5 James Street, Redcliffs, Christchurch
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 The James Street Pre-School are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whakaū Embedding |
The James Street Pre-School is owned and governed by a private company. The owners are closely involved in the day-to-day operation of the service. A small number of children identify as Māori. This is similar for children of Pacific heritage. The good practices identified in the 2019 ERO report have been sustained including a new focus on teachers’ professional growth cycles (PGC). The service is part of the Aupaki Kahui Ako | Community of Learning.
The curriculum is based on the service’s well integrated learning priorities and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Māori, children of Pacific heritage, and all children, are well supported to be fully involved in a wide variety of purposeful learning opportunities. Teachers intentionally foster the progress of children with additional needs through the achievement of their learning goals. Infants and toddlers experience calm, nurturing interactions with attentive adults. Teachers give children time to explore the carefully resourced learning areas. They provide a language-rich curriculum by responding to children's verbal and non-verbal cues and engaging them in meaningful conversations.
Teachers use some te reo Māori within learning programmes. However, more work is needed to build their capability and confidence. Leaders and teachers are yet to regularly include the language, culture, and learner identity of each child's cultural context in learning documentation.
Leaders and teachers use their insightful observations to document children's interests, participation, and capabilities. There is a clear emphasis on children’s developing learning dispositions in the new, improved assessment, planning and evaluation processes. Progress and achievement of children’s learning against the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, and the evaluation of learning and teaching, are not yet consistently implemented.
Self-review is established, collaborative and results in improvements to systems and teachers’ practice. Leaders recognise the need for a stronger focus on internal evaluation with more emphasis on outcomes for children. Those involved in governance resource the service to fulfil the values and priorities for children's learning and to facilitate low staff turnover by supporting a positive working environment.
The James Street Pre-School will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
further consolidate teachers' understanding and consistent use of the newly introduced assessment, planning and evaluation processes to better show children’s learning progress over time
prioritise including individual children's language, culture, and learner identity in their learning documentation
deliberately plan to integrate te reo Māori into daily practices so children can hear and use it more often
further develop and embed internal evaluation processes and practices to build teachers’ capability. This includes refining the evaluative focus to keep the process more manageable.
Before the review, the staff and management of The James Street Preschool 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.
Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Acting, Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
17 February 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
The James Street Pre school |
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Profile Number |
70542 |
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Location |
Redcliffs, Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
54 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
88 |
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Review team on site |
December 2022 |
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Date of this report |
17 February 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2019; Education Review, August 2015. |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The James Street Pre-School is very well placed to promote positive outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The James Street Pre-School is family-owned centre located in Redcliffs, Christchurch. It provides full-day education and care for up to 54 children, including 12 under two years of age. The centre provides daily meals to children and has achieved the Healthy Heart Gold level award.
The centre is governed and managed by two owners, one of whom is a qualified early childhood teacher. They are supported by a centre manager who oversees the day-to-day operation. Most teachers are qualified and registered. The owners support other staff to become early childhood teachers.
Since the 2015 ERO review, the owners and teachers have made good progress in meeting the recommendations of that report. They have strengthened assessment, planning and evaluation processes and teachers' knowledge of culturally inclusive teaching. Internal evaluation is implemented well and guides decision-making.
The centre is a member of Aupaki Kāhui Ako Community of Learning (CoL).
Children are given very good support to be capable, confident and self-directed learners. They play cooperatively and purposefully in a calm and unhurried environment. Children enjoy a wide variety of activities, especially in the spacious outdoor areas, where they have choice about their play. Teachers acknowledge children's abilities and interests. These provide the basis for decisions about the curriculum and the programme. Leaders and teachers work closely with parents and outside agencies to support children with additional learning needs.
Children under two years old are very well supported to settle into the centre and have space and time to lead their learning through play. Resources are easily available to the children. Mixed-age groupings are used to encourage older children to engage with younger ones and enjoy tuakana-teina relationships. This is helping to strengthen children's relationships and build confidence to learn and relate to others.
The centre's philosophy provides clear direction for leaders and teachers. There is an emphasis on providing a welcoming, stimulating and safe learning environment. The learning priorities and aspirations for children to be creative, courageous, respectful and joyful are clearly identified. Conservation and sustainable practices are fostered and taught through science inquiries. Learning programmes are clearly guided by Te Whāriki, the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum.
Learning is visible and accessible to children and parents through informative portfolios, journeys of discoveries, wall displays and a range of digital information. Teachers communicate with families about their child's learning and progress and make meaningful connections with children's home life and their community. These learning partnerships with parents support and contribute to the programme. Transitions into, within and from the centre are flexible, considered and well planned to meet children's and families' needs and preferences.
Māori and other children have many opportunities to see and learn about Māori culture. Teachers use te reo Māori and waiata with children and include some greetings and phrases as part of the programme. Leaders are proactive and acknowledge the need for ongoing development of teachers' confidence, knowledge and abilities in providing a strong and meaningful culturally responsive curriculum.
Centre leaders have high expectations for teaching and learning and are focused on positive outcomes for children. Effective leadership is promoting collaboration and cooperation within the teaching team. Professional growth is encouraged, to build teachers' knowledge and leadership capability.
Centre operations are guided by a comprehensive system of policies and procedures. Effective internal evaluation is well embedded. As a result, changes have been made to the environment and curriculum with a focus on improving learning outcomes for children. Continuous improvement is a focus for the centre leaders. New appraisal processes are supporting teachers and are linked to the centre's strategic direction.
Centre leaders have identified, and ERO agrees, that they need to continue to develop:
Before the review, the staff and management of The James Street Pre-School 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 The James Street Pre-School will be in four years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
27 February 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.
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Location |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70542 |
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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 |
54 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
86 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 47 ; Girls 39 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
|
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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 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
January 2019 |
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Date of this report |
27 February 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
August 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2012 |
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|
Education Review |
November 2008 |
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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.