19 Miro Street, Mount Maunganui South, Tauranga
View on mapERO’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.
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.
Maunganui Kindergarten is located in Blade Park. It is governed and managed by Inspired Kindergartens (Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association). The service offers all day care and education in a mixed-age setting. This is its first ERO report under new ownership.
The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Teachers demonstrate relevant cultural knowledge and give children opportunities to develop an understanding of the heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Children are involved in decisions about their learning experiences and their preferences are respected. The curriculum supports their developing social competence. Assessment and planning acknowledges whānau aspirations and shows an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau and life contexts.
Next steps include:
increasing the range of opportunities children and their families have to share aspects of their culture with others in the service
strengthening the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects each child’s identity, language, and culture.
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
25 July 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Maunganui Kindergarten |
|
Profile Number |
40097 |
|
Location |
Mount Maunganui South, Tauranga |
|
Service type |
Free Kindergarten |
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
38 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 9, NZ European/Pākehā 25, Other ethnic groups 4 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
25 July 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, September 2016; Education Review, September 2013 |
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.
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.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Mount Plunket Preschool is an early childhood service owned by the Royal New Zealand (RNZ) Plunket Society Inc. and located in Mount Maunganui. The centre provides all-day education and care for children from three months to school age in a mixed-age setting. It is licensed for a maximum of 30 children, which can include a maximum of eight under two years of age. The current roll is 53 children of whom 10 are identified as Māori.
Governance responsibilities that include employment, finance, property, strategic planning and a policy framework are shared between the national office of RNZ Plunket Society Inc and its Bay of Plenty Area Board in Tauranga. The long-serving centre manager retains on-site management responsibility and she coordinates governance actions with the RNZ Plunket networks. In 2015, a head teacher was appointed to lead professional practice. The centre retains a high proportion of qualified teachers, most of whom have many years of service.
The centre philosophy gives emphasis to building warm relationships and productive partnerships with children and their families. Biculturalism and diversity are to be embraced as enrichments to the programme that responds to children's kaupapa. The natural world and sustainability principles are given priority.
Centre leaders responded positively to recommendations in the 2013 ERO report. Bicultural practice has been significantly strengthened by the appointment of a head teacher. Self-review practices are well developed and have involved work with external facilitators.
Children experience respectful, affirming and supportive relationships with adults in the centre. Teachers engage children in conversations that help them to develop their understanding, oral language and communication skills. Routines are flexible and responsive to children's needs and they help them to build a sense of belonging and encourage self-management skills. The centre is highly inclusive and supportive of children with special needs. Children can initiate their own play in most instances. However, centre leaders recognise that children's ongoing access to some important resources could be increased to support extended and complex play, especially by older children.
Bicultural practice is highly evident in teacher strategies and the centre environment. The head teacher and staff model the use of te reo and tikanga Māori for children and their families. The language, culture and identity of all children and their families are acknowledged and valued. Māori children experience success as Māori in this centre.
Infants and toddlers can safely explore within their own play area, which still allows easy communication and movement with the rest of the centre. Older children can naturally interact with infants and toddlers, and tuakana-teina relationships are highly evident. Teachers are respectful, warm and caring in their relationships with very young children. Teachers respond to non-verbal signs of infants and toddlers, and ensure that they talk regularly with parents to provide consistency of home and centre routines. Centre leaders recognise there is benefit in clearly identifying an agreed set of teaching practices, which stem from recent research in best practice for infants, and sharing these practices with families.
Teachers bring considerable experience and professional knowledge to their practice. At regular meetings, teachers share their observations and understanding about children, and plan suitable responses in the programme and environment. Early literacy and mathematics concepts and language are naturally integrated into the daily programme. Children have many opportunities for creative and imaginative play, construction, physical challenge and interactions with the natural world. The programme is further extended through visits and excursions into the community. Families and children are well supported as they prepare to transition to school.
Children's learning and development is recorded and shared with families in an effective combination of on-line and hard copy individual assessment portfolios. These portfolios reflect children's language, culture and identity. They also encourage parent and home input, recognise the significant learning occurring and how this learning can be extended.
