1 Ward Drive, Opua
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Te Waenganui Childcare Centre is a small, family owned service. A third of the children enrolled are Māori. There are four qualified teachers including the owner. Children have opportunities to play in mixed-age groups.
Children are provided with a range of experiences and opportunities, both indoors and outdoors. The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. Children experience positive interactions with adults. A language-rich environment supports children’s learning, including New Zealand sign language.
A philosophy statement guides the service’s operations. Children are given opportunities to develop their knowledge of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The service provider needs to monitor that licensing requirements are consistently implemented.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence to show it has addressed the following non-compliances:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
20 May 2021
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Te Waenganui Childcare Centre |
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Profile Number |
46580 |
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Location |
Opua, Northland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 5 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
34 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 12, NZ European/Pākehā 20, other ethnic groups 2 |
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Review team on site |
March 2021 |
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Date of this report |
20 May 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, October 2016 |
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.
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:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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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.
Te Waenganui Childcare Centre opened in 2015 and is licensed to provide education and care for up to 27 children, including eight under two years of age. The centre is privately owned and operates in a newly renovated house, between Paihia and Opua, in the Bay of Islands. Staff include four qualified teachers, a teacher in training and four permanent relieving teachers.
The centre is spacious, with a sectioned off area for children under two years and a separate art room. Infants, toddlers, and older children share the rest of the indoor space and the outside environment.
The centre’s philosophy is aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. It highlights bicultural practices and promotes cultural diversity in the programme. The philosophy prioritises a nurturing environment, connectedness with whānau and community, and the benefits for children of long periods of uninterrupted play.
Teachers welcome children and their whānau, and support new families as they transition into the centre. Children are well cared for. They enjoy each other's company, showing respect for one another and their teachers. Children benefit from mixed aged play opportunities and engage in tuakana/teina roles with their siblings and others. These roles foster children’s confidence, together with their social and communication skills.
Teachers have responsive and positive relationships with children. They are developing conversations with children that extend their thinking. Children spend much of their time at the centre engaging in activities of their own choice. Teachers encourage children to choose their meal times so as not to interrupt their play and learning.
Infants and toddlers enjoy responsive attention from staff and opportunities to explore the environment alongside other older children. Programmes and routines are flexible to cater for their interests, developmental stages and parents’ preferences.
The environment is resourced and adapted in response to children’s preferences and interests. Children enjoy opportunities to explore, investigate and make sense of the natural environment outdoors. The centre manager/owner has a strong interest in the forest kindergarten movement. She plans to further develop areas for children to interact with the native bush.
Teachers work collaboratively to support better outcomes for children. This is evident in curriculum planning, assessment, and evaluation and in the way teachers implement the programme. Children have frequent opportunities to develop early literacy knowledge and skills, and to explore other curriculum areas, in the context of their play.
The centre’s commitment to bicultural practices is evident in teachers' increasing integration of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in the programme. Children and teachers sing waiata spontaneously, and children can lead waiata and karakia at the centre and in their homes. This helps to foster Māori children’s identity as Māori, while enabling all children to experience and learn about the bicultural setting of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The manager/owner has developed partnerships with tangata whenua and whānau. Teachers learn about whānau aspirations for their children's education in a variety of ways. This knowledge guides teachers' planning for the general programme, as well as learning plans for each child. Portfolios provide valued records of individual children's dispositions and learning experiences. These portfolios include parents' and children’s contributions and perspectives.
The centre is well led. The manager/owner provides professional and knowledgeable leadership support for staff. She has helped staff to improve the quality of internal evaluation. Relevant policies, processes and systems guide the operation of the centre. The manager/owner has employed an external adviser to guide the centre in developing suitable processes for teacher appraisals.
The manager/owner and teachers have identified relevant priorities for development that include:
building up resources to better support the development of children's literacy and mathematics understandings and learning
further supporting teachers' use of te reo Māori and understanding of the Ministry of Education's resource Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners, to promote cultural competencies
continuing to build partnerships with parents/whānau that focus on supporting children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Te Waenganui Childcare 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:
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 Te Waenganui Childcare Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
28 October 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 |
Opua, Northland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46580 |
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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 |
27 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
46 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 25 Girls 21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā other |
18 26 2 |
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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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
August 2016 |
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Date of this report |
28 October 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 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.