Miramar Childcare

Education institution number:
46637
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
25
Telephone:
Address:

392 Broadway, Miramar, Wellington

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Miramar Childcare

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence. 

ERO’s judgements for Miramar Childcare are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

ERO’s judgement

What the service knows about outcomes for learners

Whāngai Establishing

Ngā Akatoro Domains

ERO’s judgement

He Whāriki Motuhake

The learner and their learning

Whakaū Embedding

Whakangungu Ngaio

Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Aronga Whai Hua

Evaluation for improvement

Whakaū Embedding

Kaihautū

Leaders foster collaboration and improvement

Whakaū Embedding

Te Whakaruruhau

Stewardship through effective governance and management

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Miramar Childcare is family owned, along with two other services in the Wellington area. The owners and a centre director oversee the service, with day-to-day operation delegated to a centre manager, appointed in 2019. Most teaching staff are qualified.

3 Summary of findings

Infants and toddlers are well supported with highly responsive teaching. Mixed-age interactions are positive and caring.

Older children's learning and development are generally well supported through a localised and increasingly culturally responsive curriculum. They benefit from thoughtful opportunities to learn about the local area and sites of significance. While they have choices about their play for much of the day, the learning environment, interactions and routines do not consistently encourage challenge, creative expression, deep discussion and extension of their working theories. Leaders have indicated that provision for older children is an area for upcoming review and development.

Transitions to school are well supported with targeted assessment documentation and good relationships with local schools.

Children with diverse learning needs benefit from appropriate liaison with families and external agencies.

Parents and whānau have opportunities to contribute to the design and development of some aspects of the service. The team has not yet partnered with families to establish the learning outcomes, aligned with those in the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki, that are valued most in this community.

Leaders use a collaborative approach to support the teaching team to research, reflect and improve key areas of practice. The teaching team benefits from good guidance from the centre director around the theory, purpose and approaches to internal evaluation.

Service owners, leaders and teachers work well together. Relational trust and continual improvement are evident.

4 Improvement actions

Miramar Childcare will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

These are to:

  • review how well the learning environment and curriculum challenge and extend older children
  • involve Māori and other families in identifying the curriculum priorities for the service
  • align the service's identified curriculum priorities, strategic planning, evaluation and reporting
  • increase monitoring to ensure practice consistently reflects the service policies and procedures.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Miramar Childcare 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.

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

  • equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS12.

This non-compliance was addressed during the onsite phase of the review.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

16 March 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name Miramar Childcare
Profile Number 46637
Location Wellington

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

28 children, including up to 5 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

38

Ethnic composition

Māori 8, NZ European/Pākehā 12, Other ethnic groups 18.

Review team on site

November 2020

Date of this report

16 March 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, August 2017.

Miramar Childcare - 10/08/2017

1 Evaluation of Miramar Childcare

How well placed is Miramar Childcare 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

Miramar Childcare provides all-day education and care for children aged six months to five years. The converted villa is situated near Wellington Airport. It is licensed for 23 children, including 15 aged up to two. Up to five children under two are enrolled per day, in consideration of preferred teacher: child ratios.

The centre is family-owned. The licensee also owns Island Bay Childcare and Johnsonville Childcare. The licensee and a centre director oversee the service, with day-to-day operation delegated to a centre manager. Most teaching staff are qualified, with some working towards full certification.

This is Miramar Childcare's first ERO review.

The Review Findings

Children and their families benefit from warm, responsive relationships with teaching staff. They are respectfully consulted on events and decisions that affect them. Teachers support children to problem solve, fostering their growing independence and self-help skills. Peer interactions and tuakana teina learning opportunities are actively promoted. Teachers collaboratively reflect on children's learning and the group programme. They agree with ERO, that strengthening the evaluative aspect of these discussions will further enrich their practice.

Parents are consulted on provision for infants and toddlers. Their care routines, interests and preferences are shared among teaching staff, who tailor their practice accordingly. A sense of belonging is nurtured through well-considered, flexible settling processes. The mixed-age setting is well managed. Staff support very young children to safely enjoy interactions with their older peers.

Children with diverse learning needs are identified and well supported. Teachers liaise with whānau and access outside agencies where appropriate. 

The cultures, languages and identities present in the centre’s diverse community are highly valued. Language, artefacts, symbols, songs and cultural celebrations are regularly incorporated into the programme. Leaders have identified that a next step is to draw on this rich cultural information to support individual children’s learning.

Useful recent improvements have been made to the planning process. Teachers build strong learning partnerships with parents. They collaborate on children’s learning goals, which are regularly revisited by teachers. ERO and leaders agree that a next step is to strengthen assessment documentation. Learning stories should clearly demonstrate how intentional teaching has promoted children’s progress towards their goals.

Children have regular opportunities to see, hear and experience elements of te ao Māori. Kaupapa Māori concepts are meaningfully linked to children’s learning. Teachers are exploring how to incorporate place-specific Māoritanga into the programme. A next step is for teachers to extend on their positive relationships with whānau Māori, using cultural information to enact targeted strategies for promoting educational success for their tamariki.

The centre has developed a range of highly useful strategies to promote a successful transition to school. Useful information is shared between teachers, children, whānau, and school staff. Teachers actively network with a cluster of local schools and early learning services. Strength-based summative assessments, using the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki, identify key next steps to support children’s school readiness as they approach school age.

Leaders and teachers regularly collaborate on reviews of their practice. They access current research and consult with families to make improvements. A key next step is to strengthen the evaluative aspect of reviews. Leaders agree that they should narrow the scope of evaluations, using evidence gathered towards focused and measurable indicators, to clearly measure the impact of changes.

A clear, useful system is in place for staff appraisal. Meetings and targeted observations occur regularly. Teachers, provisionally certificated teachers and unqualified staff are effectively challenged to reflect on and improve their practice.

A highly effective leadership structure guides centre operation. Staff are empowered to take on areas of responsibility. An affirming team culture supports teachers to focus on promoting positive outcomes for children.

Key Next Steps

ERO and the service have identified that the key next steps are to:

  • build evaluative capability

  • strengthen assessment documentation

  • embed children's culture, language and identity in assessment, planning and evaluation processes

  • develop strategies, with whānau, for promoting educational success for Māori children. 

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Miramar Childcare 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 Miramar Childcare will be in three years.

Alan Wynyard

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

10 August 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

Miramar, Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

46637

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

23 children, including up to 15 aged under 2

Service roll

30

Gender composition

Girls 19, Boys 11

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Samoan
Other ethnic groups

4
16
3
7

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:7

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

June 2017

Date of this report

10 August 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.