52 Dunford Street, Rakaia
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 the regulatory standards.
Rakaia Little Learners Preschool, formerly Rakaia Childcare & Preschool Ltd, is a small, rural centre. Most staff, including the owner, are qualified early childhood teachers. A significant number of Māori children and those from Pacific heritages attend. Since the June 2018 ERO report, there has been very good progress towards addressing the key next steps in relation to assessment, planning and evaluation, strategic planning and internal evaluation.
The service’s curriculum is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. It acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Leaders and teachers engage in meaningful, positive interactions to assist children’s learning and to nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, interests, and their whānau contexts.
The design and layout of the premises provides quiet places, areas for physically active play, and a range of individual and group learning experiences. A philosophy and annual plan guide the service’s operation. Ongoing processes of self-review and internal evaluation help to maintain and improve the quality of education and care.
Next steps include:
refining the assessment, planning and evaluation processes, to more clearly show how the aspirations held by parents and whānau are used, and to consider the length of time taken for an individual child’s documented learning cycle
finding ways for individual children to independently revisit their learning and progress over time while at the centre.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
15 June 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Rakaia Little Learners Preschool |
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Profile Number |
70168 |
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Location |
Rakaia |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 11 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
77 |
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Review team on site |
April 2023 |
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Date of this report |
15 June 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education review, June 2018; Education review, November 2014. |
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.
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.
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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Rakaia Childcare and Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Rakaia Childcare and Preschool is a small, rural service providing care and education for up to 25 children, five of whom can be under two years old. The infants and toddlers, and the preschool children each have separate indoor and outdoor areas.
The owner has two centres, this one in Rakaia and another in Dunsandel. A centre manager and curriculum leader are employed at this centre. The teaching staff are qualified early childhood teachers or training to become qualified. As at the time of the last ERO review in 2014, there have been ongoing changes in staffing.
The previous ERO review identified significant areas for development. Considerable progress has been made in improving assessment, planning and evaluation for individual children. Progress has been made in increasing the range of teaching practices that teachers use, developing strategic planning and improving the staff appraisal processes. While changes have been made to the indoor environment it still needs further work to provide effectively for the learning and developmental needs of all children.
The centre's vision, mission and values provide clear direction and are very evident in the programme, especially in the areas of bicultural inclusion, positive and supportive relationships and sustainability practices.
Children and families have many opportunities to participate in, share their knowledge of, and learn te reo and tikanga Māori. Leaders and kaiako (teachers) are strongly committed to continuing to increase their knowledge of Māori language and culture, and embedding it into all aspects of centre operations. Some kaiako naturally use te reo Māori in their conversations with children. They also ensure waiata, karakia and Māori values are positively integrated into the daily programme. Children are well supported to know the local history and role of Māori in their area. The number of children who identify as Māori is increasing. Māori children show pride in their bicultural heritage.
Infants, toddlers and preschool children enjoy nurturing and respectful relationships with their kaiako. Manaakitanga (caring) and aroha are clearly evident in the ways older children play and learn together, and support younger children in their play and learning.
Leaders and kaiako actively seek to involve the local community in the centre's curriculum and children's learning. Community ideals for sustainable practices have been adopted by the centre. Children enjoy regular excursions into the community and visits to the centre by community members. Children have a good knowledge and understanding of their local community.
Children are well supported by their kaiako to be self-managing and independent learners. They are actively encouraged to lead their learning, make decisions and take increasing responsibility for their behaviour. Kaiako effectively use a range of strategies to extend children's learning, help them to problem solve and work co-operatively with other children.
Leaders and kaiako have established meaningful learning partnerships with parents and whānau. They actively seek parent aspirations for their children and involve them in goal setting and evaluating their children's progress in achieving these goals. Technologies are well used to keep parents and whānau informed about centre events and their children's involvement in the curriculum.
Assessment and planning for individual children is well developed and used to support children's learning, progress and achievement. Strong links between home and centre learning are evident. Kaiako make effective use of children's interests and their knowledge of each child to plan for and extend learning in ways that are meaningful for the child. Carefully constructed evaluations of learning and progress identify the effectiveness of teaching and use of the learning environment.
Centre leaders and ERO agree that internal evaluation is a significant area for improvement. Leaders and kaiako need to develop more indepth understanding of evaluation processes, and particularly:
the use of an evaluative question to begin the evaluation
developing measurable indicators
using information gathered to develop and implement action plans
using the indicators to evaluate outcomes for children's learning and wellbeing.
Centre leaders and ERO also agree that to continue to improve the quality and consistency of learning and teaching, and outcomes for children, leaders and kaiako need to:
review small group planning, implementation and evaluation to ensure it complements planning, assessment and evaluation practices for individual children and is consistent with the principles of Te Whāriki 2017
improve the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of strategic goals by developing annual plans that include clear criteria, specific actions and timelines to regularly review processes and the impact on outcomes
continue to improve the indoor environment, including developing long-term plans based on recent research and professional development, and evaluating the outcomes against the centre's vision, mission and values for learning and wellbeing.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rakaia Childcare & Preschool Ltd 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.
ERO recommends that the service provider seeks clarification from the Ministry of Education (MoE) on the interpretation of the requirement for monitoring sleeping children to ensure centre practices are compliant with the regulation that sleeping children are to be checked for warmth, breathing and general wellbeing at least every 5-10 minutes.
Since the onsite stage of the review, the centre has contacted the MoE for further clarification.
The next ERO review of Rakaia Childcare & Preschool Ltd will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Waipounamu - Southern 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.
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Location |
Rakaia Mid Canterbury |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70168 |
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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 |
25 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
41 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 21 ; Girls 20 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Other ethnicities |
13 19 2 7 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2018 |
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Date of this report |
20 June 2018 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education review Education review |
November 2014 February 2012 |
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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.