Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie

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. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie is a privately owned and operated service. The owner leads a teaching team that includes a qualified head teacher and teacher, and two unqualified staff. There are two
age-defined learning spaces for children over two years of age. A small number of children attending are identified as Māori.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience an unhurried curriculum that provides them with space and time to:

• lead their learning

• build relationships with their peers and teachers, which meets their need for strong and secure attachments

• experiment, imagine and re-invent in play-based contexts.

Teachers’ conversations with children help them to extend their thinking. They create opportunities for children to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful ways.

Relationships between parents, whānau and teachers acknowledge aspirations for children’s learning, and foster children’s successful transitions into and within the service. Strengthening learning-focused partnerships to promote children’s progress and learning, is a current focus identified by the service.

Assessment information guides curriculum planning. Leaders and teachers have worked collaboratively to build shared understandings of how assessment drives curriculum design. They regularly reflect on, and evaluate, children’s learning and development. Teachers could provide more opportunities for parents and whānau to contribute to the curriculum design.

Teachers and leaders collaborate to engage in teaching practices that contribute to positive outcomes for children. They ensure that their practices reflect the rights of all children to a quality, inclusive early childhood education.

Leaders provide opportunities for, and encourage all staff to engage in, professional learning and development. Professional dialogue and collaboration is fostered within the service and with other early childhood services in the local community. As a result, critical reflection is contributing to changes in teaching practices that enhance children’s learning.

Leaders could now review the service’s internal evaluation processes. These processes should guide robust evaluation, and the monitoring of the impact of improvement actions over time.

4 Improvement actions

Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Strengthen the visibility of learning-focused partnerships in assessment, planning and evaluation documentation by increasing opportunities for parents to contribute to the curriculum design.

• Continue to grow leaders’ and teachers’ evaluative thinking and reasoning capability for doing and using internal evaluation to monitor and improve outcomes for children.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)

• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

29 November 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service