York Place Preschool & Nursery

1 Evaluation of York Place Preschool and Nursery

How well placed is York Place Preschool and Nursery to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

York Place Preschool and Nursery is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

York Place Preschool and Nursery is a privately owned, central-city early childhood centre. It offers full and part-day education and care for up to 43 children from birth-to-school age. The centre aims to provide family friendly care and education that meets the needs of a diverse community. Some children are English language learners (ELLs).

The centre philosophy states that teachers aim to provide a caring and safe centre, where respectful relationships between teachers, children and family/whānau are prioritised and children's learning is encouraged.

The service describes its learning as promoting: positive social behaviour, encouraging children to express themselves and try new things, accept difference and cope with change, develop self-help skills, be curious and persistent, and care for others and the environment.

The owner/director is responsible for governance and the day-to-day administration of the service. Since the February 2017 ERO report a new centre manager has been appointed to provide professional leadership and teach in the programme. Most teachers are fully qualified and registered early childhood teachers.

The leaders and teachers have made some progress in addressing the areas for development identified in ERO's February 2017 report. These include developing aspects of internal evaluation, leadership, strategic planning and identifying priorities for children's learning.

The Review Findings

Children experience a broad curriculum that supports the centre's priorities for their learning. Teachers provide a purposeful range of activities to engage them in sustained and focused play and learning. There are many opportunities for children to become confident, self-managing and independent learners. They are settled and play well together and alongside each other.

Teachers deliberately build children's oral language and social skills. Literacy and mathematics concepts are integrated naturally into play. Trips into the local community support children's sense of place in this community and extend their knowledge about the wider world. They experience some te reo Māori and tikanga Māori. The service has identified and ERO agrees that this key aspect of the curriculum needs strengthening.

The indoor and outdoor environments have been thoughtfully redesigned to better support positive learning outcomes for children. The spaces provide a range of opportunities for play, exploration, collaboration and physical challenge.

Transitions into and within the centre are flexible and purposefully managed. Teachers build trusting relationships with new children and their families and get to know the children's interests, preferences and needs.

Infants and toddlers are well provided for. Their environment is thoughtfully designed and provides calm, stress-free learning and care. They can explore and develop their physical skills, play and learn with others and make choices. Warm, nurturing and respectful relationships are evident. Teachers are highly attuned to young children's verbal and non-verbal cues, understand their needs well and are responsive to their daily care routines. They effectively promote children's language development.

Teachers work closely and sensitively with families and external specialists to provide children with additional support in relation to learning and behaviour.

Assessment, planning and evaluation needs strengthening. Planning linked to the service's priorities for learning should be more evident. This would enable teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the experiences and strategies they use to promote this learning. Best examples of individual assessment show that teachers recognise and respond to children's strengths, interests and dispositions, document how they have supported their learning and show children's progress over time. To further improve assessment and planning practices, best practice needs to be evident across the service: teachers need to better show how they respond to parents' wishes for their children's learning and development, and better reflect children's language, culture and identity.

The service has appropriate systems and processes for effective organisation and operation. Clear governance and leadership structures support these. The strategic plan, and an improved policy and procedure framework guide processes and practices. The effectiveness of the strategic plan in promoting positive outcomes for children will be more evident when a system for ongoing monitoring, evaluation and reporting has been developed.

Internal evaluation is used to make improvements to programmes and teaching practice. However, further work is needed to deepen staff understanding and use of effective internal evaluation. Aspects of the appraisal system and documentation need strengthening.

Key Next Steps

Leaders and teachers need to further develop and strengthen:

• curriculum to more clearly reflect the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the diversity of families at the centre

• assessment, planning and evaluation

• aspects of internal evaluation

• teacher appraisals.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of York Place Preschool and Nursery 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:

• 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; 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.

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows they have addressed and are working towards addressing the following non-compliance:

• when children leave the premises on an excursion, assessment and management of risk is undertaken. A hazard checklist has been updated with a new excursion hazard form and guidelines developed to help adults understand their responsibilities when on trips with children.

• records of emergency drills carried out informs an annual review of the service's emergency plan. The service has amended the annual plan to include an annual review.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS17.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

26 March 2020

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

Location		Dunedin
Ministry of Education profile number		83032
Licence type		Education & Care Service
Licensed under		Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008
Number licensed for		43 children, including up to 23 aged under 2
Service roll		45
Gender composition		Male 28 Female 17
Ethnic composition		Māori NZ European/Pākehā Other ethnic groups	7 30 8
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates		80% +
Reported ratios of staff to children	Under 2	1:4	Better than minimum requirements
	Over 2	1:10	Meets minimum requirements
Review team on site		December 2019
Date of this report		26 March 2020
Most recent ERO reports		Education Review	February 2017
		Education Review	September 2013

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.