171b Moffat Road, Bethlehem, 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 |
Not meeting |
Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
The Village Preschool and Childcare Centre is a privately-owned centre located in Bethlehem, Tauranga. The service manager leads a team of 15 teachers across three aged-based areas. The centre regained its full license in January 2021. The service philosophy places value on nature-based learning.
The service curriculum is inclusive. Children are given opportunities to develop understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Teachers engage with children to enhance their learning and nurture meaningful relationships. Children’s preferences are respected. They and their whānau are involved in decision making about their learning. The premise provides for physically active play. There is indoor and outdoor space for a range of learning experiences appropriate to the ages and abilities of all children attending. An annual plan guides centre operation. Consistent implementation of health and safety procedures is required.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education & Care Services 2008, HS4].
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Shelley Booysen
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
8 March 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name: |
The Village Preschool and Childcare Centre |
| Profile Number: |
45025 |
| Location: |
Tauranga |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
87 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
88 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 18, NZ European/Pākehā 57, Latin American 4, Other ethnic groups 9 |
|
Review team on site |
January 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
8 March 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, November 2017; Education Review, May 2014 |
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 license to operate.
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:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Village Preschool and Childcare Centre is a privately-owned centre located in Bethlehem, Tauranga. It is licensed to provide all-day education and care for 87 children, including 30 up to the age of two years. The roll of 104 children includes 16 children who identify as Māori.
The indoor and outdoor environments promote exploration and opportunities for collaborative play for infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers. The indoor and outdoor areas support children to purposefully engage in an area of play depending on their current interests. These areas are well connected and foster positive interactions between younger and older children.
The centre is a member of the Otūmoetai Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako.
Leaders and teachers have responded well to the areas for development identified in the 2014 ERO report. They have focused on reviewing the philosophy, enhancing bicultural practice and developing assessment practices to better acknowledge and celebrate children's learning, progress and development overtime.
Children are supported well. Teachers are responsive to their strengths, interests and needs. Choices for learning, self-care and social competency are highly evident. The philosophy has been recently reviewed and is actively fostered throughout the centre. Nurturing relationships and empowerment for children's learning are highly evident in teachers' practice.
A family-orientated centre culture is in place. Meaningful and reciprocal relationships with children and their whānau are fostered. Parent aspirations are invited and are actively supporting direction for children’s learning. Curiousity is fostered and learners are encouraged to discover new experiences and challenges throughout their play.
Nurturing interactions foster the high-quality curriculum of care for children up to the age of two. Infants and toddlers are well supported and empowered to build their self-confidence and awareness. The physical environment supports exploration and fosters focussed learning experiences.
A highly responsive and collaborative approach to support and strategies that best meet the needs of diverse learners is evident. Children are encouraged to learn at their own pace. Strong relationships between parents, the centre, and external agencies promote well-considered learning experiences. Strengthening documentation to show the progress of the child’s learning overtime should better foster continuity for the learner.
Transition in and through the centre is highly responsive to children’s readiness and occurs at the child's pace. The process and practice is respectful and inclusive of the child’s needs and wants. Their feelings and emotions are considerately acknowledged. The centre is extending links with local schools to further support and develop the process for transition to school.
The centre has reviewed its bicultural practice to better support children’s understanding and knowledge of the dual heritage of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Children’s portfolios are beginning to show a deepening bicultural curriculum. Leaders and teachers have identified the need to weave te ao Māori deliberately and purposefully into learning experiences and the environment. This should better support an authentic approach to respond to Māori children's learning.
Learning stories reflect a rich and varied curriculum. Risk taking and opportunities for challenge are actively promoted and support extension of meaningful learning experiences. Frequent excursions, including to the centre's Discovery Garden, strengthen children's links with the community and environment. These experiences promote knowledge of the living world and further enhance their learning.
Opportunities for leadership among teachers is actively promoted and supported. A transparent and deliberate approach to growing teachers' knowledge is evident throughout the centre. Staff experience a wide range of professional learning and development opportunities that broaden and build their teaching capability.
ERO and leaders agree the key next steps are to:
strengthen the recording of progress over time for diverse learners to support continuity across the centre for individual children
weave te ao Māori deliberately and purposefully into learning experiences and the environment
build understanding of effective evaluation centre wide.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Village Preschool & Childcare Centre 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 The Village Preschool & Childcare Centre will be in three years.
Lynda Pura-Watson Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region
14 November 2017
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 |
Tauranga |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45025 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
87 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
104 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 52% Girls 48% |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
15% |
|
|
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 |
October 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
14 November 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
May 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2011 |
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|
Education Review |
April 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:
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.