31 Ogle Crescent, Kamo, Whangarei
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 Back2Nature Puawai are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whakatō Emerging |
Back2Nature Puawai is one of two homebased education and care networks. The owner is the service leader and is supported by a team of three qualified mentoring teachers and two administrators. Children attending reflect the ethnically diverse cultures within the community.
Responsive and respectful relationships between mentoring teachers, educators, children and their families are a strength of the service. Children’s emotional wellbeing and their sense of belonging is nurtured through learning in familiar surroundings. Educators are positive and affirming with children.
Mentoring teachers and educators understand and value the home setting, where everyday life experiences around the home and community provide opportunities for learning. Children have good opportunities to connect with their local curriculum. Nature school is a special feature of the service, which provides opportunities for children to connect to, and explore their natural environment.
Te ao Māori is a focus each month to assist educators in the development of a culturally responsive curriculum. This supports Māori children’s identity, language and cultural connections to their local community.
Mentoring teachers need to support educators to use a range of teaching strategies and practices to respond to children’s individual cultures, languages and identity and make this more visible in their assessment records.
Educators notice and record children’s individual interests in their planning. Learning stories show that educators are at various levels of understanding and articulating Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Mentoring teachers now need to support educators to respond to children’s learning, and monitor their progress, in relation to the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki.
Internal evaluation is at the early stages of development. The service leader and mentoring teachers would benefit from reviewing their current processes and aligning these with ERO’s internal evaluation cycle. This would guide the service’s evaluation to focus on improving outcomes for children.
The service now needs to develop a professional growth cycle for mentoring teachers that aligns with the Teaching Council’s expected practice. This cycle would help the service leader to coach mentoring teachers in strengthening their teaching and leadership capabilities.
Back2Nature Puawai will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Plan:
Further develop internal evaluation by focusing on how improvements are impacting on children’s learning.
To develop and implement a professional growth cycle to strengthen mentoring teachers’ teaching and leadership capabilities.
Increase the extent to which information about children’s learning reflects their identity, languages and cultures.
Before the review, the staff and management of Back2Nature Puawai 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.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
20 January 2023
| Early Childhood Service Name | Back2Nature Puawai |
| Profile Number | 46471 |
| Location | Kamo, Whangarei |
|
Service type |
Home-based service |
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
|
Service roll |
1 |
|
Review team on site |
November 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
20 January 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2021; Education Review, June 2017 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Back2Nature - Puawai is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Back2Nature - Puawai is one of two networks operated by the owner/manager. It is licensed as a standard-funded service for 50 children, including 30 up to two years of age. The service also provides caregiving for school-aged children outside of school hours. At present there are 22 children enrolled with eight educators. Many of the educators have qualifications, with some working towards a Level 4 early childhood qualification. Two mentoring teachers visit homes monthly to guide educator practice.
The service has a strong focus on children being in nature to grow their interests, knowledge and confidence through exploration and fun. A priority for the service is that children hear and use te reo Māori as part of their learning.
There are two opportunities a week for educators and children to gather through a playgroup (Wāhi Koa|Place of Joy) and a Nature Day. Excursions for nature days are held at a variety of places that include parks, forests and beaches.
Children appear to be engaged and confident in the care of educators. Records of their learning are collated by educators in assessment portfolios. Mentoring teachers' additions to these portfolios identify sustained play and positive relationships between children and their educators. Parents are well informed and invited to comment using an online portal.
Many of the educators have begun to use te reo Māori in their stories and observations. Educators include tikanga Māori, such as karakia, before the sharing of food. Tuakana/teina relationships are highlighted when older children support and play with younger children. Mentoring teachers support educators to increase their use of te reo me ōna tikanga Māori with children.
Mentoring teachers could better document how they support educators to recognise and respond to children's learning. Clearer records could show how their guidance contributes to the development of educators’ understanding of effective early childhood practice. Ongoing reference to these records should help the service to evaluate the impact of educators' professional development on improved outcomes for all children.
Educators' health and safety records in homes are up-to-date and well maintained. Mentoring teachers also maintain monthly records about the hygiene and safety of educators' homes, and children's wellbeing. Educators' homes provide well for children.
