Go Bananas Childcare Cambridge

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards	ERO’s judgement
Curriculum	Meeting
Premises and facilities	Meeting
Health and safety	Meeting
Governance, management and administration	Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Go Bananas Childcare Cambridge was purchased by Impressions Waikato Ltd in June 2020. Premises and facilities have been refurbished. The newly established teaching team have focused on establishing relationships with children, families and the community. Teachers are supported by a director of professional practice, a curriculum manager and the service owners.

Summary of Review Findings

Children are involved in decisions about their learning experiences. Adults engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.

Children are provided with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development.

Parents and whānau are provided with opportunities to be involved in decision making concerning their child’s learning and the development and review of operational documents.

During the onsite visit, a water fountain and shelf were secured ensuring these could not topple or fall and cause injury.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• developing the local curriculum to reflect what is important to children, their families, to teachers and the wider community
• increasing the range of opportunities that encourages children to understand and respect other cultures and languages.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)

Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

22 January 2021

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name	Go Bananas Childcare Cambridge
Profile Number	30352
Location	Cambridge
Service type	Education and care service
Number licensed for	80 children, including up to 24 aged under 2
Percentage of qualified teachers	80%+
Service roll	26
Gender composition	Male 16, Female 10
Ethnic composition	Māori 8, NZ European/Pākehā 9, Indian 6, Other ethnic groups 3
Review team on site	November 2020
Date of this report	22 January 2021
Most recent ERO report(s)	Previously operating as Jump Start Educare - Education Review, Dec 2016.

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

• having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
• previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
• that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
• that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
• where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

• discussions with those involved in the service
• consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
• observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.

1 Evaluation of Jump Start Educare

How well placed is Jump Start Educare to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

Jump Start Educare is an all-day service located in Cambridge. It opens between 7.30 am and 5.30 pm on week days. The centre is licensed for 80 children, including up to 24 children under two years of age. The roll has increased significantly since the 2013 ERO review, and now includes similar numbers of Māori and Pākehā children. Whānau/parents can choose to base their children in one of the two mixed-age rooms. Most babies and toddlers are based in the Kowhai room, which is designed to be developmentally appropriate for this age group. Children are able to transition to the busier Rimu room when they are ready.

The service is privately owned, and one of the partners attends the centre weekly. The centre manager acts as head teacher, and is also team leader for the Rimu room. Another fully registered teacher has responsibility for leading the Kowhai room. The centre is staffed by five fully registered teachers, one provisionally registered teacher, and a recently graduated teacher awaiting provisional registration. Two other teachers have professional qualifications.

The centre philosophy values the dual heritage of Aotearoa, and states that children come first. It identifies the importance of:

• focusing the programme on children learning through play in a mixed-age environment

• supporting children's responsive and reciprocal relationships with teachers

• developing collaborative relationships with parents/whanau and the wider community

• empowering children to drive and extend all their learning pathways

• encouraging children to become confident and capable participants in their own learning.

The centre has a positive reporting history with ERO. The 2013 ERO report identified that the centre was committed to acknowledging and celebrating New Zealand's bicultural heritage. The centre has adopted an increased focus on bicultural and multi-cultural inclusiveness.

Since the 2013 ERO review the centre has had a considerable change of staffing. A high proportion of teachers has undertaken professional development about positive teaching practice to promote and support whanaungatanga as the basis for developing a more bicultural centre. Leaders have recently attended a conference for early childhood teachers that placed a strong emphasis on bicultural learning and teaching.

The Review Findings

Children are developing as confident learners. They are able to pursue their interests, make good choices and learn about the world around them. All children and their families/whānau are welcomed to an inclusive, respectful environment that recognises their culture and aspirations. They quickly develop a strong sense of belonging and benefit from trusting relationships with leaders, teachers and support staff. Children settle quickly to play indoors, and move easily into the interesting outdoor playground. They are highly involved in exploring and investigating the wide variety of rich learning opportunities provided for them. Long periods of uninterrupted time allow them to engage in individual or group experiences of their own choice.

Babies and toddlers experience a comfortable, calm and secure learning space. Their home rhythms are respected, and teachers use consistent caring routines to provide responsive nurturing and communication. Teachers are skilled at interpreting children's body language and support their oral language development through frequent conversations and interactions. Older children from the Rimu room visit the babies and toddlers, joining in tuakana-teina relationships that promote empathy and leadership, and ease transitions within the centre. Younger children are well-supported to develop their physical and social skills, and become increasingly independent and self-managing.

Positive and highly interactive partnerships with parents are established. Leaders and teachers value the contributions they make to the service. Parents enjoy spending time in the centre and sharing knowledge about their children's home learning. Teachers include parents' aspirations in children's individual programmes. These are implemented during their last year at the centre, and provide experiences and opportunities that assist children and families to prepare for their transition to school.

Teachers know children very well, and are well prepared to respond to, and celebrate, the diverse cultural values and customs increasingly evident in the centre. Bicultural practices, such as involvement in kapa haka, waiata, hangi and Matariki celebrations and the use of karakia mo te kai are well supported by whānau. This fosters the service's respect for Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The mana and successful participation of Māori children, acknowledges and increases their cultural knowledge and skills of all children.

Teachers use their knowledge of the principles, goals and learning objectives of Te Whāriki, early childhood curriculum well. Literacy, mathematics, science and the arts are naturally integrated into child-initiated learning, and oral language is strongly supported. Teachers' shared values and philosophy help them to fully include children with additional learning needs, including English language learning. They are reflective practitioners who share their knowledge of children's emerging interests and development, and use these insights to support and extend learning.

Strong professional leadership guides the service. The manager/head teacher has worked with the owner to recruit and induct a diverse team of competent teachers who strongly support the centre vision and philosophy. The bicultural practice and strong parent partnerships highly evident in the centre have been underpinned by appropriate professional development for leaders and teachers to strengthen their knowledge of te ao Maori practices. Self-review initiatives focus on continuous improvement, and revised appraisal processes enable teachers to evaluate their teaching practice in terms of outcomes for children. The service is well prepared to sustain and further improve its current practice.

Key Next Steps

A centre management plan has been used to guide centre development. Centre managers are now considering developing a more inclusive strategic plan to sustain and continue current developments. Important areas to include are centre strengths such as the partnership with parents and emphasis on success for Māori children as Māori. Consideration should now be given to consulting with staff and parents to obtain their insights and participation.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Jump Start Educare 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Jump Start Educare will be in three years.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

16 December 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

Location		Cambridge
Ministry of Education profile number		30352
Licence type		Education & Care Service
Licensed under		Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008
Number licensed for		80 children, including up to 24 aged under 2
Service roll		71
Gender composition		Boys 38 Girls 33
Ethnic composition		Māori Pākehā German Indian South African	35 33 1 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		September 2016
Date of this report		16 December 2016
Most recent ERO report(s)		Education Review	November 2013
		Education Review	November 2010

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.