Co Kids Thorndon

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 Co Kids Thorndon are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Co Kids Thorndon is one of three privately owned services under shared governance of four directors, one of whom is the licensee. A centre manager is responsible for day-to-day operations. Key next steps identified in ERO’s 2020 report included strengthening the bicultural curriculum and internal evaluation, progress is ongoing. The roll is ethnically diverse and includes a large group of Māori and Indian learners, and a small number of children of Pacific heritage.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience positive, warm interactions with teachers. Children make choices and engage in small and large group activities in a calm free play environment. Transitions into, within, and from the service support and respond to each child, their parents and whānau.

Infants are well supported by teachers who are caring and responsive. Leaders have identified a range of strategies that are in place to support infant and toddlers developing oral language. An increased focus on the intentional implementation of these strategies in daily practice will strengthen interactions.   

Children’s portfolios have a strong focus on their interests and learning dispositions. Leaders and teachers are beginning to explore the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. While the learning outcomes are evident in both group and individualised planning, they are not yet used to identify children’s learning and progress over time.    

At times basic te reo Māori is spoken. Increased opportunities for children to hear and use te reo Māori in meaningful contexts is required. A curriculum that reflects the unique place of mana whenua is yet to be developed.

The service is at an early stage of developing and implementing a culturally responsive curriculum. The cultures and languages of the children who attend are evident in the learning environments. There is some evidence of children’s cultural identity in their learning portfolios.

Leaders and teachers have undertaken several emergent evaluations on systems and processes which have informed changes made to practice. They are yet to engage in a more deliberate and systematic approach to evaluation with a focus on aspects of curriculum.

5 Improvement actions

Co Kids Thorndon will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• to engage with whānau to develop a curriculum that reflects the unique place of mana whenua and priorities for children’s learning aligned to the learning outcomes

• to take a more deliberate approach to evaluating aspects of the curriculum.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Co Kids Thorndon 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.

During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

• risk assessments for periodic rechecking (4-point safety checks) are completed every 3 years. [GMA7A]

Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Acting, Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

3 April 2023 

6 About the Early Childhood Service