Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd)

Education institution number:
47536
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
38
Telephone:
Address:

26 Yates Road, Mangere East, Auckland

View on map

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd)

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 Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whakaū Embedding

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) is one of three services that are part of the Little Feet group. The centre is purpose-built and mostly infants and toddlers are enrolled. The owner provides governance and management support. A qualified head teacher leads a team of seven qualified teachers and additional support staff. The majority of children attending have Pacific heritages, mostly Samoan. A small number of children enrolled are Māori.

3 Summary of findings

Children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging. They experience a calm environment in which they are treated with respect. Teachers intentionally provide an environment that is inclusive, well-resourced and inviting for all children and their families. Their teaching practice is responsive to the needs and preferences of infants and toddlers.

Teachers offer children opportunities to revisit their learning and to try an experience again. Children’s growing independence is nurtured. Teachers provide good support for children’s language development, often in their home language.

Te reo Māori and aspects of tikanga Māori are naturally integrated into the service’s routines, environment, and curriculum. Children’s languages and cultures are valued, and their cultural identity is affirmed. Children have many opportunities to gain an understanding about the languages and cultures of others.

Children learn in a responsive curriculum based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Parents’ aspirations, cultural knowledge and ideas are regularly sought to inform a culturally responsive curriculum. Teachers could improve planning and assessment information by documenting the learning outcomes of individual children.

Leaders and teachers implement a framework of policies and practices. There is an established internal evaluation process that contributes to improvements across the organisation. Leaders and teachers are yet to monitor these improvements and how these changes have impacted on outcomes for learners.

Relational trust between leaders and teachers supports effective team collaboration. Teachers are provided with a range of professional development opportunities and mentoring. Leaders share their professional knowledge and expertise within the Little Feet group. A long-term strategic plan informed by organisational goals, values and priorities guides ongoing improvement.

4 Improvement actions

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • To improve how planning and assessment information show the learning outcomes of individual children.

  • To continue to build team-wide knowledge of how to undertake internal evaluation. This includes having a focus on monitoring how changes made have impacted on improved outcomes for learners.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) 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)

23 June 2023

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd)

Profile Number

47536

Location

Mangere East, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

110 children, including up to 60 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

100%

Service roll

65

Review team on site

May 2023

Date of this report

23 June 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, January 2021

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) - 29/01/2021

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) opened in 2018, and this is the first ERO review of the service. The centre owners lead a team of eight qualified teachers. The community is ethnically diverse with many families attending from the local area. This is the first ERO review of the service.

Summary of Review Findings

Teachers respect the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children. The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.

The design and layout of the premises support effective adult supervision. Comprehensive policies and procedures are in place to promote the good health and safety of children. A philosophy statement guides the service’s operation and the ongoing process of self review helps the service maintain and improve the quality of its education and care.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include continuing to:

  • improve the quality of assessment information to show children’s progress and learning over time
  • widen the range of methods teachers use for gathering information to help them extend children’s learning
  • strengthen teachers’ understanding of Te Whāriki (2017), the early childhood curriculum, by providing more targeted professional learning opportunities.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)

Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

29 January 2021

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd)

Profile Number

47536

Location

Mangere East, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

110 children, including up to 60 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

44

Ethnic composition

Māori 2
Samoan 12
Filipino 8
Tongan 8
Cook Island Māori 4
Fijian Indian 4
Indian 4
other ethnic groups 2

Review team on site

November 2020

Date of this report

29 January 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

First ERO review of the service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
  • previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
  • that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
  • that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
  • where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service completed an ERO Centre 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.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

  • discussions with those involved in the service
  • consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
  • observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.