Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre

Education institution number:
30097
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
53
Telephone:
Address:

21 College Drive, Gordonton

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Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whakaū Embedding

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre provides education and care for children in a purpose-built facility within the grounds of Eastwest College of Intercultural Studies of Gordonton. The centre operates two age-specific rooms. The current roll includes a small number of tamariki Māori and a significant number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience a curriculum that positively fosters their decision making and sense of independence within well-resourced learning environments. Regular teacher-led experiences promote children’s understanding of the world around them. Children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging.

The centre’s Christian, faith-based philosophy is highly visible, prioritising inclusion and acceptance of others. Teachers respond to children’s cultures, languages and identity in meaningful ways. Strategies that promote success for tamariki Māori are integrated. Children experience regular opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori, and tikanga Māori is consistently incorporated into daily experiences.

Strong, learning-focused partnerships and authentic experiences enhance children’s learning and ongoing development. Teachers gather and respond to parents’ goals for their children, and reflect this through assessment. Leaders are continuing to build the teaching team’s ability to recognise children’s learning in relation to the valued learning outcomes of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.

Improvement processes result in knowledge building and positive shifts in teaching practice. Teachers’ knowledge of effective teaching is enhanced through ongoing feedback, mentoring and coaching. New and unqualified teachers are supported to participate in planning and assessment. They are increasingly recognising and responding to the different ways in which younger children learn. Evaluations promote improvement to the daily curriculum. There is some monitoring of the impact of these improvements on individuals and groups of children over time.

Those responsible for governance support equitable experiences for children with additional needs. The centre leader collaborates with relevant external agencies to support and enable the participation of these children.

4 Improvement actions

Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • Continue to build collective understanding of how children learn, particularly those up to the age of three, to enable all staff to recognise and respond to schema and learning dispositions.

  • Increase the extent to which internal evaluation enables leaders and teachers to understand how improvement actions have impacted on children in relation to the valued outcomes in Te Whāriki.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre 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:

  • 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.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

11 October 2023 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre

Profile Number

30097

Location

Gordonton

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

50 children, including up to 10 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

64

Review team on site

August 2023

Date of this report

11 October 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, June 2021
Education Review, June 2017

Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre

ERO’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.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.

Background

Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre is a purpose-built facility providing education and care for children from birth to school age. The centre manager, responsible for day-to-day operation, leads a team of seven teachers. The service has a positive reporting history with ERO.

Summary of Review Findings

Positive and meaningful relationships are evident between children and teachers. The service supports children’s developing social competence and understanding. A range of contextualised learning experiences, both indoors and outdoors, is supported by the design and layout of the premises. The service curriculum provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s contextual learning. The centre’s Christian philosophy guides operations. Teachers support the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages them to understand and respect other cultures.

Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • having a documented procedure for monitoring children’s sleep that includes for warmth, breathing and general well-being (HS9)
  • ensuring the result of the risk assessment component of safety checks of all children’s workers are recorded in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

14 June 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Rainbows Gordonton Early Childhood Centre
Profile Number 30097
Location Gordonton

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

50 children, including up to 10 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

61

Ethnic composition

Māori 3, NZ European/Pākehā 43, Korean 5, Indian 4, Other ethnic groups 6

Review team on site

April 2021

Date of this report

14 June 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, June 2017, Education Review, September 2014.

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
  • previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
  • that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
  • that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
  • where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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:

  • curriculum
  • premises and facilities
  • health and safety practices
  • governance, management and administration.

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:

  • 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 certification; ratios)
  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

  • discussions with those involved in the service
  • consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
  • observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.