Pt England KIDS 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 Pt England KIDS Early Learning Centre are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Pt England KIDS Early Learning Centre is one of five services that are part of Community KIDS Early Learning Centres (Fruition Education Limited). Two directors/owners and an operations manager work with a centre manager, team leaders and teachers. There are two rooms for different age groups of children. The community is ethnically diverse. Most of the children enrolled are from Pacific Island nations, and a small number are Māori.

3 Summary of findings

Children benefit from predictable daily routines. They are valued as individuals and provided with opportunities to make decisions about their learning. The physical environment fosters independence, providing easy access to resources that encourage exploration. Children learn about the languages and cultures of others through participating in language weeks and centre events.

Teachers know the children and their whānau well. They are responsive to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues. Teachers enable younger children to have time and space to learn for themselves with appropriate support.

Assessment information focuses on children’s interests and show their experiences at the centre. The teaching team is at an early stage of building shared understandings about how to use the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to inform assessment of children’s learning. Assessment information does not yet consistently:

• draw on parents’ aspirations in relation to their child’s learning

• reflect all children’s languages, cultures and identity

• identify children’s progress and learning over time.

There are some opportunities for teachers to grow their knowledge through professional learning and development provided by the organisation. Leaders and teachers are yet to scrutinise how these opportunities have improved teacher practices or impacted on children’s learning outcomes. Accessing external professional learning for leaders and teachers would provide information about current theories in early childhood education to inform improvements.

A philosophy guides daily practices and the service’s operational systems. Leaders support initiatives that contribute to positive social and community outcomes. 

The service has established a system of internal evaluation. These processes are yet to show the impact and effectiveness of improved curriculum and teaching practices on outcomes for children. This includes identifying clear measurable indicators of improvement and evaluating how these improvements have contributed to children’s learning. 

4 Improvement Actions

Pt England KIDS Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• To unpack and discuss the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, and how these contribute to and inform curriculum planning, assessment and evaluation processes.

• To build governance, leadership and teaching capability to do and use evaluation to identify improvement goals across all areas of centre and organisational operations.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Pt England KIDS 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.

6 Action for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence to show the following
non-compliance has been addressed:

• Ensuring equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children, including medicines and vandalism (HS12). 

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

17 October 2023 

7 About the Early Childhood Service