The philosophy, strategic direction and vision for the service are evident in the operation and actions taken by all educators, mentoring teachers and administration staff. Policies and procedures are current, shared with educators, and review dates are recorded. However, some systems need reviewing to ensure that required documents are completed, up-to-date, provide required evidence and securely stored. It would be useful to deepen the focus and intention of self review to increase the robustness of findings and future actions.
Appraisal processes need updating to provide links between job descriptions, performance indicators and professional development. The process of setting goals and follow-up actions should be recorded to help employees reflect on and discuss their professional development. This includes an appraisal process for the owner/manager.
Key next steps are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Back2Nature - Puawai 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:
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 review, the service has addressed the following non-compliance:
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region - Te Tai Raki
12 March 2021
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 |
Whangarei, Northland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46471 |
||
|
Institution type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
22 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
|
|
Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
||
|
Required ratios of educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:4 |
||
|
Review team on site |
December 2020 |
||
|
Date of this report |
12 March 2021 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Previously reviewed as: Back2Nature Childcare |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2017 |
||
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: July 2008
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes 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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Back2Nature Childcare is a newly established home-based education and care service in Whangarei, with educators in urban and rural areas. The service's philosophy aligns children's learning with the natural world and a focus on outdoor programmes.
The service currently has one standard network of 12 educators, and is working towards establishing a quality funded network. There are presently 31 children enrolled, including 11 aged under two years. Half the children have Māori heritage.
The service is led by the owner and two part-time mentoring teachers who are fully registered. They provide support and guidance for the educators and the mentoring teachers assist the owner in managing the service. This leadership team participates in a significant amount of professional development and has a strong commitment to building educators' use of te reo Māori.
This is the first ERO review of the service.
Children's learning programmes are underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Their learning records show that they participate in a wide variety of experiences. Educators provide many creative, physical and social activities in homes, outdoors and in the community. Programmes include opportunities for early literacy and numeracy learning and support for language development. Educators’ incidental use of te reo Māori and waiata, and the service’s involvement in a kapa haka initiative, are some of the ways Māori children are supported to be successful as Māori.
The service features a group nature excursion each week attended by all educators and children. These excursions are often linked to children's interests and enable them to enjoy a variety of parks, beaches and woodland areas in and around Whangarei. They also become familiar with all the educators and develop tuakana/teina relationships with the other children.
Mentoring teachers support children and their families' well, as they settle with educators. They visit educators frequently to monitor children's progress, with a particular focus on infants and toddlers and children with special needs. Teachers help educators to identify children's interests, and to capture their significant experiences in learning stories and photos. They write affirming reports to guide educators' work with children and encourage programme planning that will promote learning. Educators have yet to develop formal supervision plans.
Educators maintain strong relationships with whānau. In addition to daily informal conversations, they share learning stories and other information via social media, and document care routines each day. The leadership team has identified the need to strengthen its partnership with parents to involve them more in the service and aspects of their children’s learning.
Training and professional development has had a positive impact on the teachers and educators and on outcomes for children. Several educators have had relevant training in early childhood teaching or health care. They also benefit from in-service courses, first-aid training and ongoing guidance to extend their knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori. They participate in an appraisal process to continue their development.
The leaders are engaged in ongoing professional development to enhance leadership skills and extend their understanding of tuakana/teina relationships. Appraisal processes at this level are not yet underway.
The owner and mentoring teachers have made good progress in developing the service. They have established a clear vision, strategic goals and an annual plan to guide practices. The team engages in meaningful internal evaluation that includes regular policy review as well as strategies to address spontaneous issues and long-term improvement projects. Ongoing informal reflection between the leaders has resulted in distributed leadership roles, high trust levels and a willingness to critique and improve practices.
The owner and mentoring teachers agree that the key next steps for enhancing the service include:
further developing links between their strategic goals and annual planning, to provide clear guidelines for achieving the goals
strengthening partnerships between parents and the service leaders
continuing to improve programme planning and evaluation for educators’ in-home programmes and for the weekly group excursions.
Before the review, the staff and management of Back2Nature Childcare 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:
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 Back2Nature Childcare will be in three years.
Steffan Brough
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
15 June 2017
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 |
Kamo, Whangarei |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46471 |
||
|
Institution type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
31 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 16 Girls 15 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pākehā/Māori other |
9 14 5 3 |
|
|
Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
3 |
||
|
Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:4 |
||
|
Review team on site |
May 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
15 June 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
No previous ERO reports |
||
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:
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: July 2014
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.