Town and Country Kids

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 Kids Count - Pukekohe are as follows: 

2 Context of the Service 

This is one of six services under the same ownership and governance. Children learn across four age-based rooms. The majority of children attending are Māori. Groups of Samoan and Tongan children, as well as those from other Pacific nations are also enrolled. There have been significant changes within the teaching and leadership teams. 

3 Summary of findings 

Children experience aspects of a bicultural curriculum. Some te reo Māori, tikanga Māori practices and celebrations are led by more experienced teachers. Several Pacific language weeks are celebrated, and the service acknowledges the need to strengthen the curriculum to respond more effectively to these learners. Children and their families feel welcomed at the centre. 

The curriculum is not consistently responsive to children’s learning needs. Resourcing and curriculum for infants and toddlers requires strengthening, and shared expectations for practice are needed. Leaders work well with external agencies to support children with diverse learning needs. 

There is variability in teaching skills and understanding of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Leaders model quality teaching interactions, working to support unqualified or overseas trained teachers to understand expectations of curriculum delivery. The team has recently discussed their individual philosophies and values. They are at the early stages of developing a shared philosophy and identifying their curriculum priorities. 

Assessment and planning for learning are focused on groups of children. Leaders model how interests and dispositions for holistic learning can be documented. Individual planning for learning is not yet embedded into practice. 

Those responsible for governance have a strong focus on equity and removing barriers to participation. Their overarching vision is well understood by centres. A new senior leadership team is establishing operational conditions. An operations manager was appointed during the cluster of ERO reviews, and a curriculum leader has been offering support to centres over the last year. New systems and processes for internal evaluation are not fully embedded. 

4 Improvement actions 

Kids Count - Pukekohe will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning: 

• Develop a shared understanding and enactment of Te Whāriki, across all age groups, that prioritise a child-led, play-based curriculum. 

• Assess, plan and evaluate learning for individual children with a focus on showing their progress over time in relation to the valued learning outcomes of Te Whāriki. 

• Strengthen teaching practice to better reflect and respond to children’s languages, cultures and identities, particularly for tamariki Māori and children of Pacific heritages. 

Kids Count governance will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning: 

• Provide support to enable centres to create and enact their centre’s philosophy and localised  curriculum that responds to their children and community. 

• To develop cohesive systems and processes across the Kids Count group that support leaders and teachers to understand and consistently implement regulatory and operational requirements. 

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements 

Before the review, the staff and management of Kids Count - Pukekohe 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. 

6 Actions for Compliance 

ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance: 

• Ensuring all requirements for excursion documentation are completed as per the licensing criteria, including a full and robust risk assessment for the pool area outside of the licensed space. 

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS17. 

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

• Ensuring sleeping children are checked for warmth, breathing and general wellbeing every 5 to 10 minutes (HS9). 

• Ensuring all fire doors remaining unlocked during hours of operation. (Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations, 46 (1) (d). 

7 Recommendation to Ministry of Education 

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed. 

Patricia Davey 
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE) 

3 October 2023    

8 About the Early Childhood Service