Hand and Hand Childcare Centre

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

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.

Background

Hand and Hand Childcare Centre is one of three services in the Hand and Hand group. The owner works as a regional manager, supporting a qualified centre manager with daily operations of the service. The teaching team is reflective of the diverse ethnicities of children enrolled and the local community.

Summary of Review Findings

The service’s curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum. It is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation that demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning, their interests and life contexts.

Opportunities are provided that respect and support the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourage children to understand and respect other cultures.

Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children. Regular opportunities are provided for parents to communicate with adults providing education and care about their child and to be involved in decision making.

Leaders need to monitor the implementation of operational systems to maintain regulatory standards.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• strengthening adult interactions to focus on nurturing reciprocal relationships and enhancing children’s learning

• developing a shared teacher understanding of the service’s philosophy in action, including the theories intended to influence teaching practices.

Actions for Compliance

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

• Having sufficient spaces for equipment and materials to be stored, so they can be easily and safely accessed by adults and where practicable, by children (PF8).

• Ensuring first aid kits contain the full requirements of Appendix 1 (PF28).

• Ensuring heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured (HS6).

• Ensuring hazards to children are sufficiently eliminated, isolated or minimised (HS12).

• Ensuring hot water stored in any hot water cylinder is being kept at a temperature of at least 60°C (HS14).

• Maintaining rooms used by children at a comfortable temperature no lower than 18°C (at 500 mm above the floor) while children are attending (HS24).

• Ensuring that medication records include parental authority and evidence of parental acknowledgement they have been informed when medication has been administered, and that medication is being administered according to the authority given by a parent (HS28).

• Ensuring a record of all safety checks and the results is maintained (GMA7A).

Next ERO Review

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

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

1 August 2023

Information About the Service

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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)

• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

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.