520 Gloucester Road, Papamoa, Tauranga
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 New Shoots Children’s Centre - Sandhurst are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whakawhanake Sustaining Whakawhanake Sustaining |
This service is part of the New Shoots Children’s Centre Group. Children play and learn in one of four rooms, sharing an outdoor playground. A governance team guides centre operations. The centre director leads a large teaching team. The roll is ethnically diverse and includes a number of tamariki Māori, and children from Pacific heritages. Very good progress has been made since the last review.
Children experience a highly responsive, inclusive curriculum based on the valued learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and whānau priorities. Intentional teaching strategies foster children’s interests, oral language and social competency. Leaders and teachers have developed reciprocal partnerships with parents and relevant external agencies. Children with additional learning needs are very well supported to achieve their learning goals alongside their peers. Younger children benefit from nurturing care for their developing physical and emotional needs, and wellbeing.
Leaders and teachers work closely with parents and whānau to develop priorities for their children’s learning. This helps with the integration of cultural heritages and home languages into the local curriculum. Children have many opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori, sing waiata and engage in aspects of tikanga Māori practices. Akotanga Tūanuku, the bush visiting programme, strongly supports learning about aspects of te ao Māori for older learners. Assessment and planning for learning, and associated evaluation documentation shows children’s learning and progress over time in relation to their valued learning outcomes and priorities.
Internal evaluation processes are well embedded in centre practice. Leaders and teachers remain focused on monitoring and evaluating previous evaluations to know what is going well, and what needs further development. A next step is to analyse the impact of changes made on outcomes for individuals and groups of children over time.
Strongly improvement-focused governance and management implement a well-considered strategic plan and relevant systems that intentionally guide the organisation. They purposefully allocate resources that clearly align with achieving centre priorities for children’s learning. Collaborative targeted ongoing professional learning builds leadership and teachers’ capabilities. Successful initiatives support children to access the inclusive curriculum.
New Shoots Children’s Centre - Sandhurst will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
The New Shoots governance group has indicated it will include the following in its Quality Improvement Planning, to ensure that all services are working at a consistent level.
Before the review, the staff and management of New Shoots Children’s Centre - Sandhurst 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:
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.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
7 March 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | New Shoots Children’s Centre - Sandhurst |
| Profile Number | 47039 |
| Location | Papamoa |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 75 children, including up to 38 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 92 |
| Review team on site | November 2023 |
| Date of this report | 7 March 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, June 2018; |
Not well placed | Requires further development | Well placed | Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
New Shoots Children’s Centre (Sandhurst) is located in Papamoa. It is licensed to provide all-day education and care for 75 children including 28 aged under two. The current roll of 92 includes 15 children who identify as Māori and 23 children from a range of other cultural heritages.
The purpose-built centre opened in July 2016. Since opening, considered appointments have been made to align with the strategic direction and New Shoots organisation’s philosophy. The teaching team consists of experienced early childhood educators, new graduates, students and provisionally certificated teachers.
There are four aged-based rooms within the centre to cater for children aged 3 months to school age. The rooms are known as – Pipis (3 months to 1 year), Paua (1 to 2 years), Kina (2 to 3.5 years) and Taniwha (3.5 years to school age). A large outdoor environment is well resourced with a natural world focus. Children are able to move freely between the indoor and outdoor spaces. This provides opportunities for children to develop relationships with a wider range of peers.
The centre philosophy emphasises the development of relationships based on integrity, respect, nurture and trust. This centre is privately owned by three educators who are qualified in early childhood education and also own and govern centres in Tauranga, Auckland and Hamilton. A centre director oversees management and leadership of the Sandhurst Centre. She is supported by an assistant centre director.
This is the first ERO evaluation for this centre.
Empowering children’s independence and choice clearly underpins teaching and learning. Teachers value and encourage aspirations for children. Positive respectful relationships with parents and whānau underpin a strong sense of belonging and connectedness. Nurturing and respectful interactions between teachers and children are highly evident. The purposeful learning environment adds complexity and challenge to children’s ideas, interests and working theories. The centre has identified the development of teachers' confidence and competence in te reo and tikanga Māori as an ongoing priority for the centre. This should further acknowledge and extend connections for children to their culture, language and identity, and the local environment.
Transitions into, through and out of the centre are highly effective. A calm and unhurried environment for children under the age of two provides them space and time to lead their own learning. Teachers use learning opportunities within routines to extend children's knowledge and understanding. Whānau-support teachers work with children and their family's for successful transition into the centre. This ensures highly responsive care that nurtures children’s positive sense of self.
There is a comprehensive and well-considered approach to supporting children with additional needs. Strong relationships with external agencies, alongside parents and whānau provide collaborative wrap-around support. Teachers' knowledge and understanding is built through well-considered professional learning. Children engage in meaningful learning experiences that are responsive to their needs.
A wide range of learning experiences fosters children’s curiosity and risk taking. Learning journals celebrate children’s participation in centre life and reflect their progress and development. The New Shoots Curriculum guides expectations for high-quality teaching and learning. Assessment, planning and evaluation recognises and extends children’s emerging interests, strengths and needs. Children's confidence and friendships are developed and supported through the mixed-age outdoor environment. The purposefully planned approach is respectful and responsive to the individual child’s needs and readiness, in collaboration with whānau.
Effective leadership has built a highly positive and collaborative culture. Leaders and teachers feel highly valued and respected. A focused and coherent approach to building teacher capacity and capability through self review supports ongoing centre-wide improvements. Leaders have a strong commitment to teaching and learning that advocates positive outcomes for all children.
A clear strategic direction outlines priorities and goals for continued improvement. The vision is evident throughout teaching practice and the learning environment. The centre is well supported by the New Shoots organisation. Highly-effective systems monitor the physical and emotional health and safety for all children.
ERO and centre leaders agree that the key next step is to continue to develop teachers' confidence and competence in te reo and tikanga Māori to acknowledge children's language, culture and identity.
Before the review, the staff and management of New Shoots Children's Centre - Sandhurst 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 New Shoots Children's Centre - Sandhurst will be in four years.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region
20 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.
| Location | Papamoa | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 47039 | ||
| Licence type | Education & Care Service | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 75 children, including up to 28 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 93 | ||
| Gender composition | Boys 49 Girls 44 | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori Pākehā Other ethnic groups | 15 56 22 | |
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates | 80% + | ||
| Reported ratios of staff to children | Under 2 | 1:4 | Better than minimum requirements |
| Over 2 | 1:8 | Better than minimum requirements | |
| Review team on site | February 2018 | ||
| Date of this report | 20 June 2018 | ||
| Most recent ERO report(s) | No previous ERO reports | ||
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.