14 Kitchener Street, Martinborough
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd is a privately owned service. A co-owner serves as the centre manager, working alongside an assistant supervisor and a small teaching team. The service has made good progress in the areas identified as requiring further development in the June 2020 ERO report.
The service curriculum is inclusive. The assessment, planning and evaluation framework aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts. Kaiako promote the use of meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to support their interests and promote social competence. A policy framework and annual planning guide centre operations. Teacher appraisal and internal evaluation processes are established. Health and safety practices and premises and facilities are monitored to meet the relevant licensing criteria.
Next steps include to:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
24 June 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough |
| Profile Number | 46731 |
| Location | Martinborough |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
22 children, including up to 10 aged under 2. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
|
Service roll |
30 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 9, NZ European/Pākehā 20, Other ethnicities 1. |
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Review team on site |
May 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
24 June 2021 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review June 2020, Education Review February 2017 |
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 |
Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Some progress has been made in strengthening the areas of practice identified as requiring development in the February 2017 ERO report. Targeted support, specifically tailored to centre needs, should be sought to further improve the new team's approach.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough is a small privately-owned early childhood service. It is licensed for 22 children, including 10 aged up to two. Of the 32 children enrolled, nine are Māori.
The two owners of the service and a senior staff member make up the leadership team. Eight teachers are employed, six of whom are qualified and registered. There has been recent staff turnover.
The philosophy underpinning teaching and learning emphasises the importance of children having equitable opportunities for learning based on their interests and needs, respectful relationships, bicultural partnership, working with parents, and caring for the natural environment.
The February 2017 ERO report identified areas of practice requiring further development. These were: resourcing for learning; using parent aspirations in assessment; and internal evaluation. Some progress has been made in improving the range of centre resources.
A strong sense of community is evident. The learning programme acknowledges the local environment, people and special occasions. Teachers and leaders know families well. Relationships between staff and children are positive and trusting. Children settle quickly into the routines of the day and are excited, active participants in the experiences provided.
Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are well integrated into the programme in meaningful ways, supporting children's developing understanding of their bicultural heritage. Teachers should work together to further develop their response to families' cultures, languages and identities. This should include increasing familiarity with Ministry of Education resources. The development of centre guidelines and expectations, linked to culturally responsive practice, should support the sustainability of the team's approach, and evaluation in terms of learner outcomes.
Toddlers are active participants in the programme, playing confidently alongside their peers. It is timely for leaders to develop clear guidelines for working with children aged up to two years to support shared understanding and a consistent approach across the team.
Children's transitions into and out of the service are carefully considered to support their wellbeing. A positive relationship with the local school has been established. The team should continue to seek ways of sharing information with new entrant teachers about individual children to support the continuity of their learning when they move on to school.
Aspects of the learning environment and programme require strengthening. These include:
the organisation of materials and equipment to better invite children's interest and participation and enable them to independently make choices linked to their interests
opportunities for children to make choices about their participation in the programme to support their self-management and empowerment as learners
some teachers' levels of engagement with children, including infants and toddlers, through the use of learning conversations and interactions that promote sustained play and interest
extending further opportunities for children to reflect on their learning and see themselves as learners through the use of photographic displays and access to their own assessment portfolios.
Leaders and teachers continue to develop their approach to planning for learning. An on-line programme is used well to inform parents about their children's participation and aspects of their learning. Parents' hopes and dreams for their children have recently been requested and are now celebrated through display. Leaders agree next steps for the new team are:
using parents' aspirations as a basis for planning and promoting partnership in learning
working with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and families and whānau, to further define key philosophical ideas and values as a basis for the programme
working more collaboratively to record individual children's learning journeys, taking into account their interests, ideas, working theories and developing learning dispositions
identifying and recording the actions they will take to extend those significant aspects of each child's learning
adding a cultural perspective to learning stories.
The owners/managers are responsive to issues and seek to find solutions. Progress has been made in supporting the team's understanding and use of self review. Some aspects of management require strengthening, including:
the rigour of the teachers' appraisal, and induction and mentoring processes, through improved feedback linked to teaching requirements and teacher goals
provision of more targeted professional learning opportunities for staff
understanding and use of internal evaluation to support better measurement of the impact of initiatives on child outcomes, and inform decisions about next development steps
guiding documents to ensure they all reflect current legislative requirements.
Priorities for development are to strengthen:
shared understanding of the philosophy guiding teaching and learning
aspects of the learning environment and programme
planning for learning
understanding and use of internal evaluation
guidance for meeting accountabilities and to support teaching and learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance, and premises and facilities. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
ensuring children's access to the licensed space is not unnecessarily limited.
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF2,]
In order to improve current practice, the service provider should ensure:
guidelines for the recording and reporting of serious accidents are clarified
risk assessment for excursions is sufficiently comprehensive
the programme is further developed to better support children's play when the weather is hot.
ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
23 June 2020
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 |
Martinborough |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46731 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
22 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
32 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Male 18, Female 14 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
9 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
January 2020 |
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Date of this report |
23 June 2020 |
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|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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.