Little Rugrats Woodville

Education institution number:
46557
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
43
Telephone:
Address:

85 Vogel Street, Woodville

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Little Rugrats Woodville

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

Not meeting

At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.

Background

Little Rugrats Woodville, previously Woodville Early Childhood Centre, is a privately-owned all day service. The current owners have operated the service since July 2018. This is the first ERO evaluation under their management. Children learn and play in two age-based areas.

Summary of Review Findings

The curriculum is informed by assessment and planning that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning and interests. It acknowledges the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua and gives children the opportunity to develop understanding of the dual cultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Teachers engage in meaningful and positive interactions, with adults and children, to nurture reciprocal relationships. Parent and whānau aspirations for their children are respected and acknowledged. The recently redeveloped outdoor space supports the provision of a range of experiences for older children.

Since ERO’s visit centre leaders have strengthened policies and practices to encompass regulatory requirements.

Actions for Compliance

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

  • consistently implementing suitable human resource management processes including selection and appointment procedures (GMA7).

[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA7]

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • ensuring daily checks for hazards to children consider, as a minimum, all items listed in the licensing criteria (HS12)
  • ensuring food provided by the service meets requirements set out in Ministry of Health: Reducing food-related choking for babies and young children at early learning services (HS22)
  • documenting and consistently implementing suitable human resource management processes including selection and appointment procedures and discipline procedures (GMA7)
  • having a written procedure for safety checking all children’s workers that meets the safety checking requirements of the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A)
  • having an annual plan that guides the service’s operation, including ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ in relation to key tasks (GMA8).

ERO has also been provided with evidence of all required components of safety checks having been completed for the owners.

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.

Next ERO Review

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

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

26 May 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Little Rugrats Woodville
Profile Number 46557
Location Woodville

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

40 children, including up to 10 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

43

Ethnic composition

Māori 15, NZ European/Pākehā 23, Other ethnic groups 5.

Review team on site

April 2021

Date of this report

26 May 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, March 2017.

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. 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.

Woodville Early Childhood Centre - 29/03/2017

1 Evaluation of Woodville Early Childhood Centre

How well placed is Woodville Early Childhood Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

Woodville Early Childhood Centre opened in late 2015. It offers all-day education and care for up to 25 children, including five aged up to two years. The centre's routines promote interaction between age groups. There are designated indoor and outdoor play spaces for infants and toddlers. The philosophy emphasises the importance of whanaungatanga, whakamana and manaakitanga.

The centre is owned by the manager, who oversees the day-to-day running of the centre as well as curriculum implementation, with support from a head teacher. Teaching staff are qualified and registered. Children attending come from a diverse range of ethnic groups. Nine children identify as Māori.

This is Woodville Early Childhood Centre's first ERO review.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from a programme of learning that reflects and celebrates their developing interests, strengths and abilities. They are able to make independent choices about their play and enjoy interactions with calm and supportive teachers. Routines are flexible to children and their families. Literacy and numeracy are often meaningfully integrated into the learning programme.

Teachers skilfully tailor their practice to respond to individual children as well as group and family contexts. A next step is to more clearly highlight children's progress. This should be the clear focus of assessment, planning and evaluation. An increased understanding of the nature and purpose of evaluation should add value to the planned programme and individual assessments.

Leaders and teachers prioritise relationships with families. The welcoming environment supports a sense of belonging and whanaungatanga, in line with the centre's philosophy. Input from whānau is welcomed and valued. A range of strategies are employed to engage with families and share useful information. This area of strength should now be extended to build learning partnerships with parents, through which their aspirations for their children's learning are regularly sought and planned for.

All children benefit from the centre's bicultural curriculum. They regularly see, hear and experience elements of te ao Māori.

ERO and centre leaders agree that a next step is to establish deliberate strategies to promote the educational success of tamariki Māori and tamaiti Pacific. Careful consideration should be given to gathering and responding to the cultural aspirations of whānau and 'aiga.

Teachers implement effective practices to support children's transition to school. A mutually beneficial relationship with the local school has been established, that includes regular liaison between leaders and teachers.

The centre philosophy has recently been reviewed. A next step is for teachers to collaboratively unpack the statements within this philosophy to establish clear, shared understandings of teaching and learning priorities. These statements should then be used to support the evaluation of centre practice.

Self review occurs regularly, is appropriately child-focused, and results in improvement. A more evaluative approach should better support leaders and teachers to measure the effectiveness of centre practice and identify areas for development.

The manager successfully advocates for a strong focus on children and their wellbeing. Teachers are regularly challenged to reflect on and improve their practice. This culture of professional critique is further supported through robust appraisal and registration guidance systems. It is now necessary for the manager to more actively engage in a clearly documented appraisal process.

Key Next Steps

ERO and leaders agree that to improve outcomes for children:

  • assessment, planning and evaluation should be strengthened to clearly show children's progress over time, and reflect whānau aspirations

  • teachers should implement and evaluate deliberate strategies to promote the educational success of Māori children and those from Pacific nations

  • internal evaluation should be strengthened

  • the manager's appraisal documentation should align with centre policy. 

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Woodville Early Childhood 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. 

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Woodville Early Childhood Centre will be in three years.

Joyce Gebbie

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

29 March 2017 

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 

Location

Woodville

Ministry of Education profile number

46557

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

25 children, including up to 5 aged under 2

Service roll

23

Gender composition

Boys 15, Girls 8

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Samoan

Cook Island

Other ethnic groups

9

7

2

2

3

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:1

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

January 2017

Date of this report

29 March 2017

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 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.