122 Aviemore Drive, Highland Park-Auckland, Auckland
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 Rockabye Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakawhanake Sustaining Whakaū Embedding |
Rockabye Early Learning Centre is privately owned and operated. The centre owner is a qualified teacher who is supported by a centre supervisor. The centre is purpose-built and has two aged-based rooms. The majority of the children attending are Pākehā with a small number of children of Māori heritage.
Children experience respectful, reciprocal and responsive relationships with their teachers. Teachers provide a wide range of learning opportunities and resources to provoke children’s creativity, exploration and curiosity. These experiences contribute to children’s developing social competence, problem-solving skills and extend their learning in literacy, mathematics and science.
Infants and toddlers experience a calm, unhurried learning environment. Teachers respond to the verbal and non-verbal cues of infants and support their emotional well-being. Young children experience a language rich environment. Conversations between teachers and children extend children’s thinking and oral language skills.
Children’s cultural identities are acknowledged and supported through celebrations and the use of their home languages by teachers. Te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are well integrated into the daily curriculum and teaching practices. Transitions into, within and beyond the service are responsive to parents’ and children’s individual needs.
Children’s strengths and interests inform the curriculum provided by teachers. Parent aspirations, cultural knowledge and ideas are regularly sought to inform a culturally responsive programme. Assessment and planning documentation celebrate diversity and the learning progress of individuals and groups of children. A curriculum is being implemented that is culturally responsive with intentional and collaborative learning focused partnerships with parents and whānau.
Relational trust among leaders supports collaborative evaluation of practices and ways to improve outcomes for children. There is a well-established system in place for internal evaluation that supports meaningful improvements across the service. Internal evaluations have a focus on progressing and developing equitable outcomes for individuals and groups of children. Teachers are provided with a range of professional development opportunities and mentoring. Systems have been developed that contribute to ongoing improvement, such as the professional growth cycle. This process is helping to build the professional knowledge of teachers, and it is supporting them to design and implement a responsive curriculum aimed to provide equitable outcomes for all children.
Rockabye Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
continue to implement a curriculum that is culturally responsive and intentional by engaging in learning focused partnerships with parents and whanau
continue to implement internal evaluation practices by deepening the evaluation and monitoring of the desired impact on enhanced and equitable outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rockabye Early Learning Centre 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.
During the onsite visit, the service provided ERO with evidence to shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
ensuring parents have given prior written approval of the proposed adult: child ratios for regular excursions.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008; HS17.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
25 September 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Rockabye Early Learning Centre |
|
Profile Number |
10055 |
|
Location |
Highland Park, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
44 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
25 September 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, April 2019, Education Review April 2014. |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Rockabye Early Learning Centre is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Rockabye Early Learning Centre serves a multi-cultural community and is licensed for 50 children, including up to 15 under two years of age.
The residential property has been modified and refurbished to provide attractive indoor and outdoor learning areas. Infants and toddlers have their own separate covered and uncovered play spaces. When the children are over two and a half years old, they are transitioned through to the preschool.
The centre's well-established leadership team comprises the owner/manager, supervisor and professional practice leader, who are all experienced, qualified early childhood teachers.
The centre's recently reviewed philosophy, values relationships with families and children. It emphasises the importance of families' aspirations and culture. The philosophy acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. The teaching team recognises and promotes learning through play.
ERO's 2014 report noted high quality practices in the centre, including consistent and effective teaching, leadership and management, resulting in positive outcomes for children. Next steps, at that time, included enhancing bicultural practices and strategic planning.
Children benefit from caring, nurturing relationships with teachers. The attractive learning environments are very well resourced and maintained. All children have easy access to indoor and outdoor play areas.
The curriculum is strongly aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers are well supported by leaders to develop responsive programmes appropriate to both age levels. The curriculum is collaboratively developed with input from parents and children. Children are supported to reach their potential through the centre's high quality learning programmes.
Children play and learn in a respectful environment that provokes them to explore and be curious and engage in imaginative and physical play. Children confidently choose their own learning activities and opportunities that support and challenge them. Teachers acknowledge children as being capable learners and nurture their self-efficacy. Parents and teachers celebrate each child's learning journey with them.
The language rich environment reflects children's diverse cultures and successfully supports children to feel included. Teachers respond well to children's cultures, abilities and needs, and include aspects of their home languages. Teachers engage in conversations that encourage each child's language development.
Leaders and teachers have comprehensive knowledge of children. Individual portfolios contain high quality learning stories that celebrate and share each child's learning journey.
