106 Hackthorne Rd, Cashmere, Christchurch
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere is one of 68 early learning services governed and managed by Canterbury Westland Kindergarten Association Incorporated (the association), trading as Kidsfirst Kindergartens.
The kindergarten is licensed to provide education and care for up to 40 young children from two years to school age. All teachers at the kindergarten are qualified and certified early childhood teachers.
Since the March 2015 ERO review there have been changes to staffing. In 2018 a new head teacher was appointed. The teaching team is continuing to strengthen internal evaluation, assessment and programme evaluation, and all aspects of culturally responsive practice.
All Kidsfirst Kindergartens share a common strategic purpose, vision and objectives. This kindergarten’s vision is to:
create an inspiring learning environment that promotes positive engagement, empowers children, and is calm and unhurried
provide opportunities for children to think, wonder and take measured risks to become confident learners who love to play, learn and explore
build strong, positive relationships with tamariki, whānau and community
work to reflect the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The annual goals for the service include engaging the community with priorities for children's learning and strengthening the newly established nature-based programme.
The kindergarten is an active member of Te Mana Raupō Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.
This review was part of a cluster of four kindergarten reviews in the Canterbury Westland Kindergarten Association Inc.
Children play and learn in a well-considered environment that provides a wide range of opportunities to explore and gain new knowledge. The broad curriculum engages children through imaginative, nature-based, practical and creative learning and play. Teachers are respectful of children's choices and respond to their interests with resourcing for 'real' work. Children are able to work together in small groups and interact positively with teachers and other children.
Children and families are warmly welcomed and show a sense of belonging in the kindergarten. Parents are welcome to stay and settle their children, talk with one another, and discuss their children's learning with teachers. An agreed focus of the kindergarten is to ensure the local curriculum and priorities for children's learning reflect parents' aspirations.
Teachers are committed to increasing bicultural practices to ensure that all children have opportunities to develop an understanding of the dual heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand to support a sense of belonging. Teachers take a collaborative approach to group planning that is celebrated throughout the kindergarten. Children's individual learning portfolios show their engagement and learning in the curriculum. Teachers and leaders now need to strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation practices to show how they add complexity and depth to children's important learning.
The improvement-focused leader works effectively with the association's professional leader to embed systems and processes that support positive outcomes for all children. An emphasis on team collaboration has improved the consistency of approaches to intentional teaching, assessment, planning and evaluation practices, evaluative thinking and reporting throughout the kindergarten.
The Kidsfirst Kindergartens' board provides an effective governance and management structure and is actively focused on promoting positive outcomes for children. The association provides a comprehensive policy and procedure framework that sets clear expectations and guides teachers’ practice. It has developed relevant appraisal and teacher inquiry processes that reflect the Teaching Council’s guidelines. Each kindergarten’s annual plan aligns to the association’s strategic purpose, vision and objectives.
A team of association professional leaders provide regular and specific support, and curriculum guidance to teaching teams. They use their strengths in specific areas to help ensure consistency of association-wide processes and practices.
Leaders and the teaching team have identified, and ERO agrees, that the key next steps for Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere are to:
deepen relationships with whānau Māori and mana whenua to further strengthen bicultural practice
strengthen engagement with current families and whānau to reflect their local curriculum priorities
continue to build the capability of the teaching team in assessment, planning and evaluation to ensure depth and complexity of children’s learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere 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:
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; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
15 June 2020
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
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Location |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5415 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
40 children, over the age of 2 |
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Service roll |
62 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 35; Girls 27 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
N/A |
N/A |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
March 2020 |
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Date of this report |
15 June 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2015 |
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Education Review |
February 2011 |
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ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kidsfirst Kindergartens is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere is one of 62 kindergartens governed and managed by Canterbury Westland Kindergarten Association Incorporated, trading as Kidsfirst Kindergartens. All Kidsfirst kindergartens share a common vision and values.
Children from two years old to school age can attend kindergarten for up to six hours a day during the four kindergarten terms.
