105 Central Park Drive, Henderson, Auckland
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres - Henderson, provides all day education and care for up to 100 children, including a maximum of 40 children under two years of age. Children are catered for in six age-related rooms and two outdoor play spaces.
The Kindercare organisation's philosophy of 'Safe, Loved and Learning' guides centre beliefs and practices. Programmes are underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. An experienced centre director leads the staff team. An area manager works in partnership with the director to support centre operations.
The 2013 ERO report noted a particular focus on promoting positive learning outcomes for children, especially those under two years of age and children transitioning into school. ERO suggested that managers and teachers continue developing strategies for supporting Māori and Pacific children's learning. Some steps have been taken to establish relationships with Māori in the local community, and to grow teachers understanding of Māori customs and values.
This review was part of a cluster of three Kindercare Learning Centres reviews.
Centre leaders have a strong focus on making improvements to benefit all children. Some very positive shifts in practice have been made since the 2013 ERO review, including the strong focus on supporting children's oral language and their ongoing development as capable and competent communicators and learners.
The values of care and respect are central to the curriculum and are modelled well by leaders. They are particularly evident in the rooms for infants and toddlers. Many children are leaders and they enthusiastically share their ideas and engage in discussions with each other.
Managers and teachers develop an inclusive atmosphere for children and their families, who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Children are supported to reach their potential and special support is provided for children with different learning abilities and needs. Teachers plan to learn more about Pacific cultures so that they can meaningfully affirm children as Pacific learners.
Teachers provide a variety of resources, activities and experiences to promote and extend children's learning across curriculum areas. An online, digital portal has increased communications with whānau. It helps teachers to establish respectful and positive partnerships with whānau and contributes to their planning for individual and group learning.
A strong coaching and mentoring process encourages teachers to individually research and discuss the skills and attributes that constitute high quality teaching practices. Managers are regular participants in the programme and model good practice. As a result, teachers continue to improve, both in their professional knowledge and in their confidence as teachers.
There is a collaborative and strategic approach to long-term planning. The upgrading of the outdoor area is related to teachers' current focus on strengthening opportunities for children to engage in activities that promote physical dexterity. Staff understand the importance of using technology to communicate more effectively with parents and to support learning. They are committed to continuing to develop this area.
The strong Kindercare leadership structure is replicated in this centre. The centre director and supervisor have a collaborative and measured approach to leading the teaching team. They encourage teachers to take on responsibilities that grow their professional capability. An emphasis on the centre's internal evaluation and improvement focus is helping to strengthen practices.
Kindercare provides well established systems and policies to guide centres. These systems are consistently implemented and regularly monitored. The organisation's values and strategic direction also guide each centre. Specific goals are developed by each staff team to guide individual centres. Ongoing support for Kindercare staff ensures centre sustainability, accountability and continued improvement.
Managers could now support teachers to deepen their understanding of Māori and Pacific languages and cultures and strengthen their partnerships with whānau to enhance their provision for Māori and Pacific children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres - Henderson 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 Kindercare Learning Centres - Henderson will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
23 November 2016
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 |
Henderson, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10125 |
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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 |
100 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
113 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 50% Girls 50% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Indian South East Asian Samoan Fijian Latin American Cook Island Māori other European others |
7% 42% 19% 8% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% 5% 4% |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
September 2016 |
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Date of this report |
23 November 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
August 2013 |
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|
Education Review |
May 2010 |
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|
Education Review |
May 2007 |
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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 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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres (14) in Henderson, Auckland, provides full day care and education for up to 100 children from birth to five years of age. Children are organised into five groups and are based in separate rooms in accordance with their stages of learning and development. The centre has up to 40 children under 2 years of age.
The centre is managed by the long established Kindercare Centres early childhood organisation. The organisation provides administrative and personnel system support. External Kindercare managers also monitor centre practices and give support and guidance to the centre director.
The centre’s 2010 ERO report identified positive teaching and learning practices. It recommended that managers use staff performance appraisal and self-review procedures to continue to enhance centre practices. The centre has responded positively to these recommendations. Teacher appraisal systems have improved and now align with the Teacher Registration Criteria. Self review is used as a useful tool for improvement. Staff are currently considering how they can record self review in ways that make goals and outcomes more visible.
Children are settled and happy. They explore the learning environment confidently, while accessing resources and learning activities independently. Children’s ongoing wellbeing is maintained through caring and supportive relationships with their teachers. Learning environments have recently been upgraded to allow children to mix more spontaneously with siblings and peers in adjoining indoor and outdoor spaces. Teachers have focused on improving positive learning outcomes for all children, and in particular infants, toddlers and children who are transitioning to school.
Significant changes have been made since the last ERO review in line with the centre's key focus area on social emotional development. The philosophy and core values of ‘Safe, Loved and Learning’ reflect increased understandings of how children learn more effectively when being nurtured and cared for in a physically and emotionally safe setting. Self review, research and professional development has influenced positive changes to the way the physical environment and resources are presented and accessed by children. Teachers' interactions with children have been enhanced, and information sharing and partnerships with parents are being strengthened.
Records demonstrate how children’s learning is becoming more complex and is being extended over time. Curriculum leaders are continuing to help all staff to understand and embed new approaches into the learning programme.
Teachers use their first languages and ethnic background knowledge to support children from the diverse community transition into the centre. Some aspects of children’s cultures are being celebrated culturally within the programme.
Managers and teachers are aware of the Ministry of Education’s strategy to support Māori children to become capable and confident learners. They understand the importance of supporting Māori children to learn within their own cultural context. They are working to develop a centre-based strategy to ensure these children experience a meaningful and culturally relevant programme. The strategy appropriately includes working in partnership with parents and whānau.
Staff have yet to consider to how they can make contact with the Pacific community in order to develop strategies for helping to maintain and promote Pacific children’s cultures, languages and identities.
Centre management provides staff with many leadership opportunities. Managers themselves receive ongoing external support to further develop and strengthen their expertise and capabilities. The majority of staff are registered teachers. The few who are yet to be fully trained and registered are well supported.
Comprehensive management, personnel and employment systems are ensuring that the sustainability of the centre is being maintained and improved. Appraisal systems have been improved to align to with current professional practice. Self review is being used effectively to influence the strategic direction of the centre.
Centre managers and teachers should continue to develop and implement strategies that enable Māori children to learn as Māori within the centre.
Pacific children should be further supported to learn within a context that affirms their cultures, languages and identities.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (14) completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they select ‘have’ or ‘have not’ 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.
The next ERO review of Kindercare Learning Centres (14) will be in three years.
Graham Randell
National Manager Review Services Northern Region (Acting)
9 August 2013
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 |
Henderson, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10125 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
98 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 54 Boys 44 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese Indian Samoan South East Asian Cook Island Māori Tongan Fijian Middle Eastern Other European Other Asian Other Pacific |
4 47 14 10 4 4 2 2 1 1 5 2 2 |
|
|
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 |
June 2013 |
||
|
Date of this report |
9 August 2013 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
May 2010 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2007 |
||
|
Education Review |
March 2004 |
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.