20/11 Errol Close, Hamilton
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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.
RocKmybaby Homebased is a licensed all-day home-based education and care service operating in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. The network is licensed for 80 children between birth and school age. Children are placed with one educator, who can care for up to four children at any one time. At the time of this ERO evaluation most of the educators cared for children in the children's homes.
This privately owned network was established at the end of 2014 and is one of five networks under the same ownership operating throughout the North Island.
The quality of education in the network is overseen by a visiting teacher, who is well supported by a senior visiting teacher and other professional leaders within the Rockmybaby organisation. The visiting teacher undertakes planned visits for each child on a monthly basis.
The Rockmybaby philosophy makes a commitment to providing high-quality education and care for each child underpinned by the values of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, ukaipotanga and wairuatanga.
This is the first ERO evaluation for Rockmybaby Homebased Ltd.
Rockmybaby has a clearly stated commitment to providing high-quality care and education for children. The organisation has developed comprehensive guidelines and set high expectations for the operation of the network. These include appropriate policies that are regularly reviewed to ensure they reflect best practice and meet regulatory requirements. Comprehensive processes are implemented that support educators to provide safe environments for children. These processes are closely monitored by the visiting teacher as part of her regular home visits.
The visiting teacher is an experienced and knowledgeable early childhood teacher. She provides educators with regular written feedback and guidance about how educators can support children's care, learning and development. She assists educators by supporting them to access resources and sharing important information about how the children's learning can be extended. She maintains contact with whānau by providing them with comprehensive reports following each visit that include important information about their children's learning and development. The visiting teacher also provides ongoing support with educators and whānau via regular email and telephone contact.
The programme for children is underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Children's sense of wellbeing and belonging is enhanced by learning and playing in familiar surroundings and maintaining home routines. There are many opportunities for children to participate in community activities and events. These include frequent trips and excursions into the local environment.
Whānau are well informed about their children's participation in the programme through comprehensive daily diaries and informal conversations with educators. Individual learning portfolios are maintained by educators that record aspects of each child's learning and development. A recent initiative has been to record these learning stories in an online format which has enabled wider sharing with extended whānau.
Māori children's sense of language culture and identity is promoted by a growing partnership with local marae. Educators are well supported by the visiting teacher to extend their use of te reo Māori in their conversations with children.
The key next step for the network is to strengthen support for educators from the visiting teachers by:
further developing and documenting specific learning plans for each child that reflect whānau aspirations, the child's emerging interests and developmental progress
identifying specific strategies to positively guide children's behaviour
further developing educators' understanding of best practice for children up to two years of age.
Consideration should also be given to strengthening self-review processes to better enable the organisation to evaluate how effectively the network is meeting the intent of its philosophy.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rockmybaby Homebased Ltd 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 Rockmybaby Homebased Ltd will be in three years.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
13 June 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 |
Waikato and Bay of Plenty |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46575 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
48 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Quality |
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Gender composition |
Boys 28 Girls 20 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Other |
4 41 3 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
1 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
May 2016 |
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Date of this report |
13 June 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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 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.