Discovery Nursery and Cottage

Education institution number:
60362
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
31
Telephone:
Address:

13A Guiness Street, Avalon, Lower Hutt

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Discovery Nursery and Cottage

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

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Not meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.

Background

Discovery Nursery and Cottage is one of seven early learning services under common ownership. A centre manager, supported by a general manager, is responsible for daily operations. There is diversity in the service roll and staffing. Many children who attend are of Māori and Pacific heritages. This is the first ERO review of the service since licensing.

Summary of Review Findings

Children make decisions about their learning experiences. Adults providing education and care are responsive to children’s needs. Assessment and planning documentation is informed by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Parents have opportunities to contribute to reviews of operational documents and their child’s planning.

The design and layout of the premises includes areas for physically active play and space for a range of individual and group learning experiences. These are appropriate to the number, ages, and abilities of children attending. The outdoor areas are connected to indoor spaces. Some aspects of health and safety require greater monitoring.

Actions for Compliance

ERO found an area of non-compliance in the service relating to:

  • consistently undertaking daily hazard checks and hazards to the safety of children to ensure these are eliminated, isolated, or minimised.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services, 2008, HS12.

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:

  • Information is provided to parents about the amount and details of the expenditure of any Ministry of Education funding by the service (GMA3).

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.

Next ERO Review

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

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

15 June 2023 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Discovery Nursery and Cottage

Profile Number

60362

Location

Lower Hutt

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

44 children, including up to 22 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

40

Review team on site

16 May 2023

Date of this report

15 June 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

First ERO review of 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.

Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2 - 25/05/2020

1 Evaluation of Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2

How well placed is Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2 to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2 is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2 is situated in Avalon, Lower Hutt and provides education and care for children aged from infancy to three years. The privately-owned service is licensed for 44 children, including 22 up to two years. Of the 33 children currently enrolled, 13 are Pacific and five are Māori.

The centre is divided into two adjacent areas. 'The Cottage' caters for infants from birth to approximately eighteen months of age. Toddlers then move across to 'The Nursery,' where they remain until approximately three years of age. From there, children transition to the Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 1 (the Preschool) situated on a different site, until they begin school. The two centres share a philosophy, which emphasises Christian values and equitable provision for all families.

Management and leadership roles have recently been restructured. A centre manager now guides teaching and learning across both centres. The owner supports administration and finance, and the oversight of centre systems and professional learning. Teachers represent a diverse range of cultures and experience. Most teachers are qualified.

The March 2017 ERO report identified a number of areas requiring further development. These included: culturally responsive practices; appraisal and assessment, planning and evaluation processes. Good progress is evident in these areas. Internal evaluation remains a priority for improvement.

This review was one part of two in the Life-Start Early Learning Centres Ltd.

The Review Findings

Children learn and explore in a calm environment. Interactions are warm and respectful. The Christian character of the service is well reflected in routines and the environment. Te reo Māori and Pacific languages are heard regularly, supporting oral language development of Māori and Pacific children, and promoting their sense of belonging.

Teachers show an understanding of appropriate learning experiences for infants and toddlers. Opportunities for sensory exploration and physical challenge are prioritised. Teachers are highly responsive to young children's verbal and non-verbal communication. Infants are offered choices about their day and play. Unhurried care routines are flexible to their preferences.

Toddlers benefit from effective support for their growing social competence. They demonstrate respect for others, the environment and resources. Teachers should consider how daily routine times for toddlers, for example moving between play and meals, could be better managed to foster a consistently engaging programme.

There are well-considered processes in place for transitions into the service and between age groups. Useful reciprocal information-sharing with parents supports consistency of care between the service and home.

Good quality, regular assessments capture clear evidence of children's progress. To add value to documentation, teachers should include the strategies they have used to extend children’s learning.

Leaders acknowledge that internal evaluation practices have not been sufficiently prioritised. The service must ensure that they regularly engage with internal evaluation to monitor outcomes for children and continually improve centre practices. Some work has begun in this area.

Recently restructured leadership roles are currently being embedded. Management are improvement focused and committed to the sustainability of the centre for the benefit of families. Leaders actively build on the expertise and interests of teachers and develop leadership across the Life-Start centres. Appraisal processes are well used to encourage teachers to research and reflect on the effectiveness of their practice. A next step for leaders is to better streamline processes and prioritise developments, to ensure improvements in key areas.

Key Next Steps

Priorities for development are:

  • improving daily transition times in the toddler section to ensure that they meet the needs of these children

  • documenting of teaching strategies that are used to extend children's play within assessment

  • building internal evaluation capability.

In addition, leaders should focus on embedding the new leadership structure.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Life-Start Learning Centres Ltd 2 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.

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 identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety and governance and management. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

  • when children leave the premises on an excursion, appropriate assessment and management of risk is undertaken and documented

  • engaging in ongoing review and evaluation to maintain and improve the quality of education and care.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS17, GMA6.

Since the onsite phase of the review, the service has taken steps to improve their excursion and risk management processes.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

25 May 2020

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

Location

Lower Hutt

Ministry of Education profile number

60362

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

44 children, including up to 22 aged under 2

Service roll

33

Gender composition

Male 19, Female 14

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Samoan
Other ethnic groups

5
9
11
8

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:6

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

December 2019

Date of this report

25 May 2020

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

March 2017

Education Review

March 2014

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.