Go Bananas Childcare Mount Wellington

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

Go Bananas Childcare Mount Wellington is one of 14 education and care services governed by the Go Bananas Childcare organisation. A team of directors oversees operations with support from two area managers and a curriculum advisor. A qualified centre manager is responsible for daily management of the service. Half of the children enrolled are Indian, and a small number are Māori or have Pacific heritages. This is the first ERO review of the service which opened in 2021.

Summary of Review Findings

Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. They provide children with a range of opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups. The service’s curriculum provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning.

The unique place of Māori as tangata whenua is acknowledged and children are given opportunities to learn about the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Teachers are taking positive steps to acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children.

Key Next Steps

Key next steps include:

• increasing the visibility of how teachers are responding to parents’ aspirations in assessment, planning and evaluation

• making children’s languages, cultures, and identity more visible in information documented about their learning.

Next ERO Review

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

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

20 January 2023 

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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)

• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

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.