Daisies Early Education and Care Centre

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    

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

Background

Daisies Early Education and Care Centre is one of two privately owned services located in Johnsonville, Wellington. The senior management group has a high level of experience in early childhood education research, business and management. The centre is part of the Enviroschools network. This is the first review of this centre.

Summary of Review Findings

The approach to planning for learning is strongly focused on sustainability and nature and aligns to the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The service has established and maintained a relationship with local iwi. Kaiako integrate te reo me ngā tikanga Māori through the curriculum. Whānau are invited to participate in the learning programme and contribute to their children’s learning. There is a focus on developing high quality kaiako practice. Premises and facilities are well resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending. Priorities for improvement are identified in the annual plan.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• strengthening acknowledgement of children’s identity, language and culture in learning documentation
• increasing the visibility of the learning outcomes in assessment, planning and evaluation information.

Next ERO Review

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

18 January 2022 

Information About 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.