71 Hibiscus Coast Highway, Orewa
View on map| Not well placed | Requires further development | Well placed | Very well placed |
Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop, in Orewa, north of Auckland, is owned and administered by Kindercare Learning Centres Limited. All centres operate under the Kindercare vision, values, philosophy and strategic goals. Together these form the foundation on which each centre and the organisation base their practices.
The centre is purpose-built and well established. It is licensed for 105 children, including 25 children up to 2 years of age. Children attending the centre are from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds.
Children play and learn in different age groups, in four different areas. There are separate indoor and outdoor spaces for infants and toddlers. Older children access two rooms, plus a 'transition' room. These groups share an outdoor playground.
The centre director leads a team of 14 qualified teachers, one of whom leads curriculum planning. An experienced cook provides children with nutritious meals and snacks.
The 2014 ERO report noted caring practices, effective teamwork and positive partnerships with whānau. These practices are still evident. Improving bicultural practices and increasing children's opportunities for independence, self-management and learning were identified as key next steps in 2014. Good progress has been made in addressing these areas and they continue to be a focus for teachers.
This review was part of a cluster of 8 Kindercare Learning Centre reviews in the Auckland area.
Children are settled and enjoy long periods of uninterrupted play. They interact confidently with adults and maintain friendships with their peers. Teachers foster children's independence and self-management skills through daily rituals and routines. A respectful and inclusive culture is evident throughout the centre.
Infant and toddler environments offer many opportunities for them to explore and make choices about play. Teachers' warm interactions nurture oral language development and build infants' and toddlers' confidence. Daily journals highlight children's learning for families.
Effective teaching strategies include:
Teachers are committed to strengthening partnerships with families and use a variety of ways to communicate with them. Online portfolios provide a forum for parents, whānau and teachers to share information about children. Teachers value and respond to the information parents share about their children.
Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, underpins the centre's curriculum. Planning for learning is based on teachers' observations of children's emerging interests. Teachers are beginning to use information from parents to plan for children. A stronger focus on programme evaluation should help to refine current practices.
The friendly, collaborative teaching team fosters a positive centre culture. Leaders and teachers are working on establishing a values-based statement that sits alongside the Kindercare philosophy to reflect their own team culture.
The centre is well led and managed. Internal evaluation results in ongoing improvement. Using evaluative questions to guide the process should help to strengthen internal evaluation.
The Kindercare organisation provides a broad range of support for centres and families. Comprehensive management and accountability systems across the company include:
Centre leaders agree that the next key steps include:
Key next steps for the Kindercare organisation include continuing to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop 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 Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop will be in three years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
29 November 2018
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 | Orewa, Auckland | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 10211 | ||
| Licence type | Education & Care Service | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 105 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 115 | ||
| Gender composition | Boys 52% Girls 48% | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori Pākehā Chinese other European other ethnic groups | 3% 62% 19% 11% 5% | |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 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 | September 2018 | ||
| Date of this report | 29 November 2018 | ||
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review | July 2014 | |
| Education Review | June 2011 | ||
| Education Review | June 2008 | ||
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 (16) Hilltop, located in Orewa, north of Auckland, offers sessional and full day education and care options for families. The community is increasingly culturally diverse. Children are grouped according to age into four different areas: infants, toddlers, preschool 1 and preschool 2. The well established centre operates from purpose-built premises and is licensed for 90 children aged from three months to five years.
The centre’s effective leadership team includes a centre manager and supervisor, supported by a Kindercare area manager. They lead a team of well qualified staff. Together they provide a high level of education and care, as identified in previous ERO reports. Continued good practices include a welcoming environment, teaching that is responsive to children and their learning needs, effective teamwork, and positive partnerships with parents and whānau.
The centre is part of the Kindercare Learning Centre group which provides a framework for governance and management. Kindercare also provides professional advice and support to centre leaders and teachers. Kindercare’s philosophy statement promotes an environment where children are “safe, loved and learning” and this underpins teachers’ work with children and their families.
Children of all ages experience caring and affectionate relationships with teachers. They are very well supported to engage in the programme, to become confident in their interactions with adults, and to socialise well with their peers. Teachers regularly add interest to the environment by presenting experiences that prompt children’s participation and thinking abilities.
Teachers communicate well as a team and use positive language with children to promote independence and decision making. Some use highly effective questioning to encourage children’s complex thinking and they skilfully promote children’s learning.
Programme planning is responsive to children’s interests. Teachers in the preschool rooms present attractive portfolios that show children’s learning over time and identify future learning opportunities. The centre supervisor, who is responsible for curriculum development, delivers high quality feedback to individual teachers to build capacity in this area. Teachers in the infant and toddler areas continue to develop children’s journals to make children’s learning apparent and clear.
Experienced centre leaders have high expectations of themselves and others. They know their teaching teams well and identify strengths, leadership potential, and next steps to grow teacher capacity. Appraisal processes effectively build practice. Teachers have made very good use of relevant professional learning and development to strengthen their knowledge about best practice in early childhood education.
There is a collaborative and honest approach to recognising and targeting areas for future centre development to foster high quality professional practice. Teachers’ receive very positive parent feedback about their provision for children’s learning and care. Centre leaders identify the need for a continued focus on deepening self-review processes to consolidate best practice understandings.
Kindercare personnel and internal systems support the highly effective practices at the centre. The area manager displays confidence in centre leaders and in their capability to lift the quality of the programme further. External resources are being well used to enhance the quality of care for children up to two years of age.
ERO and centre leaders agree that self review could now be further used to enhance:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop 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 Kindercare Learning Centres (16) Hilltop will be in four years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services
Northern Region
30 July 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 |
Orewa |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10211 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
106 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 55% Girls 45% |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese Indian Middle Eastern South East Asian other European other |
11% 64% 9% 3% 2% 2% 7% 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 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2014 |
||
|
Date of this report |
30 July 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2011 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2008 |
||
|
Education Review |
August 2005 |
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.