What happens after ERO review activity
After reviewing documentation, meeting with Governing Organisation leaders, visiting selected services, and considering all the evidence gathered during the review, ERO prepares a report. The report provides an independent evaluation of how effectively the Governing Organisation supports quality education and care, compliance, continuous improvement, and positive outcomes for children and mokopuna across its network of services.
The review doesn't end when ERO leaves. The findings help identify strengths, areas for improvement, and opportunities to further strengthen outcomes for children and mokopuna. This section explains how reports are developed and published, how findings support ongoing
ERO will prepare a report
Following the review, the review team considers information gathered from the Governing Organisation alongside evidence collected from the services included in the review sample. Findings from service visits help ERO verify and validate the Governing Organisation's understanding of quality, performance, risks, and improvement priorities across its network.
ERO then prepares an unconfirmed Governing Organisation Evaluation Report and provides it to the Governing Organisation. This gives the organisation an opportunity to review the report, identify any factual errors or omissions, and raise any questions or concerns before the report is finalised.
Where appropriate, ERO may also provide feedback to services on findings relevant to their context and improvement priorities. Both services and Governing Organisations can use these insights to support ongoing quality improvement and strengthen outcomes for children and mokopuna.
ERO will publish a report
The findings from service visits contribute to ERO's overall evaluation of the Governing Organisation. Services do not receive a separate published review report. Instead, information gathered from sampled services helps inform the Governing Organisation Evaluation Report.
After considering any feedback received on the unconfirmed report, ERO finalises the Governing Organisation Evaluation Report and publishes it on our website. The report provides an overview of how effectively the Governing Organisation supports quality education and care, continuous improvement, compliance, and positive outcomes across the services it oversees.
The published report helps whānau, communities, and the wider sector understand the strengths of the Governing Organisation, as well as opportunities for further improvement.
The Governing Organisation and services will focus on improvement
The review and report are only part of the story. The greatest impact comes from how services and Governing Organisations use the insights gained through the review process to strengthen practice and improve outcomes for children and mokopuna.
The review provides an opportunity to reflect on what is working well, identify areas for improvement, and focus efforts on the things that matter most for children, mokopuna, whānau, and communities. The Governing Organisation Evaluation Report can be used alongside existing planning, evaluation, and improvement processes to support ongoing development across services and the wider organisation.
When ERO returns for a future review, we will consider the progress made since the previous evaluation. This includes looking at what has been sustained, what has improved, and how the Governing Organisation has continued to strengthen quality, compliance, leadership, and outcomes across its network of services.
If required, ERO's Regulatory team may work with the Governing Organisation or service
Most reviews focus on understanding quality, improvement, and outcomes for children and mokopuna. In some cases, however, a review may identify significant concerns relating to compliance, risk, or children's health, safety, and wellbeing.
Where this occurs, ERO may undertake additional review, monitoring, follow-up engagement, or regulatory activity. This could include an Assurance Review of an individual service where further assessment of compliance is required.
From 1 September 2026, ERO's review and regulatory functions work together to support quality, safety, and continuous improvement across the early learning sector. Information gathered through reviews helps ERO determine whether additional support, monitoring, or regulatory activity may be needed to help ensure children remain safe and well supported.