2 Westland Street, Green Island, Dunedin
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 |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Crackerjax Early Learning Centre is a privately-owned, stand-alone service. It provides education and care for children aged 0-6 in a mixed aged setting. There has been a change of ownership in January 2022 and significant turnover of staff. A small number of Māori children attend.
The service’s curriculum is designed to be inclusive and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning.
Children have a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development both indoors, outdoors, individually and in groups. The design and layout of premises supports this provision, and is appropriate to the number, ages and abilities of children attending.
A philosophy statement guides the service’s operation. Suitable human resources and internal evaluation processes are being established. Health and safety procedures and practices are implemented and monitored.
Next steps include:
increasing the use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in day-to-day teaching practice and documentation of children’s learning
more clearly showing in assessment information, individual children’s progress and continuity of learning over time, their cultural and learner identity, and whānau engagement and contribution to their child’s learning.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
15 June 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Crackerjax Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
45462 |
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Location |
Dunedin |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
42 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
48 |
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Review team on site |
May 2023 |
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Date of this report |
15 June 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, July 2019; Education Review, June 2016 |
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 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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Crackerjax Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Crackerjax is a privately-owned, stand-alone early learning centre in Green Island, Dunedin. It is a purpose-built centre providing education and care in a mixed-age setting for up to 42 children, including up to 10 under two year olds. Children from three months to school age attend. The centre is open five days a week from 8.00am until 5.30pm. Most children attending live in the local community.
The centre is run by an owner/manager and a head teacher. The ratio of teachers to children is high. There is a mix of experienced and in-training teachers.
The philosophy states that teachers will provide:
an inclusive, caring and stimulating environment that nurtures children's social and emotional wellbeing
a place where children have fun and learn through play.
The desired learning outcomes stated in the philosophy are that children will learn to take care of themselves, others and the centre, play well with and alongside others, become independent and interdependent, and understand and respect New Zealand's bicultural heritage.
Leaders and teachers have made good progress in addressing the recommendations from the 2016 ERO report. Some aspects are works in progress and identified as next steps in this report.
Children benefit from warm, caring and respectful relationships. They settle quickly on arrival and are at ease with each other and their teachers. Key teachers assigned to individuals promote children's security and sense of belonging. Children play well alongside and with each other, developing friendships over time. Centre leaders demonstrate care for the whole family and endeavour to ensure all children have equitable access to learning opportunities.
Children take part in a wide range of learning experiences. Teachers purposefully set up the environment with activities of varying complexity to provide for, and engage, a wide age range of children. Early literacy, mathematics, social and emotional competence, and physical play are key focus areas of the curriculum. Children with additional needs are very well supported and included in the life of the centre. Teachers plan well to support individual children to transition into, through and out of the centre. Māori concepts are evident in the day-to-day programmes. Children under two years are well cared for with age-appropriate resources, close teacher attention and positive relationships with older children (tuakana-teina).
Teachers' assessment, planning and evaluation is high quality and well supported by leaders' feedback to teachers. Profile books show increasing complexity in children's learning, and strategies teachers have used to support this. Teachers seek parents' aspirations and wishes for their child and actively respond to these. They regularly evaluate children's progress and the effectiveness of the programmes and teaching strategies they have used.
A range of effective internal evaluation systems and practices result in positive, well-informed change. All staff critically reflect on the effectiveness of their own practice and contribute to wider topics under review.
Centre leaders regularly reflect on how well children are nurtured and supported to learn. High expectations and a focus on ongoing improvement are evident. They have:
developed comprehensive policies, procedures and guidelines that contribute to the smooth operation of the centre
ensured strong alignment between centre priorities, professional development, appraisal inquiries and internal evaluation
built amongst the staff, a culture of trust and collaboration
supported teachers to upskill and more consistently meet their high expectations.
The philosophy and strategic plan need to be reviewed and refined to reflect current priorities and the future direction of the centre.
Aspects of group planning need to be strengthened so that best practice becomes common practice.
It is timely for teachers to review more closely how well their interactions and activities foster children's independence and maximise their learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Crackerjax Early Learning 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.
Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
9 July 2019
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 |
Dunedin |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45462 |
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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 |
42 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
57 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 29, Girls 28 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2019 |
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Date of this report |
9 July 2019 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
June 2016 |
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|
Education Review |
March 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:
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 will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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.