Nurture@Home Marlb

Education institution number:
45722
Service type:
Homebased Network
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
12
Telephone:
Address:

38 Devon Street, Stoke, Nelson

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Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd.

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

Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd is privately owned. A qualified early childhood teacher is the coordinator for seven educators that provide care and education in their own homes. The May 2019 ERO report found the service practices required further development. The service received a full licence in August 2020. ERO visited four educator homes as part of this review.

Summary of Review Findings

Educator premises are resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending. Local excursions and playgroup extend the in-home curriculum and provide for wider social interactions. Recent professional development for leaders and educators has provided children with opportunities to develop an understanding of the dual cultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.  Health and safety checklists and supervision plans for children are completed by educators and monitored by visiting teachers. Governance and management systems, and ongoing self review that supports improvement have been established.

Key Next Steps

Next step is for leaders to:

  • further develop their understanding and implementation of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to inform curriculum design that reflects what is important to children, their families and educators.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

15 March 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd.
Profile Number 45722
Location Blenheim

Service type

Home-based service

Number licensed for

50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2.

Service roll

23

Ethnic composition

Māori 6, NZ European/Pākehā 16, Other ethnic groups 1.

Review team on site

December 2020

Date of this report

15 March 2021

Most recent ERO report(s) Education Review, May 2019.

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 (PDF 1MB). 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.

Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd. - 28/05/2019

1 Evaluation of Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd

How well placed is Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd is not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd is a locally owned and operated home-based childcare service in the Marlborough Region. It comprises of one network with 9 educators. Of the 33 children enrolled six identify as Māori. One coordinator has day-to-day responsibility for the network.

The mission statement advises: "taking educational steps to expand the growth and development of young minds and hearts, through the nurturing of home-based care".

Leaders have responsibility for the provision of care, implementation of an effective curriculum and professional support for educators. 

This is the first report for Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd.

The Review Findings

Children participate in a range of interesting activities in educator homes. Weekly playgroups and regular excursions are offered for educators and children. These provide opportunities for them to meet socially. Providing a wider range of curriculum experiences for children at playgroup to extend learning would be beneficial and compliment the in-home programmes.

Greater clarification of the expectation for the home visits undertaken by the coordinators from the service provider is required. Regular visits are undertaken to educator homes, however documentation does not clearly show how educators are being supported to develop their practice. The coordinator visit records should be strengthened to show:

  • Follow-up and monitoring of issues related to health and safety

  • how educators are supported in the meaningful use of te reo Māori

  • evidence of modelling effective assessment.

Assessment is not well understood. Developing a procedure to guide coordinator and educator practice is essential to support implementation. Educators regularly complete anecdotal notes of children’s engagement in the programme provided, a focus on planning for children’s learning including working with parent aspirations, requires development. This should be achieved through specific guidance and targeted support from the coordinator and implementation monitored and evaluated over time.

The development of an appraisal process is a priority. Appraisal was not completed for the coordinator or educators in 2018. The coordinator’s appraisal for 2019 is not robust. A higher level of engagement is required with a greater understanding of evidencing Standards for the Teaching Profession.

Leaders have yet to develop and implement a suitable review and internal evaluation processes focused on improving outcomes for children.

Positive relationships are evident between the educators and parents. However, a greater focus on learning partnerships should be developed.

The philosophy, recently revised, does not clearly show the learning that is valued in Step 2 Growth. There should be a clearer link to the philosophy in action, through educator practice and coordinator reports.

The service provider must improve the monitoring of all systems and processes including policy reviews. She needs to be assured that the service meets legislative requirements, particularly for health and safety, and provides high quality home based education and care. Priorities for improvement include fully completing the required documentation for all aspects of operation. This includes:

  • police vetting for all involved in the service

  • fully implementing the revised job description for the coordinator (developed late 2018)

  • consistently documenting follow-up of actions to meet health and safety requirements at educator homes

  • development of a policy or procedure for appraisal and staff appointments

  • revisiting the child protection policy to include all aspects of the safety checking process

  • closer monitoring of identification of risks, specifically around animals, and enacting a plan.

Additionally, roles and responsibilities of paid staff should be clearly defined to support shared understandings of service expectations.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO found significant areas of non-compliance in the service related to:

  • assessment, planning and evaluation

  • internal evaluation for accountability and improvement for the quality of education and care

  • annual review of written emergency plan

  • appraisal for educators and staff

  • safety checking of workers.

[Licensing criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services 2008, C2, C5, C6, HS4, GMA5, GMA6A.]

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Step 2 Growth Marlborough Ltd. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

28 May 2019

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Home-based Education and Care Service

Location

Blenheim

Ministry of Education profile number

45722

Institution type

Homebased Network

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

60 children, including up to 60 aged under 2

Service roll

35

Standard or Quality Funded

Standard

Gender composition

Boys 21, Girls 14

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Other ethnic groups

5
27
3

Number of qualified coordinators in the network

One

Required ratios of educators to children

Under 2

1:2

Over 2

1:4

Review team on site

March 2019

Date of this report

28 May 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

No previous ERO reports

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.