Prebbleton Nursery & Education Centre - 28/06/2016

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Prebbleton Nursery & Education Centre
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

How well placed is Prebbleton Nursery & Education Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

The centre managers are aware that this centre has been impacted by ongoing changes in leadership which has affected progress in some areas of the centre's development. With more consistent leadership now in place, they are in a better position to move forward with improving aspects of the centre programme and practices identified in this report.

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

Background

Prebbleton Nursery and Education Centre is one of four centres owned and operated by same managers. Three of these centres are located in Prebbleton - this nursery centre, an adjacent preschool and a nearby kindergarten.

The centre caters for babies and toddlers up to 3 years of age. The majority of staff are trained and registered early childhood teachers and have worked in the centre for a number of years.

Since last review there have been several changes in centre leadership. The current supervisor started in March 2016. Ongoing changes in leadership over the last few years have impacted on the centres progress in the areas for improvement identified in the 2012 ERO review. Some of these areas, such as self-review and planning and assessment practices, still need strengthening.

This review was part of a cluster of 4 reviews in the Prebbleton Childcare Ltd company.

The Review Findings

Teachers are responsive to individual children. They foster warm and respectful relationships and interact with children in caring and nurturing ways. They follow children’s interests, provide an appropriate range of activities and encourage children to become fully involved in the programme.

Teachers work with children in ways that support children’s oral language development, encourage their independence, and help them learn to play successfully with others.

Centre leaders have introduced new systems to support more collaborative planning approaches. Teachers are regularly noticing individual children’s interests, and planning how they will respond to these interests and children’s learning in the programme.

Teachers promote flexible and personalised transitions for children aged under two and over two, based on individual children’s needs. They recognise when children indicate they are confident to move from one area to the next and involve parents in supportive transition discussions.

Teachers are displaying children’s participation in the programme in attractive and informative ways. These displays are increasingly being presented down low on the walls in ways that the children can interact with the displays and revisit their learning experiences.

Centre leaders have developed clear strategic planning to guide the development of the centre and service overall. They have an increased focus on ensuring accountability with regular informative reports to management. They provide useful formats and prompts to support centre self-review and assist in the effective monitoring of health and safety and compliance practices. Centre leaders have strengthened appraisal with clearer expectations and processes. There are now updated policies and procedures.

Teachers are currently using their evaluation practices to increase the ways they involve parents in the life and activities of the centre.

There are supportive practices in place for leadership and to help guide centre improvement. This includes regular feedback from a curriculum leader to the supervisor to identify practices for improvement and promote centre development. The new centre supervisor has a clear vision for best teaching and learning practice. She works collaboratively with the centre managers to promote centre improvement.

Key Next Steps

Centre managers have identified, and ERO's findings confirm, that key next steps for this centre include:

• reviewing the philosophy to develop a clearer shared understanding of effective teaching and learning for infants and toddlers that reflects and guides the current practice of the team

• reviewing the effectiveness of the programme for children under two years of age, especially at busy times of the day and during routines

• further developing assessment, planning and self review practices

• strengthening the understanding of Māori perspectives in all aspects of centre practices

• successfully embedding the new appraisal processes and further strengthening aspects of performance management.

In addition, the centre leaders should also develop ways to evaluate how well-service wide goals are being responded to and met across the centres.

ERO has requested an action plan of how the service provider plans to address the next steps identified in this report.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 Prebbleton Nursery & Education Centre will be in three years.

Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

28 June 2016

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 Early Childhood 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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.

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.