Nurtured at Home - Taranaki 1

1 Evaluation of Nurtured at Home - Taranaki 1

How well placed is Nurtured at Home - Taranaki 1 to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Nurtured at Home - Taranaki 1 is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Nurtured at Home – Taranaki 1 is a home-based early learning service based in Taranaki providing education and care for children from birth to six years of age. It is licensed for 50 children including 40 up to two years. Children are cared for in the home of an educator. One educator can care for up to four children, two of whom can be under two, at any one time. It is a family owned business with nineteen home-based networks. The service has networks in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Waikato, Wellington and Taranaki. At the time of this ERO review of Taranaki 1, 10 educators provide education and care for 48 children including 26 who identify as Māori.

This network is overseen by a recently appointed qualified and registered visiting teacher. Guidance and training offered through targeted professional development supports educators to enhance their understanding of children's development and how they learn. The visiting teacher regularly visits children in educator’s homes to promote positive outcomes for children's wellbeing and learning.

The Nurtured at Home philosophy states that children are their first priority. Educators recognise that children learn best through play and empower each child to explore and participate at their own pace. Families and the wider community are embraced and celebrated for their diversity and contribute to the rich learning environments.

This is the first ERO review for this service.

The Review Findings

Educators are well supported to make children's learning meaningful, challenging and fun. They explore children’s interests and foster language, social and communication skills. Children and their families develop close relationships with educators. The use of home and the local community for learning provides opportunities for children to socialise in group settings and develop friendships.

Children have access to a child lead curriculum underpinned by the principles, strands, goals and learning outcomes of the early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki. Planning and assessment using children’s interests and strengths, in partnership with parents and the visiting teacher, are developing. Portfolios document learning stories, individual goals, child and parent voice, the integration of literacy and mathematics concepts and a summary of learning. These portfolios provide a valuable record for parents of their children’s success and progress. Children participate in a wide range of meaningful real-life learning experiences in homes and the wider community.

Children under two years of age are nurtured in small family settings. Educators are responsive to home routines and the visiting teacher promotes 'care is the curriculum'. Children benefit from tuakana teina relationships.

The visiting teacher provides personalised support to build the capability of educators. She writes detailed visit reports from regular observations and discussions. Effective quality assurance processes to meet legislative requirements are documented. Educators have access to internal and external professional development including child protection and first aid training. Children are in the forefront of decisions and discussions during teacher visits. An ongoing development is for the newly appointed visiting teacher to continue building relationships and explore ways to effectively communicate with educators and parents.

The service's clear vision, philosophy and values effectively promote positive outcomes for children and their families. Clear expectations for practice are underpinned within the service's comprehensive policies and procedures. The owner and management have established effective internal evaluation practices that support ongoing improvement to practice. They show a commitment to prioritising equitable outcomes for children and families to participate in the service.

Key Next Steps

ERO and management agree that there is a need to strengthen:

• the understanding and responsiveness to Māori children’s language culture and identity within play and learning
• the curriculum to recognise Māori culture and history within the local area.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Nurtured at Home - Taranaki 1 completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Central Region

26 August 2019

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 Home-based Education and Care Service

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

ERO’s Overall Judgement

The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

• Very well placed

• Well placed

• Requires further development

• Not well placed

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.