Nurture@Home Tahi

1 Evaluation of Nurture@Home Ltd.

How well placed is Nurture@Home Ltd. to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Nurture@Home Ltd. is a privately-owned, home-based care and education service. The owners are two early childhood qualified teachers who are also the visiting teachers. They are responsible for a number of educators who take care of not more than four preschool children, at one time, in their own homes.

The owners provide ongoing support and training opportunities for the educators. They also support nannies who care for children in the children's home. The service is licenced for a total of 80 children.

The owners have set a clear vision for the direction of the service. They believe in the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships within the service and in partnership with families, for the benefit of children. A strong programme focus is children’s engagement with and exploring nature.

This is Nurture@Home Ltd.'s first Education Review.

The Review Findings

The owners at Nurture@Home Ltd. have high expectations for children's care and education. They carefully select educators and nannies who understand the importance of positive, caring relationships within a professional context. They are building a strong sense of family within the service, with a focus on working together to provide the best possible outcomes for children.

Since opening the service, the owners have established effective systems to support teaching and children’s learning. These have included policies, procedures and monitoring systems that guide practice across all aspects of the service.

Educators receive effective support and guidance. Visiting teachers are clear about the learning they see as important for children. They provide helpful information and useful resources on a regular basis, to ensure educators provide programmes that extend the learning of each child in their care. There has been significant work within the service to ensure educators understand the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki and how to use it in their daily practice. The owners have established a wide range of processes for communicating with parents, to keep them informed and involved in their child's learning.

Educators are encouraged to pursue early childhood qualifications. The owners provide both internal and external professional development opportunities to continually build the knowledge and skills of educators and nannies. The expectation for all involved in the service to build on their te ao Māori knowledge and implement bicultural practices, is visible across a range of practices. These practices and the involvement of parents in supporting and building culture, is contributing to children's success as Māori.

Children up to the age of two are carefully matched with educators with the skills and knowledge to work with the families’ home routines and provide appropriate care and learning experiences. The small group size within a safe, homely environment facilitates close interactions.

To ensure all children have equitable opportunities to develop and learn, the owners have established a system to closely monitor the learning of priority children and those with diverse needs. This has been established to support educators to develop intentional and effective strategies appropriate for each child. This is a work in progress and has yet to be fully implemented, monitored and evaluated.

The owners have a good understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities. They effectively separate their governance role from that of visiting teacher. They have established effective links with support agencies in the community and are involved in a cluster of education professionals within a local Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL).

The owners have established a strong culture of continuous improvement across the service. They understand the value and importance of regular reviews of practice. The internal evaluation processes undertaken to date have contributed to improvements that support positive outcomes for children. A useful appraisal process is also helping to guide ongoing development in the visiting teachers' and educators' practice.

Key Next Steps

ERO and the owners agree that the key next steps are to:

Further develop, monitor and evaluate:

• action planning to support the strategic goals and strategic priorities

• new initiatives that support priority learners

• how adults enhance children's language, culture and identity

• ways to integrate Māori perspectives and bicultural understanding across all aspects of the service

• internal evaluation processes to ensure the focus is on improving outcomes for all children, especially in relation to the vision, philosophy and valued outcomes.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Nurture@Home Ltd. completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Nurture@Home Ltd. will be in three years.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

10 September 2018

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Home-based Education and Care Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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:

• Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
• Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
• Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
• Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.