23 Evans Road, Weymouth, Auckland
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 Weymouth Early Discoveries Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
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He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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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 |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Weymouth Learning Discoveries Centre is one of three services governed by the Early Discoveries Charitable Trust. The centre provides education and care for children up to school age.
The general manager and operations manager oversee the operations and administration of all services and support the centre manager. The centre’s philosophy has a strong emphasis on Christian values and inclusion.
Children engage well in centre routines and learning experiences provided by kaiako. Quality resources support children’s exploration and learning. Children have good opportunities to explore and learn about the local and wider community. The planned programme links well to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
The service has established learning-focused partnerships with parents and whānau. Parents regularly contribute to the rich, diverse curriculum that recognises and responds to the languages, cultures and identities of their children. Whānau aspirations for their children’s learning are acknowledged and included in the programme.
The centre’s commitment to te ao and te reo Māori is strongly evident in practice and supports success for Māori learners. Kaiako seamlessly integrate te reo and tikanga Māori into the programme. Ako teaching and learning is evident between children and teachers. Kaiako draw on Tataiako and Tapasā documents to be more intentional in their planning and teaching practice.
Infants and toddlers up to three years of age have a separate area for uninterrupted play. Kaiako provide a programme that is nurturing, respectful and responds to children’s individual learning needs. Parents, who talked with ERO, emphasised how high ratios of adults to children positively impact children’s strong sense of belonging and quality learning opportunities.
Children with additional needs receive equitable and excellent care and provision. Leaders and kaiako work in partnership with parents, whānau and relevant services to gain appropriate early intervention. Kaiako have good access to professional learning opportunities that strengthen teaching practice and children’s outcomes.
Trust members and service leaders work closely with the community. They actively pursue ways to ensure equity and social justice for all children and their whānau and to ensure children have access to an inclusive, quality education. Relational trust is supporting collaboration and an openness to change and improve. Leaders foster whanaungatanga and are sustaining the conditions that promote continuous improvement.
Before the review, the staff and management of Weymouth Early Discoveries 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
7 April 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Weymouth Early Discoveries Centre |
| Profile Number | 45806 |
| Location | Manurewa, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
74 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 years. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
73 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 30 |
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Review team on site |
28 January 2021 |
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Date of this report |
7 April 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2016 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Weymouth Early Discoveries is a community-based early childhood service catering for 50 children. Located in purpose-built premises in the grounds of Weymouth School, the centre offers full day education and care from 8.45am to 2.45pm, catering for children from three to six years of age.
The centre caters for a diverse community. Many children speak more than one language and several staff are also bilingual, sharing the children’s cultures and languages. Staffing has remained stable over the past three years with a team of well qualified and registered teachers.
Established and run as part of the Ministry of Education’s Counties Manukau Participation Project, the service has a sister centre located nearby in Manurewa. The centre managers and teachers across the services work closely together sharing management systems, knowledge and expertise. The centres are led and managed by very experienced early childhood teachers.
Early Discoveries offer 30 free hours of education to children as part of its strong commitment to supporting families and their children’s education. Parents are welcome to join the management committee, contributing to the centre’s decision making. They are also warmly encouraged to stay in the centre and participate in the programme with their tamariki.
The centre’s philosophy includes a strong emphasis on Christian values and inclusion. The centre has recently begun their Enviroschools journey and are exploring the benefits of this approach. The spacious outdoor environment has been enhanced and improved.
Children’s wellbeing and sense of belonging are nurtured through positive interactions, respectful relationships and good care routines. Teachers know children and their families well. The centre offers an inclusive, welcoming environment to support children with additional learning requirements.
Respectful relationships exist within a settled and supportive environment. There is a purposeful, active atmosphere in the centre. Teachers are caring and involved with children in their play. Children are confident and interact positively with their peers. They enjoy the opportunity to select play areas and engage in individual or group play, often for sustained periods of time.
Teachers show a strong commitment to recognising children’s individual strengths, knowledge and family aspirations. The programme they plan and implement is responsive to children’s identified interests and attitudes to learning. Transition to school is well considered and thoughtfully reviewed with parent input. The close physical location to Weymouth School helps this process.
Teachers recognise and value children’s diverse cultures, languages and identities in different ways throughout the programme. Children have many opportunities to celebrate their own and each other’s cultures. Teachers are committed to providing a programme that reflects New Zealand’s bicultural heritage.
Parents and whānau are welcomed in the centre and open and trusting relationships are evident between teachers and families. Teachers seek and respond to parents’ feedback about their child’s interests and learning dispositions. Teachers continue to explore additional ways to foster parent partnerships to support children’s learning.
The centre is well resourced in all areas, including information and communication technologies (ICT). Children have good access to resources to make decisions and choices about their learning. The outdoor playground improvements have helped promote children's physical activity and exploration.
The teaching team work together to review and evaluate the success of the programme and the positive outcomes for children. Leaders are well placed to support teachers to enhance children’s communication and opportunities for exploration.
Assessment portfolios provide very good information about children’s involvement in the programme. Working closely with whanau, teachers have strengthened individual children’s assessment through a ‘kaitiaki’ approach where teachers take responsibility for individual children, noticing their progress and success.
Effective use of communications technologies allows families to have easy access to their children’s learning and assessment. Increasingly, parents are accessing this information and contributing to their child’s learning stories.
Centre management makes very good use of additional Ministry of Education funding to enable families and children to participate together in centre learning experiences. Teachers value and welcome whānau contributions alongside opportunities to learn together in a wide variety of cultural celebrations.
The centre management has recently joined with the Ministry of Education in an initiative to help improve children's oral language. They are taking a very proactive approach and providing leadership to respond to children's learning requirements in their service.
Centre managers have maintained and enhanced the centre’s leadership and management strengths from the 2013 ERO review. A thoughtful and well documented strategic plan guides centre development. It is clearly focussed on improving children’s learning.
Effective management systems are very evident. Comprehensive self-review of centre practices supports continual improvement. Centre managers are well placed to continue to refine strategic plans and self-reviews, using indicators to evaluate how well the service improves outcomes for children.
Flexible and responsive management approaches help create a positive working environment. Relevant and well-chosen professional development effectively supports staff development. Performance management has been reviewed and improved to provide teachers a clear structure and expectations to meet practising teacher requirements.
ERO and the centre leader agree that, to further promote positive outcomes for children, teachers could continue to enhance their daily evaluation processes and continue to develop their assessment practices responding to individual children's learning dispositions. This may also help teachers in consistently evaluating and documenting the effectiveness of their teaching practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of Weymouth Early Discoveries 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Weymouth Early Discoveries Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
17 May 2016
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 |
Weymouth, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45806 |
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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 |
50 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
59 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 36 Boys 23 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Samoan Tongan Cook Island Māori Fiji Indian Indian Niue South Africa Chinese |
24 1 8 8 5 3 3 3 3 1 |
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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 |
NA |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
January 2016 |
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Date of this report |
17 May 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
May 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 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.