106 Broughton Street, Gore
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 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 Akoranga Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whāngai Establishing |
Akoranga Preschool is managed by the owner, who oversees two team leaders teaching alongside mostly qualified kaiako. Infants, toddlers, and young children play and learn in two defined areas. The roll includes approximately a quarter who are Māori and a small number of children from diverse cultural heritages, including Pacific. Since the 2019 ERO report, good progress has been made in improving assessment practices and the quality of kaiako interactions with a focus on learning.
Children’s learning and development is supported through intentional and culturally responsive teaching practices. This includes integrating local cultural narratives within the curriculum and some te reo Māori. Children are provided with many opportunities to explore a broad curriculum including opportunities for developing early literacy, mathematics and science concepts, physical and social competence. Children’s sense of wellbeing and belonging are supported within inclusive and inviting environments.
Kaiako who work with infants and toddlers are responsive to their cues and signals. They encourage their independence and provide time and space for exploration. Transitions throughout the service are well managed.
Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, including the use of the learning outcomes, increasingly guides curriculum, planning, and assessment practices. Children’s progress over time in relation to the learning outcomes is becoming more evident. Assessment practices positively celebrate learning and achievements. However, kaiako are yet to deliberately use assessment information to identify and respond to inequities.
Leaders and kaiako develop and enact the service’s philosophy, vision and learning priorities recognising te Tiriti o Waitangi as foundational. However, further collaboration with parents and whānau, including Māori whānau is required to seek and integrate their perspectives into the curriculum and operational documents.
Some progress has been made in developing internal evaluation practices since ERO’s last review. Further strengthening of internal evaluation practices is now required to better know what is working or not and for whom.
The learning and wellbeing of children are the primary consideration in decision making. Leaders support children's learning and development through regular communication with whānau, agencies and the wider community. They provide adequate resourcing and access to professional development opportunities that respond to recognised needs.
Akoranga Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
increasing opportunities for parent and whānau to contribute to the service’s operational documents, such as: philosophy, internal evaluation and strategic planning
continuing to build all kaiako capability to effectively undertake internal evaluation. This includes gathering a wider range of data, including assessment information, monitoring and evaluating changes made to better identify the impact on outcomes for all children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Akoranga Preschool completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
hazard list amended to include daily checking for all hazards specified in the Licensing Criteria present in the kitchen and laundry, and bodies of water and glass
ensuring the risk assessment is documented when safety checking all children’s workers in accordance with the Children Act 2014.
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care 2008, HS12 GMA7A]
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
22 November 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Akoranga Preschool |
|
Profile Number |
46072 |
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Location |
Gore |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
98 |
|
Review team on site |
August 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
22 November 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, April 2019; Education Review, February 2016 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Scribbles Early Education Centre – Mt Roskill is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Akoranga Preschool is a privately owned education and care centre in Gore. The owners have recently purchased the centre next door, formerly known as Aroha Early Learning Centre. The service now operates as one license for up to 80 children, including 25 aged under two years.
There are two centre directors. One is has oversight for older children in one house (Room One) and the other for infant and toddlers in the other house (Room Two). They are supported by a team of teachers. Almost all of the teachers are qualified educators.
The centre's philosophy is to provide a curriculum which is 'child-led and where children learn best through experiencing the world around them'. The centre's whakatauki is: ‘Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti ahau o tatou mahi: let the uniqueness of the child guide our work’. To achieve this, teachers aim to provide a safe, fun and inspiring environment that fosters a sense of peace and wellbeing for children and whānau.
Children play and learn in home-like environments. Teachers help them to feel happy, confident, safe and settled. They are exposed to a range of inviting planned activities in spacious and well-resourced indoor and outdoor environments. Both of these offer multiple opportunities to learn and develop a variety of social, language, physical and thinking skills and competencies.
Teachers and leaders have built positive, responsive relationships with the children and their parents and whānau. This can be consistently seen. Children, their parents and whānau experience caring and respectful conversations and communication from centre staff. Children and their parents are well informed about the daily programme.
Children experience a thoughtful and responsive programme. It meets their needs, strengths and interests while providing challenges and opportunities to support and extend their development. Assessment for children's learning includes multiple perspectives. This includes parent input and aims for their children’s learning, which are regularly sought and responded to. This enhances the interpretation and analysis of learning. Teachers collaboratively plan for children's learning.
Routines for infants and toddlers are calm and unhurried. Each child has a key teacher who provides care that is nurturing and where possible these are the same as their routines at home.
Teachers place a strong focus on ensuring children’s wellbeing. They support children to become familiar with all aspects of centre life. Transitions into, through and out of the centre are well managed. Children with additional needs are well known and supported with their learning and wellbeing.
The leaders and teachers are improvement focused. The internal evaluation of healthy eating has resulted in change and improved practice in this area. A current review focus is building the consistency of te reo Māori across the centre. As part of this, centre managers are strengthening teacher confidence and competence in using te reo and tikanga Māori.
Centre leaders role model best practice in teaching and learning and teachers are enthusiastic learners. Many opportunities are provided for sharing best teaching practice across teams. A next step is to consolidate the best practices across the service and continue to build consistency and quality of practice and clarity of expectations.
Centre managers have put in place long-term planning for the future development of the service. To extend this, they need to consult with the centre's growing community and to systematically monitor progress towards identified goals.
The centre leaders and teachers need to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Akoranga Preschool 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
24 April 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.
|
Location |
Gore |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46072 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
89 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 54 Girls 35 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
15 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
February 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
24 April 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report |
Education Review |
February 2016 |
|
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.