Little Gemz Childcare

1 Evaluation of Little Gemz Childcare

How well placed is Little Gemz Childcare to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Little Gemz Childcare is a privately owned, well established early childhood service. It provides full day education and care for up to 40 children, including 10 under two years. Nearly all children are Māori. Valuing and being Māori is central to the centre's philosophy and practice.

The new manager has guided the centre through a difficult and unsettled period since ERO's 2013 review. The Ministry of Education provided support for relicensing in 2013. Teachers have participated in professional learning and development to promote children as leaders of their learning.

The Review Findings

Children and their whānau are warmly welcomed into this centre. Partnerships between centre staff and whānau are based on genuine attitudes of acceptance, respect and a willingness to listen.

Responsive caregiving supports toddlers' need for strong and secure attachments. Teachers show their respect for toddlers by consulting them about decisions that affect them, and by offering them choices about their play. Teachers could recognise further opportunities for toddlers to solve problems, increase the complexity of their play and lead their learning.

The centre’s vision and philosophy is aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. It highlights bicultural practices and promotes cultural diversity in the programme.

In this centre, biculturalism is a way of being. The bicultural expectations of Te Whāriki are strongly evident in all interactions and relationships. All children hear, see and participate in meaningful examples of te reo me ōna tikanga Māori. Teachers naturally incorporate te reo Māori in conversations with children in meaningful ways. This practice acknowledges and respects children as capable and confident learners, as well as strongly supporting their language learning.

Teachers support children's developing communication skills. There are good examples of sustained conversations among children, and between teachers and children. These conversations enable children to share their thinking and articulate their preferences. Teachers could also use opportunities such as mealtimes to further extend children's language and social interactions.

Children are actively engaged in activities and enjoy each other's company. They confidently access useful and attractive resources. Children enjoy the spacious environment and have free access to indoor and outdoor play. The recently improved playground area provides ample physical challenges for all children. This area is well used and enables children to play together for sustained periods of time.

Self review is part of governance and management and informs forward planning to monitor the quality of the centre. The centre manager has identified priorities for long and short-term planning for centre improvement. The centre is now well placed to develop specific action plans to achieve centre goals. Management is very supportive of teacher wellbeing and improvement. There is a strong sense of team work to improve outcomes for children.

Key Next Steps

Recent professional development about empowering children as leaders of their learning is having a positive impact on children managing their own behaviour. Good progress has been made in teachers noticing and recognising children's learning. Children's portfolios provide parents with useful information about their children's involvement in the programme.

Further work is required to:

• respond to children's interests to inform programme planning for each child

• use the learning from professional development to recognise children as confident and capable leaders of their learning

• offer greater opportunities to extend literacy, mathematics and science in the programme

• extend the partnership with parents into a learning-centred relationship.

It is now timely for the centre to develop and implement an appraisal policy and processes. It would be beneficial for teachers to work collaboratively to build their knowledge, ownership and understanding of the legislative requirements as stated by the Education Council regarding effective appraisal. The centre also needs to develop a policy and set of procedures to direct an advice and guidance programme for newly graduated teachers.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Little Gemz Childcare 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance in Little Gemz Childcare. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

• fully implement a system of regular staff appraisal that meets the requirements of the Education Council of New Zealand

• ensure that all teachers have a current teaching registration

• ensure all policies reflect current legislative requirements, particularly the positive guidance, child protection and excursion policies

• ensure that at least one of the toilets for use by children is designed to provide them with some sense of privacy.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS31, PF22.

To improve practice, the centre should now ensure that the excursion policy clearly states how potential risks will be managed. They could also include the ratios for excursions on the signed portion of the permission slip.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Little Gemz Childcare will be in three years.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

16 September 2016

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

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 and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.