Rongomai Road, Otara, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
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Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing |
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai is owned and governed by the Sathya Sai Values Education and Services Trust (New Zealand). A centre manager and qualified curriculum manager provide leadership support to a team of two qualified teachers and one staff member. Most of the children attending have Pacific heritages, including Samoan, Tongan and Cook Islands Māori. A small number of children are Māori.
Children demonstrate confidence and belonging at the service. They benefit from teachers role modelling the centre values such as peace, truth, love, the right conduct and non-violence. Teachers skilfully align these values with the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Children have opportunities to make connections between people, places, and things in their world. Their home languages and te reo Māori are heard, and their cultures are reflected in the environment. Children experience aspects of tikanga Māori such as pōwhiri, waiata and karakia.
Children have developed verbal language skills as a result of teachers’ focus on supporting children’s developing social competence. Children access various experiences such as water and sand play, physical play, puzzles, art and craft, and literacy and numeracy related activities in the language-rich environment.
Recently established curriculum planning processes are focused on individual children’s learning. Teachers need to consistently record their evaluation of the curriculum. This specifically includes teachers’ assessment of the impact of curriculum experiences and teaching practices on children’s learning outcomes over time.
Teachers provide parents with regular opportunities to participate in policy review, centre events and to share their aspirations for children’s learning. Board members prioritise the wellbeing of all stakeholders. This has resulted in caring relationships with children and parents and relational trust amongst leaders and teachers. Children with additional learning needs benefit from teachers’ collaboration with parents and external agencies.
Teachers access regular and relevant professional learning opportunities. They collaboratively review centre practices. Leaders now need to support teachers to grow their understanding and use of critical reflection and evaluation as a way to guide improvement. Recording teachers’ thinking about how their practices impact on children’s learning could lead to improved teaching practices and improved outcomes for children.
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Improve the extent to which assessment information shows children’s progress and learning over time.
Evaluate how well the centre’s curriculum and teaching strategies are improving learning outcomes for all children.
Build shared understanding and capability to use internal evaluation to evidence improved learning outcomes for all children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai 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.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following
non-compliances:
Having a documented procedure for monitoring children's sleep. The procedure ensures that children do not have access to food or liquids while in bed and includes a record of the time each child attending the service sleeps, and checks made by adults during that time (HS9).
Ensuring daily consideration of hazards includes electrical appliances; hazards present in kitchen or laundry facilities; the condition and placement of learning, play and other equipment; and bodies of water (HS12).
Ensuring that whenever children leave the premises on an excursion, parents have given prior written approval to their child's participation and of the proposed ratio for regular excursions at the time of enrolment, and special excursions prior to the excursion taking place (HS17).
Having a procedure outlining the service's response to injury, illness and incidents, including the review and implementation of practices as required (HS27).
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
22 December 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai |
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Profile Number |
10191 |
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Location |
Otara, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
40 children over the age of 2 years |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
31 |
|
Review team on site |
October 2022 |
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Date of this report |
22 December 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, April 2019; Education Review, April 2015 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai, offers free early childhood education and care for up to 40 children from 2 to 5 years old. Most of the children who attend identify as Māori or Pacific. The centre is located on the grounds of Rongomai School and is owned and operated by the Sathya Sai Values Education & Services Trust (New Zealand). The management committee is accountable to the trust's national governance board.
The centre's philosophy is founded on the values of right conduct, peace, truth, love and non-violence. Teachers aim to model these values in their practice. The philosophy acknowledges the unique place of tangata whenua and the centre's role in supporting children to be proud of their heritage.
The chairperson of the management committee and the centre supervisor are long-serving members of the Sathya Sai Preschool, and are new to their roles since the 2015 ERO review. There have been many new appointments to the management committee, centre leadership and teaching team in this time. The board employs a centre manager, five qualified teaching staff, and three support staff.
Children are developing their social competency, and learning to take increased responsibility for their own and others' wellbeing. They enjoy playing with their peers, and their talk is encouraged and respected by adults. Teachers engage children in warm, welcoming interactions. The curriculum provides opportunities for children to discuss fairness with adults, and to learn about the centre's values. Teachers increasingly recognise and respond to opportunities that engage and extend children's individual interests.
Teachers have accessed external professional development to implement intentional teaching practices that support successful outcomes for Māori and Pacific children. They are continuing to improve the integration of Māori concepts and language throughout the curriculum. Where appropriate, they support children to lead in aspects of their cultural knowledge. Leaders and teachers are building on positive relationships with parents/whānau to develop authentic learning partnerships and value their contributions to programme planning.