Since the February 2011 ERO review, the kindergarten has made significant progress in meeting the recommendations in the ERO report. Self review, child assessment and planning are now more useful and provide clear direction for continuing to improve learning and teaching.
This review was part of a cluster of 18 kindergarten reviews.
The children are confident, happy and enjoy each other's company. They make good use of the well resourced and presented environment to follow their interests and build on their knowledge, understandings and learning. They work well together, share ideas and respect the opinions of others.
Teachers have strong, positive and supportive relationships with the children and their families. They make good use of the knowledge that their children and families share to link home and kindergarten experiences and learning.
The environment is welcoming and supportive of Māori. The teachers value tikanga Māori and carefully include it in the environment and many aspects of the programme. Te reo Māori is becoming more widely used by teachers in their conversations with children, child assessments and plans.
The environment is presented and resourced in ways that encourage children to be active explorers, value nature and be creative. Literacy and mathematics are thoughtfully integrated into the programme. Children spend considerable periods of time involved in in-depth, self-chosen learning that the variety and types of equipment, activities and resources allow.
The teachers work well together. They make good use of their strengths and interests to encourage children to think more deeply about their community and the wider world. The Education Services Manager provides considerable support. She challenges this team of experienced teachers to continue to review and improve their teaching and the programme that they provide for children.
The Kidsfirst Kindergartens Association
All kindergartens in this cluster have spacious indoor and outdoor areas and are well resourced to meet the interests and learning needs of their children. In most of these kindergartens, environments and resources:
Kidsfirst Kindergartens provides significant support for priority learners and their families. Teachers in kindergartens with priority learners receive considerable extra training and funding to ensure the needs of these learners are well met.
Kidsfirst Kindergartens has a strong commitment to te ao Māori (the Māori world view) and ensuring that their Education Service Managers (ESMs) and teachers are competent and confident in te reo and tikanga Māori. In this cluster of kindergartens, a bicultural curriculum is in place and bicultural practices are highly evident. The contribution from parents of Māori children is highly valued and Māori children are well supported to achieve success as Māori.
The association has a well-understood vision, and highly effective strategic and annual planning systems, policies and procedures. It has strong leadership and collaboration across all levels of the organisation.
There is a thorough and well-understood process of self review at all levels of Kidsfirst Kindergartens.
The skills and knowledge of the CEO, board and senior leaders are regularly sought by other kindergarten associations and early childhood services nationally and internationally.
The highly experienced and skilled trustees bring a good range of expertise to support their decision making. They have a wide knowledge and understanding of Kidsfirst and are very focused on achieving their goals. Their priorities are strongly linked to providing high-quality learning and care for all children.
The strategic leadership team members have a good breadth and depth of knowledge across their various areas of expertise. They value each other’s contributions and use their wide range of knowledge and skills to ensure effective operation of the service.
The ESMs show a high level of commitment to Kidsfirst and the implementation of the Kidsfirst vision, policies and expectations. They successfully challenge and use each other's strengths to meet the goals of Kidsfirst for high-quality learning and teaching in each kindergarten.
Kidsfirst has a well-developed evaluation process that is effectively used to identify the strengths, progress and areas for further development in each of its kindergartens. This allows the ESMs to successfully monitor how well each kindergarten is providing high-quality outcomes for children.
High-quality professional development is closely aligned to leaders and teachers achieving the Kidsfirst vision and goals. In this cluster, this is most evident in the well-developed, understood and useful self-review processes, child assessment and planning practices and effective use of a range of technologies.
The Kidsfirst Kindergartens’ managers have identified, and ERO agrees that the key next steps are:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere 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:
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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
The next ERO review of Kidsfirst Kindergartens Cashmere will be in four years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer-Southern
Southern Region
30 March 2015
|
Location |
Christchurch |
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|
Ministry of Education profile number |
5415 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children aged two years and over |
||
|
Service roll |
58 |
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|
Gender composition |
Boys 30; Girls 28 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā German French Japanese |
2 53 1 1 1 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2014 |
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Date of this report |
30 March 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
February 2011 |
|
|
Education Review |
November 2007 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 2005 |
ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.