The head teacher works collaboratively with the team of experienced teachers to ensure a shared sense of positive purpose and direction. The 'key teacher' approach involves each teacher building a long-term relationship and responsibility for an allocated group of children and their families. Teachers are supported to be reflective practitioners as they gather evidence related to their area of inquiry and the Education Council practising teacher criteria (PTCs). Regular staff meetings include the sharing of professional readings and progress on current areas of self review.
The centre manager reports that the current policy framework is a combination of national, area and local centre procedures. There is a need to rationalise this policy framework into a single coherent framework appropriate to the centre and its operation, reflecting current legislative requirements and good practice in early childhood education.
The centre is likely to benefit from a review of the ongoing access for children to a wider range of the existing equipment and resources. This is likely to support more child-initiated and extended complex play, especially for older children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Mount Plunket Preschool 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.
Centre leaders should work collaboratively with their supporting associations to develop a coherent set of up-dated policies and procedures.
The next ERO review of Mount Plunket Preschool will be in three years.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato/Bay of Plenty
6 September 2016
|
Location |
Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
40097 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
53 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 30 Boys 23 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Indian Chinese Cook Island Filipino Middle Eastern |
10 37 2 1 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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
July 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 September 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
September 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
November 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 2007 |
||
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.
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.
Mount Plunket Preschool is located in the beach township of Mt Maunganui. It provides for children from one year of age to school age in a mixed-age group setting. This encourages siblings of different ages to remain together while at the centre.
The centre is a community centre that operates under the umbrella of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society and is one of seven centres nationally. It is governed by a board of trustees made up of parent and community representatives who oversee financial management. The service employs a high number of qualified early childhood teachers and operates well above the minimum requirements for adult-to-child ratios.
The centre has a positive ERO report history. Since the 2010 ERO review teachers have focused on developing a distributive leadership model, where all staff contribute to the leadership of the service. They have had access to professional development that supports teachers to keep up to date with current practices in early childhood education. The appraisal and self-review practices have been further strengthened. The outdoor environment has been extended to provide children with additional play space. Teachers are developing processes that enable parents to access their children’s learning portfolios on the internet.
The centre manager and teachers have established a shared vision for the quality of education and care. They aim to work in partnership with parents and whānau and to have respectful relationships with open communication. Teachers place emphasis on developing children’s social skills, and supporting them to learn through child-initiated play.
A dedicated board made up of elected centre parents, Plunket representatives and the centre manager, contribute their expertise and strengths to their governance roles and responsibilities. They are kept well informed by the centre manager who regularly reports to them on the operations of the service.
The centre manager and teachers share leadership roles and responsibilities and have established a culture of collaborative and inclusive ways of working. Teachers have well-developed systems for self review that enable them to monitor the quality of education and care they offer, and to identify future focus areas for ongoing review.
Children experience close and respectful relationships with teachers who positively affirm their contributions and efforts. Children develop close friendships with each other and are supported to develop their social and communication skills.
Teachers welcome families and have open communication with them. They invite parents to share information about their children and involve them in centre decision making. Parents value their child’s portfolios which contain photographs and stories about their child’s learning.
Teachers have a good understanding of Te Whāriki the early childhood curriculum, and view children as capable of leading their learning through play. They use a variety of effective interactions and conversations to extend children’s ideas and thinking skills. Children are confident to make decisions, and have access to high-quality resources and equipment to extend their learning. Regular outings in the local community enrich the programme for children and provide them with meaningful and authentic contexts for learning. Older children’s transition to school is thoughtfully managed, and programme experiences provide a sound foundation for future learning.
Children are developing a good understanding about literacy and mathematical concepts which is supported through high-quality resources and experiences during play. They are developing knowledge, skills and learning dispositions that support them to be independent thinkers and solve problems.
The centre manager and teachers have identified and ERO agrees useful next steps for ongoing review and developments are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Mount Plunket Preschool 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 Mount Plunket Preschool will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services Northern Region
26 September 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 |
Mt Maunganui |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
40097 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
53 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 28 Boys 25 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Other |
4 46 3 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2013 |
||
|
Date of this report |
26 September 2013 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
November 2010 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 2007 |
||
|
Education Review |
July 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.