Educare Pukete

Education institution number:
34070
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
65
Telephone:
Address:

1 Cullimore Street, Pukete, Hamilton

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Educare Pukete

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

Educare Pukete changed ownership in May 2022 and is one of 22 Educare Ltd centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. A new centre manager is supported by an area manager. A quarter of the children enrolled identify as Māori, and a small number are Pacific.

Summary of Review Findings

Infants, toddlers, and young children are supported to develop their social competence. The curriculum is language-rich and provides a range of experiences and opportunities to extend and enhance their development. Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful and positive interactions. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning.

Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their child. There are regular opportunities provided for them to be involved in their child’s learning.

The service’s operations are guided by a philosophy statement, an annual plan and budget.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

  • Continue to strengthen assessment and planning with a focus on responding to and extending learning for children.

  • Increase the opportunities children have to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful learning contexts.

  • Strengthen the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects their identity, language, and culture.

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

16 February 2023 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Educare Pukete

Profile Number

34070

Location

Pukete, Hamilton

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

99 children, including up to 25 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

48

Review team on site

November 2022

Date of this report

16 February 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akarangi | Quality Evaluation, June 2021; Education Review, April 2018

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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)

  • relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

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.

Bright Babes Limited

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Bright Babes Limited are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

ERO’s judgement

What the service knows about outcomes for learners

Whāngai Establishing

Ngā Akatoro Domains

ERO’s judgement

He Whāriki Motuhake

The learner and their learning

Whakaū Embedding

Whakangungu Ngaio

Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Aronga Whai Hua

Evaluation for improvement

Whakaū Embedding

Kaihautū

Leaders foster collaboration and improvement

Whakaū Embedding

Te Whakaruruhau

Stewardship through effective governance and management

Whakawhanake Sustaining

2 Context of the Service

Bright Babes Limited is a privately owned, stand-alone centre. The centre owner and assistant manager lead a team of ten qualified and nine unqualified teachers. Bright Babes Limited caters for infants, toddlers and young children, in five developmentally based areas. The philosophy aims to support children as resilient, confident, curious achievers.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience a respectful and responsive curriculum. Transitions into, within, and from the service are well supported. Infants benefit from calm, highly responsive interactions. Toddlers experience nurturing interactions that scaffold them towards independence. Kaiako actively promote understandings of mathematical and literacy concepts for young children. Children are confident and engaged in their learning.

Strong relationships are embedded and valued within the service. Kaiako have ample time to develop positive learning-focused relationships with children, parents and whānau. The low turn-over of kaiako is conducive to embedding quality adult-child relationships. Children display a sense of belonging.

Contribution by Māori is valued. Leaders seek and create opportunities to practically incorporate their voice in the daily curriculum. The service has focused on growth in cultural responsiveness to whānau Māori since the previous ERO review. Māori children benefit from inclusion of Te Ao Māori within the curriculum.

Kaiako are beginning to explore the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Assessment information shows some evidence of children’s developing capabilities and is reflective of some children’s languages, identities, and cultures. Team leaders and kaiako are beginning to consider this information in terms of equity.

Service leaders engage purposefully with internal evaluation to increase teacher capacity. They gather and use a range of relevant data to identify priorities for improvement. Kaiako are at an early stage of implementing these priorities within the curriculum. Critical reflection and collaborative practice are encouraged. Leaders ensure kaiako have access to relevant, high-quality professional learning, both externally and in-house.

Management have established sound systems, processes, and practices. The learning and wellbeing of children are the primary considerations in decision making. Leaders facilitate collaboration between the service, nearby schools and relevant agencies and community organisation to support broader educational outcomes.

4 Improvement actions

Bright Babes Limited will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • use the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki to inform planning and curriculum priorities towards equity
  • build capacity of team leaders and kaiako to ensure assessments reflect the cultural contexts, languages and identities of all children
  • evaluate sleep routines for toddlers to determine how effective these are in ensuring positive outcomes for all.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Bright Babes Limited 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

10 June 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name Bright Babes Limited
Profile Number 34070
Location Pukete, Hamilton

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

99 children, including up to 25 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

102

Ethnic composition

Māori 31, NZ European/Pākehā 44, Indian 9, Pacific 6, Chinese 4,  Other ethnic groups 8

Review team on site

April 2021

Date of this report

10 June 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, April 2018; Education Review, March 2015.