Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd

Education institution number:
46744
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
94
Telephone:
Address:

1 Ayreshire Drive, Mosgiel

View on map

Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd

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 (PDF 3.01MB) 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 (PDF 91.30KB) 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 Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd 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

Whāngai Establishing

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

Whāngai Establishing

Te Whakaruruhau

Stewardship through effective governance and management

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd is a privately owned service that provides education and care for birth-to-school age children. Since the 2018 ERO review, a new centre manager and four lead teachers have been appointed. The owners provide governance and other support. Most teachers are qualified or in training.

3 Summary of findings

Children benefit from caring and respectful interactions with their teachers. They are viewed as confident and competent learners, and encouraged to take responsibility, make choices, take risks and be resilient. Children explore and investigate in well-resourced and invitingly presented indoor and outdoor areas.

Infants and toddlers play and learn in a calm, unhurried setting. They are supported by nurturing, respectful relationships and flexible care routines. Teachers communicate closely with parents to best support children’s wellbeing.

The service is welcoming and inclusive to children and whānau. Children with additional needs are very well supported, with staff working closely with parents and external agencies/experts. Relationships with all parents could have a stronger focus on children’s learning and progress.

Teachers are in the early stages of using the learning outcomes in Te Whariki, the early childhood curriculum, and documenting planned teaching strategies. Documentation does not consistently or clearly show evaluation of children’s progress and the teachers’ role in supporting this. However, planning for individuals and groups does result in teachers deliberately providing experiences and resources to extend children’s learning.

Children’s cultural backgrounds are increasingly valued in the learning experiences provided. They have some opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori and experience aspects of te ao Māori. To fully enact the intent of Te Whāriki for Māori children to enjoy educational success as Māori and for all children to experience a rich bicultural curriculum, further work is required in this area.

Leaders and teachers are well supported. This has included relevant professional learning, induction for new staff, and steps to build trust and collaboration. Well-considered improvement actions are identified in the new strategic plan. Leaders are embedding useful evaluation processes to drive improvements for children. Further work is required to grow all teachers’ capability to do and use evaluation to inform decision making.

The owners prioritise children and staff in their decision making. This is reflected in the very
well-resourced environment, regular gathering and responding to parent and staff voice, and provision of external professional development is contributing to a positive culture for learning.

4 Improvement actions

Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to:

  • clearly identify in assessment for learning practices, the intended learning outcomes and teaching strategies, and deepen the evaluation of how well these are realised, and the effectiveness of the strategies used
  • gather parent voice when setting children’s goals and evaluating their progress, and provide more opportunities for parents to contribute to the review of the service’s learning priorities and philosophy
  • continue to provide support for teachers to meaningfully integrate te ao and te reo Māori in the day-to-day programme
  • continue to support all teachers to confidently use deep evaluation to identify what is going well for children’s learning, what could better support this, and what improvement actions need to be taken.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 October 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd
Profile Number 46744
Location Mosgiel, Dunedin

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

90 children, including up to 40 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

84

Ethnic composition

Māori 6, NZ European/Pākehā 76, Other Ethnicities 2.

Review team on site

July 2021

Date of this report

9 October 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review April 2018

Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd - 12/04/2018

1 Evaluation of Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd

How well placed is Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd 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

Wee Nippers Mosgiel is a new, purpose-built centre with four classrooms and a spacious outdoor area. The centre opened in August 2015, providing full-day care and education for over 100 children. This is the centre's first ERO review. The centre is one of two privately owned centres under the Wee Nippers name.

A manager has overall control of the day-to-day running of the centre and has strong support from the two owners. The centre has a new teaching team, comprising a mix of experienced and beginner teachers, 10 of whom are fully qualified. The centre chef provides all meals throughout the day. The centre has gained the Gold Healthy Heart Award.

The centre philosophy is that children learn and develop where they are challenged to explore and be curious.

The Review Findings

Positive, inclusive relationships are evident across the centre. Children benefit from respectful, caring and thoughtful interactions between each other and their teachers. They are confident to approach adults. Teachers feel appreciated and valued by their manager and the owners. Leaders provide strong support for teachers’ professional learning and are mindful of their wellbeing. Centre parents and teachers have worked closely to build trusting, collaborative partnerships that focus on children's wellbeing and learning.

Children take part in a wide range of learning experiences. They are encouraged to be independent and to self-manage. The centre environment effectively provides children with variety and challenge. Teachers gather parents’ aspirations for their children’s learning and respond to these. Teachers plan relevant activities that foster learning and development for individual children and small groups. They know children in their care well and record children’s learning and dispositions in learning stories. They are increasingly integrating te reo and tikanga Māori into the daily learning programme. Children with particular learning needs are well supported and are included in the life of the centre.

Transitions for children into, within and beyond the centre are well managed. This gives the children and their parents confidence and security as they make changes. The teachers and manager have established useful connections with local schools to support this.

A suitable strategic plan guides the direction for the future and highlights the centre's priorities for development. These include:

  • provision for professional development to enhance teaching skills
  • the growth of leadership skills amongst teachers so that in the future head teachers may be appointed for each room
  • ensuring the centre continues to be well resourced so that the carefully designed environment remains a vital catalyst for children's learning.

Key Next Steps

ERO has found, and the centre leaders agree, that the following next steps would strengthen how well the valued outcomes for children's learning are achieved. These include:

  • fully implementing the appraisal process
  • strengthening internal evaluation by using a more evaluative approach
  • strengthening the assessment process by ensuring learning stories more consistently show how teachers intend to extend children’s learning.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd 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 Wee Nippers Mosgiel Ltd will be in three years.

Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

12 April 2018 

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

Mosgiel

Ministry of Education profile number

46744

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

75 children, including up to 30 aged under 2

Service roll

103

Gender composition

Boys:  51%

Girls:  49%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Other

10%
85%
  5%

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49%       50-79%       80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:3

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

December 2017

Date of this report

12 April 2018

Most recent ERO reports

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.