010 |
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Education Review |
May 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.