Bloomfields Preschool Limited

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 Bloomfields Preschool Limited as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Bloomfields Preschool Limited is a rural, privately-owned service. It is managed by the owner, supported by a centre manager and a head teacher. The philosophy gives emphasis to the value of learning within nature and the outdoor environment. A small number of tamariki Māori attend the service.

3 Summary of findings

Children benefit from a language-rich environment where literacy is promoted. Teachers facilitate, model, and encourage children to engage in learning. Children interact respectfully with each other and the environment. Teachers know the children well and extend their learning by supporting their emerging interests. The outdoor environment is used as a valuable resource for learning about the natural world and caring for the environment.

The bicultural curriculum requires further development. Some aspects of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are integrated into daily practices, such as routine times.

Children under the age of two experience a respectful and calm environment, where they have choice and agency in their learning. Strategies are in place to enable those children with additional needs to be well supported to access the curriculum.

An established assessment framework guides teachers when documenting children’s development. Assessment information is yet to:

• fully integrate the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and show children’s learning and progress over time in relation to these learning outcomes

• show how teachers respond to children’s languages, cultures and identities.

Quality systems, processes and practices that support ongoing improvement are establishing. Relevant professional learning and development is undertaken. However, leaders are yet to complete a full professional growth cycle with the team. When undertaking internal evaluation, the focus is on what has been done rather than considering what the outcomes are for children. Building collective capability and capacity to do and use internal evaluation for improvement is now required.

Those responsible for governance are developing systems to support succession planning and ensure the sustainability of processes and practices. Better understanding of the regulatory standards and monitoring is necessary.

4 Improvement actions

Bloomfields Preschool Limited will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• In assessment practice, use Te Whāriki learning outcomes to inform intentional planning, and show children’s learning and progress over time.

• Build teacher capability to use te reo Māori and integrate tikanga Māori more broadly across the curriculum.

• Build collective capability to do and use internal evaluation for improvement to inform effective decision making for all groups of learners.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Bloomfields Preschool Limited 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 Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

• Having an emergency plan that includes a communication plan for families and support services.

• Ensuring risk assessments are accurately documented to meet the safety checking requirements of the Children’s Act 2104.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008; HS7, GMA7a.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

11 July 2023

7 About the Early Childhood Service