207 Ormond Road, Mangapapa, Gisborne
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Gisborne Montessori Preschool is governed by a parent council. A principal manager leads a team of qualified kaiako and support staff. The service provides education and care for children aged from two years to school age in three mixed-aged areas. The service was re-licensed in November 2020.
Children are supported as confident, competent learners. Adults engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Their learning is supported by kaiako who understand their interests, whānau and life context. Kaiako respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children.
Large learning spaces both indoors and outdoors provide sufficient and suitable space for a range of activities. The environment has a range of natural, open-ended resources that support both group and individual learning.
An annual plan and policy framework guides operations and indicates sustainability over time.
Next steps include:
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Shelley Booysen
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
1 March 2022
| Early Childhood Service Name | Gisborne Montessori Preschool |
| Profile Number | 55001 |
| Location | Gisborne |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
54 children aged over 2 years. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 11, NZ European/Pākehā 15, Indian 9, Other ethnic groups 12. |
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Review team on site |
25 January 2022 |
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Date of this report |
1 March 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2020; Education Review, October 2016. |
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.
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:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Gisborne Montessori Preschool is not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Gisborne Montessori Preschool provides education and care for children aged from two years to school age in three mixed-aged areas. An extension class is offered four afternoons a week for children from four and a half years of age. The centre is licensed for 72 children. At the time of this ERO review 61 children were enrolled, including 17 children who identify as Māori.
The preschool practices are based on the Montessori philosophy and the early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki. The service aims to 'provide high quality Montessori education in a safe, supportive and stimulating learning environment'.
Since the October 2016 ERO report, there have been several changes to management and the teaching team.
The centre has made some progress in relation to the key areas for development identified in the previous ERO report that included: consistent approaches to classroom planning; refinement of the annual plan; appraisal; and internal evaluation.
Required practices and procedures to promote children's health and safety are not sufficiently systematic and some key aspects not attended to. Not all centre policies reflect regulatory requirements. The parent council (board) and leaders should ensure that the service is guided by policies that clearly show expectations of practice in relation to the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008.
Further work is required to build the board's and leaders' knowledge and understanding of:
their respective roles and responsibilities
strategic alignment of the centre vision, philosophy, strategic and annual planning, internal evaluation, professional learning and staff appraisal
policy-making process so that these are carefully formulated, systematically implemented and consistently monitored
effective strategic internal evaluation for improvement
philosophy development to reflect agreed community priorities for children's learning
whānau Māori involvement in decision-making.
Children have opportunities to lead their learning and engage in periods of sustained and uninterrupted play. Their learning is supported through a localised curriculum guided by Montessori philosophy and Te Whāriki. Good practice includes:
developing children's self-management skills and confidence through routines and rituals
acknowledging children's emerging interests to promote further learning
showing progression of children's learning overtime in portfolios and these reflect parents' aspirations
teachers working collaboratively with external agencies and families to support children with additional needs to achieve success.
Attention should be given to how well Māori children's language, culture and identity is evident in curriculum and assessment.
Clarity about positive guidance strategies that teachers use to support children's social competency is needed.
Before the review, the staff and management of Gisborne Montessori Preschool 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.
ERO found significant areas of non-compliance in the service related to:
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008: GMA1; GMA7; HS7; HS12; HS17; HS22; HS28; HS31] [Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, Regulation 47 1(a), 1(c)i].
Immediate attention needs to be given to how the board and leaders respond to any observed or reported misconduct by staff.
In order to address these non-compliances, the board must:
implement human resource management practices in relation to having and following a definition of serious misconduct and discipline/dismissal procedures
prominently display Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008 and the current licence
ensure the child protection policy relates to The Children’s Act 2014
analyse accidents to inform hazard management
undertake hazard identification in relation to child safety
ensure supervision of children while eating
ensure detailed recording of medication plans
ensure guiding policies are current and followed.
In order to improve practice, the board should:
update the emergency plan to include contingency for tsunami and lockdown
ensure that for excursions, all risks and the management of these are considered.
Since the onsite phase of this evaluation the service has developed and started an action plan to respond to areas identified as requiring attention.
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Gisborne Montessori Preschool. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.
Darcy Te Hau (Acting)
Director Review and Improvement Service
Central Region - Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
24 February 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 |
Gisborne |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
55001 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
72 children aged over 2 |
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Service roll |
61 |
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Gender composition |
Female 43, Male 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
17 |
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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 2019 |
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Date of this report |
24 February 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2016 |
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Education Review |
October 2013 |
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Education Review |
May 2010 |
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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.