- ERO evaluates and reports on the education and care of children and young people in early childhood services and schools.
How well placed is Ready Steady Babies to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Ready Steady Babies is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Ready Steady Babies is a privately-owned, purpose-built centre. It is one of two centres operating within the same building and provides education and care for infants, toddlers and children under three years of age. Ready Steady Babies operates from the same premises as Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre. Each centre has two separate rooms. The centres work closely together under the same management and administration structure.
Most staff are qualified early childhood teachers. An administrator and housekeeper are employed to work across both centres.
Since the 2012 ERO review, there has been a change to the management structure of the centres with an assistant manager appointed in March 2015. Ready Steady Babies has made very good progress towards meeting the recommendations from the previous ERO report by developing very effective self-review processes.
This review was part of a cluster of two centres owned and administered by the same service provider.
Babies and toddlers experience nurturing, responsive interactions with their teachers that promote their sense of wellbeing. They enjoy very well-presented environments that provide physical challenges and many opportunities for exploration.
Babies and toddlers benefit from calm, unhurried routines that are valued as learning opportunities for children. Teachers make strong connections with parents and ensure children’s home routines and individual needs are met.
Teachers use a range of effective strategies to support children’s learning. They respectfully explain what is happening and invite children’s participation. Teachers are strongly focused on helping babies and toddlers develop their oral language skills and respond with interest to their gestures and verbal cues. Teachers are very involved in children’s play. They provide a wide variety of activities to support babies and toddlers develop their self-help skills.
Teachers include te reo and tikanga Māori in children’s everyday experiences. They have made appropriate use of professional development to build their knowledge of bicultural concepts and practices.
Teachers plan the learning programme based on each child’s individual and development needs. Teachers have used self review to improve aspects of child assessment, programme planning and evaluation.
Transitions into and within the centre are carefully planned and well managed to meet the needs of individual children and their families.
Centre leaders and teachers support and include families very well. They build strong relationships with parents and provide good opportunities for parents to share information about their children. Leaders consult with families and value their contributions.
The managers share a strong commitment to ongoing improvement of learning and teaching and supporting teachers to further develop their teaching skills. They make good use of professional development to review and improve centre systems and practices and define their roles and responsibilities within the new management structure.
Managers and teachers effectively use self review to identify what is going well and where further improvements can be made. They carefully monitor improvements to ensure they result in positive outcomes for children.
The centre managers and ERO agree that the key next steps for improving outcomes for children include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Ready Steady Babies 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 Ready Steady Babies will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
9 November 2015
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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65184 |
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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 |
35 children, including up to 24 aged under two |
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Service roll |
32 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 17; Boys 15 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Sri Lankan Australian Cambodian Other ethnicities |
10 17 1 1 1 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
September 2015 |
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Date of this report |
9 November 2015 |
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Most recent ERO reports These are available at www.ero.govt.nz |
Education Review |
June 2012 |
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Education Review |
June 2008 |
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Education Review |
August 2006 |
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.
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.
