Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani

Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani - 09 Nov 2022

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 Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Te Punanga o Te Reo Kuki Airani is the only Kuki Airani service in Wellington. Its philosophy focuses on the revitalisation and maintenance of Kuki Airani Māori language and culture. The service is an incorporated society, and a management committee provides governance support. A centre manager and a qualified supervisor lead a team of four qualified teachers and three support staff.

3 Summary of finding

Children are supported by teachers to care for themselves and for the environment. They use the resources provided to explore, imagine and invent. Older children experience play-based activities focused on literacy and numeracy learning. Tuakana-teina relationships are evident through older children’s interactions with younger children.

Children have opportunities to express their feelings, and they confidently approach adults for conversation and comfort. Teachers intentionally maintain children’s connections to their home languages and cultures. They provide experiences such as singing, dancing, weaving, cooking, making ei katu and tivaevae. Teachers also respectfully promote and role model the use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.

The centre’s curriculum aligns with the principles and strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers could more explicitly document in assessment records how they challenge and extend children’s thinking and add complexity to their play. Teachers are yet to evaluate the curriculum to identify how teaching practices are resulting in improved learning outcomes for children.

Leaders prioritise the learning and wellbeing of children and whānau as the primary consideration in their decision making. Responsive, reciprocal, and respectful relationships are formed with each family, supporting children’s sense of belonging. Parents’ aspirations and contributions to their children’s learning and assessment is yet to be documented.

Leaders are developing a system of appraisal that includes professional growth cycles and robust mentoring and professional support for leaders and teachers. They have established useful systems for internal evaluation. Leaders and teachers continue to develop a shared understanding of evaluation to build teachers’ and leaders’ capability to do and use evaluation for improvement.

4 Improvement actions

Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Build teachers’ responses to whānau aspirations so the curriculum is informed by their contributions.

• Continue to grow shared knowledge about internal evaluation by developing an evaluative focus and documenting the impact of the curriculum and teaching practices on improved learning outcomes for children.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani 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.

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

9 November 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service