The experienced and well qualified leadership team works collaboratively to lead the centre. There is a strong commitment to staff wellbeing. Staff benefit from ongoing high quality professional support and learning. A culture of mutual trust, collaboration and shared purpose is evident amongst staff.
The centre's vision, philosophy and values are well documented and highly visible in centre operations. Good quality strategic and annual plans inform the centre's future direction. The robust, inclusive and research-informed evaluation processes are focused on continuously enhancing outcomes for all children.
Next steps for the leadership and teaching teams are to continue refining ways of monitoring progress towards strategic goals, and evaluating the impact of developments on outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rockabye Early Learning 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
18 April 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.
|
Location |
Highland Park, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10055 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
42 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 25 Boys 17 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
|
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 |
February 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
18 April 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
April 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 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 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 |
Rockabye Early Learning Centre provides high quality education and care that promotes positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Rockabye Early Learning Centre is an education and care centre in Highland Park licensed for 50 children. It caters for pre-school children from 3-5 years of age and infants and toddlers from 0-3 years in two separate areas on the same site. The centre draws its children from the multi cultural local community.
The owner and supervisor provide stable, knowledgeable leadership and management for the centre. They are well guided by the curriculum leader who supports them with curriculum development and staff training. Head teachers are responsible for leadership in the separate pre-school and infants and toddlers areas.
The centre has made significant progress in addressing the areas for development noted in the 2011 ERO report. There has been positive development in programmes, transition processes, matching centre values to the philosophy, and in planning to meet the individual interests of children.
Refurbishments to the outdoor environments of both the pre-school and infants and toddlers have improved the safety and learning opportunities for all children.
The centre philosophy is based around trust, quality and integrity. The centre aims for trusting relationships in all aspects of centre operations, the provision of quality education and care and the delivery of what it promises.
There is consistent, effective, teaching practice across both the pre-school and infants’ and toddlers’ rooms. Children are happy, settled, and engaged, with a strong sense of belonging. They are encouraged to make choices and be problem solvers. Teachers ask open-ended questions of children to allow their interests to lead future learning. Children are encouraged to enjoy social interactions and take considered risks. Teachers are positive, sensitive and responsive in their interactions with children. Children are involved in rich literacy, numeracy and science opportunities and the environments encourage exploration. Teachers recognise and use learning opportunities within routines. Children benefit from teachers maintaining a calm slow pace in which younger children have space and time to lead their own learning.
The centre curriculum promotes positive outcomes for all children. Responsive, reciprocal and respectful relationships are formed with each family. Parents, whānau and children contribute to the curriculum which is responsive to infant, toddlers and young children’s deep interests. The curriculum recognises and values the importance of children learning through increasingly complex play. Assessment information is available to children so they can revisit and share their learning with others. A particular feature of the curriculum is the encouragement of infants and toddlers to become confident and competent communicators and explorers. Sound transition procedures from infants and toddlers to the pre-school ensure that children move easily and confidently to the new situation.
The language, culture and identity of each child is fostered by the curriculum. The curriculum supports and encourages the success of Māori and Pacific children. Teachers take personal responsibility for learning and using te reo Māori and integrating this meaningfully into the programme. The skills and knowledge that whānau Māori bring to the service are incorporated into programmes.
The centre has a strong sense of purpose and direction. The vision reflects a commitment to high quality early childhood education for all children. The philosophy and associated goals and plans are clearly influenced by the aspirations of parents and whānau, are linked to positive learning outcomes for children, and are strongly evident in centre practices. Centre owner and management personnel have a good understandings of, and capability to carry out their roles. Sound policies and procedures guide inclusive practice at all levels of the service. There is a focus on using self review to bring about continual improvement in most aspects of centre operations.
There is effective leadership at all levels of the centre. Staff work as a team in an environment where trust and respect are valued. Leaders and teachers understand parents and whānau aspirations and expectations and are responsive to issues, concerns or questions they may have. Leaders are focused on improving the quality of education and care and provide sound guidance and support for teachers. Teaching practice is being improved through highly effective ongoing professional development, and coaching and mentoring for teachers by the curriculum leader, and by giving time for them to reflect on their practice.
Centre leaders are continually looking at ways of raising the quality of the service. They have identified and ERO agrees that:
Before the review, the staff and management of Rockabye Early Learning 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:
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 Rockabye Early Learning Centre will be in four years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services Northern Region
2 April 2014
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 |
Highland Park, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10055 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
53 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 27 Boys 26 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese African Samoan British Thai |
6 28 11 4 2 1 1 |
|
|
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 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
February 2014 |
||
|
Date of this report |
2 April 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2011 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 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:
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.