Claude Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland
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 |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Te Whare Punanga Takawaenga Atawhai O Aorere, Aorere College Childcare Centre provides education and care for 40 children from birth to five years, including up to six children under the age of two. The service is in the grounds of Aorere College and is governed by the school’s board of trustees. Most children enrolled are of Māori or Pacific heritage.
Teachers engage in meaningful and positive interactions that enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. They provide a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning. The service provides opportunities to communicate with parents and whānau about service operations and their child’s learning.
Ongoing monitoring of health and safety, premises and facilities and governance and management practices is required to ensure all aspects of regulatory compliance are maintained.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
8 November 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name |
Te Whare Punanga Takawaenga Atawhai O Aorere, Aorere College Childcare Centre |
| Profile Number | 25002 |
| Location | Papatoetoe, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
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Service roll |
25 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 9, NZ European/Pākehā 2, Samoan 7, Pacific 5, other ethnic groups 2 |
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Review team on site |
August 2021 |
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Date of this report |
8 November 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, November 2017 |
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.
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:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Te Whare Punanga Takawaenga Atawhai O Aorere, Aorere College Childcare Centre provides early childhood education for up to 40 children from birth to five years of age, including up to six children aged under two years. Children play in a mixed age environment where tuakana/teina relationships are valued. Most children have Māori or Pacific heritage.
The service has had recent staff changes. The newly appointed manager and assistant manager are ably supported by long-serving staff. They are developing as a new team. Teachers make use of the spacious indoor and outdoor environments to provide planned and free play activities for children. Separate indoor spaces are available for babies and toddlers to explore their environment freely.
The service's philosophy values individual children's holistic development and partnerships with parents/whānau. The philosophy emphasises the provision of a secure and stimulating environment that encourages responsive and reciprocal relationships.
The 2014 ERO report noted that good progress had been made since 2012. Managers have worked with staff to address the key next steps identified in the 2014 report, which included development in curriculum management, evaluation and leadership.
Positive relationships between children and adults are highly valued. Children and their whānau are warmly welcomed and have a sense of belonging in the centre. Children with additional needs receive responsive care and feel secure in the centre.
Children are well cared for and engaged in learning. They are encouraged to make choices in their play and select from a wide variety of appropriate equipment and activities that teachers prepare for them. Teachers promote literacy and numeracy learning in many ways while children are engaged in play. There is an appropriate emphasis on oral language development. Children focus on their activities for extended periods and there are good opportunities for creativity, challenge and exploration.
Teachers promote the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand throughout the programme. They encourage te reo Māori incidentally during conversations and more formally at mat times. Waiata and aspects of tikanga Māori are integrated at appropriate times.
Many children are learning English as an additional language. Some children converse with teachers in their home languages, which are respected and promoted in the centre. Resources that celebrate Pacific culture are providing a sense of belonging for all children of Pacific heritage.
Supportive and nurturing strategies are used to help children move smoothly into and through the service. The teaching team is focused on developing stronger links with local schools to benefit children as they move out of the service. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme for four-year-olds could help teachers to strengthen their support for children as they prepare to transition to school.
Managers and teachers strongly value their growing partnerships with parents/whānau. Parents' aspirations are prioritised and used to inform children's individualised programmes of learning. Managers are experimenting with ways to encourage more regular attendance.
Teachers have participated in useful external professional learning to continue building their capacity, and to develop consistency with planning and assessing children's individual learning progress. Their approaches pay particular attention to children's strengths and interests, and support children's needs and learning progress. Teachers are investigating ways to enhance their support for children's individual skills, knowledge and learning dispositions.
The managers have established a vision and strategic direction for the service. A useful policy framework guides centre operations. Managers are increasing teachers' capacity by encouraging reflective practice and improving performance appraisal processes. Provisionally registered teachers receive good support. Useful internal evaluation processes have been implemented. A recent review has resulted in the development of a policy around healthy and nutritious eating.
Managers agree that next steps to continue fostering positive outcomes for children include:
building a shared understanding of the centre's philosophy to promote consistently high quality teaching practice
considering further ways to assess and promote children's progress with their learning dispositions and skills for independence
strengthening internal evaluation by identifying measures for determining the effectiveness, usefulness, or value of a strategy or programme.
Before the review, the staff and management of Te Whare Punanga Takawaenga Atawhai O Aorere, Aorere College Childcare Centre 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.
The next ERO review of Te Whare Punanga Takawaenga Atawhai O Aorere, Aorere College Childcare Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
29 November 2017
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 |
Papatoetoe, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
25002 |
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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 |
40 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
28 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 17 Girls 11 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2017 |
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Date of this report |
29 November 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Supplementary Review |
March 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
November 2012 |
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|
Education Review |
October 2009 |
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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.