12 Waimea Road, Waikanae Beach
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Waikanae Beach Kids is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Waikanae Beach Kids is a privately-owned early childhood centre and provides full-day education and care for 25 children up to school age, including five under two years. The centre is one of several operating under the service provider, G. Williams Daycare Limited. Of the 38 children enrolled, 10 are Māori.
A centre manager has oversight of teaching and learning, compliance, policy development and leadership. Day-to-day operation of the service is the responsibility of the head teacher who leads a team of three teachers.
Waikanae Beach Kids' vision is 'to provide a whānau friendly learning environment that supports the unique individuals where independence and interdependence is fostered and nurtured'. The philosophy emphasises the importance of manaakitanga, kete aronui, whanaungatanga and the child as rangatiritanga.
The February 2017 ERO report identified areas that required improvement. This included better capturing children's learning over time through intentional teaching, and cultural responsiveness. Leaders and teachers have worked collaboratively to address these aspects of practice and have made considerable progress.
Children are highly engaged in a play-based programme for sustained periods. The inclusive, well-resourced learning environments are carefully organised to invite their interest and participation. Teachers purposefully use strategies to encourage settling, collaboration, perseverance and problem solving. Children have a strong sense of belonging.
Consistent teacher practices support infants' physical and emotional wellbeing. This helps to successfully promote a strong sense of security. Routines are seen as teachable moments for children.
The teaching team is reflective and responsive to learners. Group planning is well-considered, meaningful and evaluated. Children's individual profile books record useful information about their skills, learning and engagement in a rich curriculum. Teachers know children well and regularly share information and celebrate their learning with whānau. Purposeful, reciprocal partnerships with parents is evident. This is seen as a foundation to sustaining children’s active participation in the programme. Parents' aspirations are sought monthly and enacted.
Children with additional learning needs are effectively supported to participate in the curriculum. Teachers work alongside parents to plan and monitor their learning and development. External support is accessed when required.
Well-considered transitions into the service, in partnership with parents, enable children to settle quickly. Successful transitions onto primary school are evident. These are supported by the provision of useful information that is documented collaboratively between kaiako and whānau about children's skills, abilities and interests.
Te ao Māori perspectives effectively underpin and enrich the curriculum. Local stories and places of significance to Māori are celebrated through waiata, visual imagery and kōrero. Teachers use te reo Māori meaningfully with children. Tikanga Māori is highly valued and well understood by teachers and children. Pacific children are well supported by teachers' culturally responsive practice and knowledge shared by their families.
The philosophy underpinning the service's values and beliefs strongly reflects the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa. The developed practice statements are influenced by the aspirations parents and whānau have for their children.
Internal evaluation is very well understood. Leaders and teachers critically reflect on their practice which strongly links to the appraisal process. The leader effectively models reflective practice and is responsive to the evaluative findings. Teachers are receptive to powerful learning through evaluation.
A very useful appraisal process which enables teachers to review, evaluate and improve their practices is leading to positive outcomes for children. The service needs to review their procedures to reflect the strong practice that is occurring.
The head teacher leads a highly collaborative, improvement-focussed team of teachers. They have a strong commitment to the philosophy, vision and values of the service. This contributes to positive outcomes for children. The centre manager provides timely, useful, pedagogically-based critique of teacher practice.
An extensive range of policies is developed by the service provider and senior managers, with procedures developed by the service. Staff are expected to be familiar with all policies and any ongoing changes.
The service has the capacity to monitor the quality of its performance and self-identify next steps through the application of systematic, regular internal evaluation of the curriculum and centre operations.
Before the review, the staff and management of Waikanae Beach Kids 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
31 March 2020
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 |
Waikanae Beach |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
60351 |
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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 |
38 |
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Gender composition |
Male 23, Female 15 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
December 2019 |
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Date of this report |
31 March 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
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|
Education Review |
March 2014 |
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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:
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.
Waikanae Beach Kids is a privately owned early childhood centre providing full-day education and care for twenty five children up to school age, including five children up to two years. The centre is one of several operating under the service provider G. Williams Daycare Limited.
The provider recently appointed a visiting teacher who leads the implementation of strategic goals and oversees systems and procedures, and a head teacher for onsite leadership and administration. Together they are leading the process of reviewing centre-wide policies, procedures and teaching programmes to gain a shared understanding of areas for development.
The well-planned, complementary indoor and outdoor environments support children of all ages to explore a wide range of challenges, resources and opportunities to extend their learning.
The centre philosophy is currently under review to establish a foundation for setting shared high expectations of good practice and outcomes for all children.
Centre leaders and staff effectively promote positive outcomes for children through a range of wellplanned and responsive programmes, receptive teaching practices and respectful relationships.
Children are well engaged, interact positively with peers and demonstrate a strong sense of belonging. Interactions with teachers are positive and respectful. Teachers are welcoming and provide meaningful contexts for play, exploration and discussion with children. Teachers provide feedback that acknowledges children's successes.
In the up-to-twos area, interactions are caring and support young children to develop a sense of self. Teachers are responsive to verbal and non-verbal communications and children's needs. Warm respectful relationships are evident.
Teachers make good use of opportunities for learning within routines. They engage in authentic dialogue in meaningful contexts to promote learning and to extend children's oral language and thinking.
Interactions are deliberately established to support children's knowledge and confidence in using te reo Māori. Strong whānau relationships and increasing parental involvement in the centre are evident. Parents' aspirations for their children are known, updated and reported on twice during the year. Maori children's language and culture are affirmed through aspects of the programme and interactions with teachers.
Portfolios are engaging and present inviting records of children's learning at the centre. They contain regular, useful stories and summaries to capture learning over time. It is evident that an ongoing focus has resulted in an increase in quality and consistency in these records over the past two years. Links are made to parents' aspirations and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Further reference should be made to cultural aspirations, language and identity in learning stories and portfolios.
Planning is well informed by children's interests and some links to parent aspirations. It is regularly displayed for sharing with parents and whānau. Teachers identify daily learning and possible activities to continue and extend the subsequent learning. More revisiting of experiences should better help children enrich and consolidate their learning.
Transitions within the centre are deliberate, planned and supported. Leaders are establishing stronger links with schools and the local marae to further develop learning partnerships.
Leaders are improvement focused and have developed effective systems for sharing expectations and building staff capability of staff through professional learning and development. Leaders' feedback and suggestions for improvement are well documented and aligned to strategic and self-review priorities.
The newly developed appraisal system and strategic priorities provide useful frameworks for expectations and vision for the future. The centre leader models good teaching practice and provides useful support for developing teachers' knowledge and skills.
Self-review processes, reflection and evaluation are well used to inform centre-wide improvements in outcomes for children and teaching practices across the centre. Leaders model and promote inquiry processes and the monitoring of initiatives to address children's identified needs. Leaders agree that ongoing building of teachers' inquiry and evaluation capability is a next step. Well established administration and governance systems provide for consistency and stability.
Leaders and ERO agree the next step is to further refine the evaluation of teaching and learning programmes to:
better capture the growth in children's learning over time
gauge how well deliberate teaching strategies impact on this learning
consider how well English language learning acquisition strategies support children whose home language is other than English.
Before the review, the staff and management of Waikanae Beach Kids 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 Waikanae Beach Kids will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central
10 February 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.
|
Location |
Waikanae |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
60351 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
38 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 20, Girls 18 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Other ethnic groups |
7 26 3 2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
December 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 February 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
March 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
December 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
August 2007 |
||
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.