Glenview Kindy

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Glenview Kindy are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Glenview Kindy is a privately owned all-day education and care service. It is one of two services under the same governance and ownership. The service provides learning for children from two years to school age. The service has responded positively to ERO’s previous recommendations.

3 Summary of findings

Children’s learning and development is well supported through a curriculum that promotes positive outcomes. This is achieved by:

• Teachers, children and their whānau participating in learner focused partnerships. Learning goals are set, and continued planning occurs.

• Te reo and tikanga Māori being intentionally integrated into practices. This supports Māori children’s confidence in their culture and facilitates learning that aligns with the bicultural curriculum of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.

• Teachers sharing culturally relevant knowledge and expertise that is supporting the growth of culturally responsive practices for all children.

• Children with additional learning needs being fully included and well supported. Teachers use early intervention techniques to ensure continued progress.

Teachers provide a play-based curriculum which promotes child agency, independence, and social competence. Highly effective organisational conditions support children’s growth and progression over time. This is realised by:

• Relational trust and building of professional knowledge leading to ongoing improvements in practice.

• Shared leadership systems enabling growth for teachers.

• Effective systems and processes promoting change which help the service realise it vision.

• Thoughtfully prepared and appropriate equipment and resources that extend children’s learning.

Governance and leadership actively pursue ways to ensure social justice which promotes equity for all learners. This is accomplished by:

• A positive work environment that enables quality adult-child-whānau interactions.

• Networked relationships for children with additional needs that fosters and promotes positive pathways.

• Strategic planning, review and evaluation processes supporting focused growth and improvement over time for children and their whānau. The service is strengthening its consideration of what improvements are working for specific groups of learners.

4 Improvement actions

Glenview Kindy will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• increase the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects the cultural contexts in which they live 

• refine documented planning within assessment to explicitly reflect intentional teaching

• strengthen evaluation focus on what progression is enabled and for which groups of children with explicit reference to the valued learning outcomes of Te Whāriki.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Glenview Kindy 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.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

7 June 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

1 Evaluation of Glenview Kindy

How well placed is Glenview Kindy to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Glenview Kindy is a privately owned full-day education and care service located in the Hamilton suburb of Glenview. It is one of two centres under the same ownership and management and this is the second ERO review of the centre. The current roll of 41 children includes 11 children who are Māori and a number of children are from Pacific and Asian cultures. The centre caters for children from two years to school age in a mixed-age setting.

The centre's philosophy is based on the belief that children learn best in an environment where they feel safe, valued and nurtured. There is also a strong emphasis on children, their families, educators and the wider community learning and teaching together. The promotion of virtues is integral to the programme and guides teaching practice and interactions with children and their families.

The centre has responded positively to key next steps in ERO's last report. Significant progress has been made in embedding bicultural practices and self review has been undertaken in relation to provision for more active learners.

The centre management and staff team remains largely unchanged since the last ERO review providing positive continuity for children and families.

The Review Findings

Centre owners have established a clear and well documented vision, philosophy and strategic direction for the centre. They are committed to principles of social justice, equitable opportunities and outcomes for all children and their families. This philosophy and strategic direction is strongly reflected in all aspects of centre operations. A common sense of purpose is demonstrated by children, teachers, parents and whānau.

The centre manager and assistant managers from both centres are providing well-informed and highly effective professional leadership for teachers across the service. They are working collaboratively to build teacher capability and have successfully established a cohesive staff team. Leaders ensure that teachers have access to ongoing professional learning and development, regular professional discussions and support them to reflect on their practice. A culture of shared leadership empowers teachers to be strong advocates for children and enables them to contribute to decisions about centre organisation and the curriculum.

Self review is highly developed. It informs ongoing improvements and the centre's strategic direction. A systematic and in-depth approach is focused on outcomes for tamariki, whānau, kaiako as well as outcomes relating to ensuring responsiveness to the language, culture and identity of individual children, their whānau and teachers.

The centre philosophy is being consistently implemented. The importance of establishing respectful, responsive and reciprocal relationships at all levels is highly evident. The curriculum offers authentic opportunities for children to develop social competence, understanding of fairness and inclusion of others. Children are well supported to contribute to decisions about their learning, follow their interests and express their ideas and preferences.

Teachers value parents as partners in children's learning. They know children well through their ongoing observations and communication with parents. Regular parent teacher interviews and day-to-day conversations enable parents to share their aspirations and insights about their children's ongoing development. Information shared is used to support assessment and planning that builds on children's interests and responds to their learning needs.

Children experience a rich curriculum. Features of the curriculum include:

• the thoughtfully-planned and well-resourced learning environments that are attractive and motivate children's curiosity, exploration and learning
• opportunities to extend learning and makes links in the wider community
• the meaningful integration of literacy and mathematics in appropriate contexts for children
• bicultural practices that promote the Māori language and values of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga
• regular opportunities for older children to work in a small group to identify areas for inquiry, plan and engage in more complex learning experiences.

Children benefit from interactions with teachers who are knowledgeable and highly skilled practitioners. Teachers use a range of effective strategies to engage children. They take time to listen, respecting children's knowledge and developing theories. Teachers are highly attuned to children. They know when to allow children time and space to set their own challenges and problem solve, and when to engage in ways that more directly support and extend learning.

Key Next Steps

Centres leaders and teachers have reviewed aspects of the emergent curriculum. In order to build on this work, an ongoing focus should assist teachers to plan timely responses to individual and group interests and learning within the emergent curriculum.

Review of the appraisal process is needed to ensure closer alignment with new Education Council expectations. Consideration should be given to:

• more regular and documented feedback to teachers about their practice
• implementing a process for teachers to inquire more specifically into their practice
• formalise the appraisal process for the centre owner/manager.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Glenview Kindy 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.

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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Glenview Kindy will be in four years. 

Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer

24 August 2016

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 Early Childhood Service

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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.