22 Saffron Street, Burnside, Christchurch
View on mapAkarangi | 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 The Rabbit Patch-Saffron Street are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Kia rangatira ai te tipu Excelling |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
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He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Kia rangatira ai te tipu Excelling |
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Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Kia rangatira ai te tipu Excelling |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
The Rabbit Patch-Saffron Street is one of two early childhood services which is privately owned and managed. It provides education and care for infants, toddlers and young children. Most teachers are certificated. A resident artist (Atelierista) supports creative arts. Families attending the centre represent a range of cultures.
Kaiako collaboratively design and implement a rich curriculum that is strongly underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and the service’s philosophy. This gives prominence to the Reggio Emilia approach as well as the Māori values of ako (learning from one from one another), manaakitanga (caring), whakawhanaungatanga (respectful relationships), kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the environment), and mana tangata (valuing te āo Māori). The learning environment for children is inclusive, and affirming, encouraging wonder and creativity.
The image of the child, in the context of whānau/family and culture, is actively promoted. This encourages child choice, independence, decision making and deeper levels of complex and creative thinking and learning. Children's mana and identity as a learner are recognised and fostered within the responsive, rich bicultural curriculum. Kaiako intentionally use a range of strategies to provoke and encourage children to express and explore their working theories and problem solving. To further enrich the curriculum, Kaiako plan to deepen understandings of Te Titiri o Waitangi and educational success for Pacific children as Pacific.
Children, including infants and toddlers, are seen as capable, competent and full of potential. Well written documentation makes the complexity of children’s learning visible. Kaiako complete daily reflections and project stories about the wellbeing and learning of all children. They effectively measure the impact of teaching provocations which enables unique ideas and discoveries to be refined and revisited.
Leaders have high expectations of the team. Well established induction and mentoring build kaiako capability and leadership capacity to deliver an authentic, innovative and collaborative curriculum. Leaders and kaiako are strong advocates for excellent and equitable outcomes for children.
Reflection, inquiry and knowledge building are actively promoted to realise the service’s philosophy, values, beliefs and priorities for children’s learning. Self-review outcomes inform decisions about developments and improvements to practice. Internal evaluation is not yet used as effectively as it could be to provide a deeper level of inquiry. Annual planning has yet to be explicit in terms of a progressive focus on strategic priorities.
The Rabbit Patch-Saffron Street will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of The Rabbit Patch-Saffron Street 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 requirement
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
29 November 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | The Rabbit Patch-Saffron Street |
| Profile Number | 45445 |
| Location | Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 25 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
111 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 86, Korean 5, Chinese 5, other ethnicities 13. |
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Review team on site |
August 2021 |
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Date of this report |
29 November 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, July 2017; Education Review, December 2013. |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The Rabbit Patch - Saffron Street is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Rabbit Patch - Saffron Street is one of three locally owned and managed centres that share the same management structure. Each centre is strongly inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. This includes making extensive use of the environment to entice investigation and extend children's learning. Teachers are learners alongside children. They play a key role in listening to children, observing them and documenting their work.
This centre provides education and care for infants, toddlers and young children to school age. Families from a diverse range of cultures attend the centre. Home-made meals and snacks are provided at the centre.
The centre is located in an extensively renovated building. Each of the four rooms is organised to meet the needs and interests of the age groups attending. Most rooms have a dedicated creative arts (Atelier) space.
Many staff are qualified and certified early childhood teachers. A number of the staff have been at the centre for a long time. The owners employ a resident artist (atelierista) to work specifically with children in the creative arts. The centres are supported by a pedagogical leader who works across all three Rabbit Patch centres.
Managers and teachers have made sustained progress in addressing most of the key next steps from the 2013 ERO report. The teacher appraisal system and self-review processes have been strengthened. Children have easy access to their Play, Explore, Discover (PED) portfolios which allow them to revisit and contribute to their learning. Parents have a range of opportunities to contribute to their child's learning. While the centre has made some progress increasing bicultural practices, there is a need to further develop bicultural perspectives in key centre documentation.
This review was part of the cluster of three Rabbit Patch centres.
Children experience respectful, caring relationships with each other and their teachers. They are settled and very focused on their learning. Children have many opportunities to follow their interests and deeply explore long-term investigations to build their knowledge and skills.
Children benefit from extensively exploring creative art experiences. Teachers purposefully engage children through discussions about their discoveries and experimentation that help to promote deeper thinking.
Teachers view children as being curious, capable and competent. They intentionally extend children’s ideas and foster oral language development through carefully considered interactions. Teachers purposefully integrate literacy, creative and expressive arts into the learning programme.
Teachers listen carefully to children and respond thoughtfully to their questions and contributions. They make good use of the very well-resourced indoor and outside environments to inspire learning and build children's knowledge and skills.
Teachers purposefully plan for individuals and groups. They extensively document children's involvement in the programme and the development of their learning. Teachers should make the evaluation of children's learning, and the role of teachers in learning, more evident in their group and individual planning and evaluating documentation.
Infants and toddlers experience calm, unhurried, nurturing interactions with adults who are well-known to them. They have easy access to an extensive range of resources and experiences to extend their learning. Creative art, including many opportunities to explore sensory materials, contribute to their rich learning environment.
Parents are well informed about children’s learning and what they do at the centre. Leaders and teachers regularly encourage parents to be involved at the centre and welcome their contributions to the learning programme.
The service-wide management team works well together. Managers have a strong commitment to achieving the Rabbit Patch vision. They implement an appropriate range of management systems and practices across the centres, including a thorough teacher appraisal process. Managers clearly communicate their high expectations of teachers to benefit children's learning and wellbeing.
Managers provide ongoing support to teachers by regularly observing their practice and giving relevant feedback. They present targeted internal professional development opportunities to assist teachers in their roles.
Managers have developed a useful strategic objective to enhance Māori learners achieving success as Māori. ERO recommends that managers regularly evaluate how effectively this objective is evident in centre practices and key service and centre documentation.
Managers and teachers should also:
Before the review, the staff and management of The Rabbit Patch - Saffron Street 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 The Rabbit Patch - Saffron Street will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer- Southern (Southern)
27 July 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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45445 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
||
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Service roll |
102 |
||
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Gender composition |
Girls 46; Boys 56 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5% |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
April 2017 |
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Date of this report |
27 July 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report |
Education Review |
December 2013 |
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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.