Inspire Early Learning Centre

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 Inspire Early Learning Centre are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Inspire Early Learning Centre is a privately owned service. The owners manage the service’s governance systems and daily operations. The philosophy acknowledges Te Tiriti o Waitangi and values a multicultural curriculum. A large number of enrolled tamariki are Māori. Other tamariki are from diverse cultures, including some from Pacific Island nations.

3 Summary of findings

Tamariki are immersed in a rich curriculum where their diverse cultures and languages are celebrated. Infants and toddlers benefit from culturally responsive and respectful caregiving practices. The oral language of all tamariki is promoted. Their home languages are naturally spoken by tamariki, whānau and kaiako. Whānau lead cultural experiences and celebrations. As a result, relationships between kaiako, whānau and tamariki are well established. 

There is consistent use of te reo Māori and resources which reflect the Māori culture, such as piu piu, poi, pukapuka, waiata, and kowhaiwhai. Samoan and Tongan cultures are well represented through language, music, and traditional dress. Māori taonga and Pacific tapa have been gifted by whānau and fanau and are displayed with pride. The service has identified a need for leaders and kaiako to integrate local Māori pūrākau into the curriculum and to build on their understanding of Pacific ways of knowing and doing.

When needed, leaders and kaiako seek support from external agencies to enable them to work with tamariki who have additional needs. Assessment and planning practices use individual learning plans to promote the ongoing learning of tamariki.

Leaders and kaiako are developing their understanding of how to use the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, to inform assessment, planning and evaluation. They are working to monitor changes made as part of an internal evaluation process. Consistent use of these learning outcomes in all systems and processes is not yet visible.

Owners are actively involved in the service’s daily operations. They have developed a range of equity initiatives to ensure all tamariki and whānau have barrier-free access to care and education. Tamariki are at the heart of decisions made by leaders.

4 Improvement actions

Inspire Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• To integrate localised pūrākau and pakiwaitara into curriculum experiences for tamariki.

• To continue to build leaders’ and kaiako practices to better reflect the competencies in Tapasā: cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners.

• To consistently embed the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki into all systems and processes.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Inspire Early Learning Centre 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.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

3 November 2023

6 About the Early Childhood Service