Teachers have benefitted from external professional development to build their professional practice. Leaders and teachers have improved the integration of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and Sathya Sai values. They have recently introduced play-based learning and reviewed the purpose of assessment, curriculum design and evaluation. A next step should be to refine the philosophy to better reflect the centre's commitment to Te Whāriki.
Leaders are continuing to develop relational trust to build a collaborative organisational culture. They have established peer and team teaching practices for curriculum design and internal evaluation. An improved appraisal system has been implemented. This should support teachers to take a leading role to develop their professional practice. Leaders continue to foster teachers' understanding of internal evaluation, and establish emergent leadership to improve the collective capability of the staff.
Centre management and governance committees have a strong understanding of the vision and mission. They are strategically focused on improvement for the local community. Leaders have started to link internal evaluation to the centre's philosophy. To build on this initiative, external support to develop teachers' evaluation capability needs to continue to be a priority.
The management committee has implemented a sound policy framework with good systems and processes to support health and safety. They agree that they should now formalise induction processes, and clarify the roles and responsibilities of the management and governance committees.
The management committee agrees that the priorities to improve outcomes for children are to continue external professional development to:
refine the centre philosophy
develop and use internal evaluation to improve children's learning and wellbeing
enhance the quality of teaching, assessment practices and curriculum design
develop emergent leadership.
Before the review, the staff and management of Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
11 April 2019
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.
|
Location |
Otara, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10191 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children aged over 2 years |
||
|
Service roll |
32 |
||
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Gender composition |
Boys 20 Girls 12 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
11 |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
February 2019 |
||
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Date of this report |
11 April 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
April 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
May 2009 |
||
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 will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai is a privately owned and operated service that offers a free education and care service for children and their families. The centre is owned by 'The Sathya Sai Values Education & Services Trust (NZ)'. It operates under the principles and human values of right conduct, peace, truth, love and non-violence. The centre is located in the grounds of Rongomai School in Otara, Auckland, and caters for up to 40 children over two years of age.
The Trust is represented on site by the centre’s long-serving licensee/signatory. The licensee models the values of the organisation and is responsible for ensuring that they are followed. She is committed to community involvement and empowerment. She appoints local people and encourages them to extend their work experiences and qualifications over time.
Previous ERO reports have highlighted special strengths in the centre. The reports have especially noted the advantages for children of positive relationships, good levels of adult interactions and worthwhile learning activities. The centre has maintained these strengths over time and has continued to develop and progress in other areas. The appointment of a new supervisor is providing additional impetus for ongoing development.
Children participate in a programme that reflects the centre’s values. They share warm and trusting relationships with adults and each other within an affirming and caring environment. Children have teachers who know them and their families well, and who are intent on promoting their overall wellbeing. They settle well into their preschool day and actively contribute to maintaining the centre’s attractive and orderly environment. Children are positive and happy, and confident in their interactions with adults.
The centre welcomes diversity. It reflects New Zealand’s bicultural society and the bicultural nature of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Children’s cultural identities are well promoted by the centre’s multi-cultural staff, its programme and environment, and the high levels of engagement it has with parents and whānau. The centre works closely with families needing support and caters well for children with special needs. It genuinely reflects the licensee’s passionate belief in community and the value of education.
The programme is a combination of free choice from available indoor activities, participation in centre routines such as 'circle times', and self selected play in the outdoors. Children have rich opportunities to explore available indoor activities in depth. Teachers place a strong focus on oral language development and appropriately integrated literacy and mathematics learning experiences during these times. Older children demonstrate high levels of interest in the more formal aspects of the programme, but these aspects are not so appropriate for the younger children currently attending.
The curriculum is very well led. The supervisor promotes a programme that is increasingly responsive to children’s emergent interests. Records of children’s learning are developing well, and parental input into recognising this learning has been significantly extended. Strong self-review processes are now the basis of curriculum improvement. Teachers are reflective about their practice and undertake increasingly robust programme evaluations. Teachers participate in good quality appraisal processes and benefit from the skill and expertise of their curriculum leader.
The Trust governs the centre well. The licensee is also a trustee and is often in the centre. She values her staff and is intent on being a good employer. She has ensured that the centre operates under appropriate and well documented policy and procedure. She has considerable knowledge and experience, and demonstrates a strong commitment to her beliefs and the underlying purpose of the centre.
During the review ERO, the licensee and the supervisor discussed the advantages of:
Before the review, the staff and management of Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai 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 Sathya Sai Preschool - Rongomai will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
10 April 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.
|
Location |
Otara, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10191 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
36 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 20 Boys 16 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Samoan Cook Island Tongan other |
6 14 7 7 2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
February 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 April 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 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.