1138 Peel Forest 22 RD, Geraldine
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Peel Forest Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakatō Emerging Whakatō Emerging |
Peel Forest is a small, three teacher, community childcare centre. Most staff including the centre manager are relatively new in their roles. A new board has recently been established. The 2020 ERO report identified key next steps to work on included monitoring the progress of the strategic plan, policy review, appraisal and developing centre priorities. Some progress has been made towards addressing these. A small number of children attending the service are Māori.
Children experience a responsive curriculum that promotes independence, exploration, and challenges. A local curriculum has been developed which promotes an inclusive environment, a family atmosphere, valuing the living world and caring for others. These priorities are promoted through the meaningful learning opportunities provided. Children’s learning and development is supported through caring relationships with teachers.
The bicultural curriculum is in the early stages of being established and connections with the places of importance in the local area are developing. Individual and centre mihi have been created and children have some opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori.
A recently developed assessment, planning, and evaluation process is beginning to be implemented. This includes parent and whānau aspirations starting to be considered and used to inform individual learning goals. Teachers are beginning to unpack Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and to develop their understanding of how the learning outcomes are used to show children’s learning and development over time.
Leaders and teachers collaboratively review aspects of their practice to inform ongoing developments. An internal evaluation framework is in place. Making evidence-based judgements about the quality and effectiveness of the programme or practice has not yet occurred.
Leaders are working to implement effective management processes. A newly developed strategic plan shows a clear vision for the service which guides the annual plan. Governance and management allocate resources that support teachers’ continual growth and professional knowledge, including a new system for induction and appraisal. Greater monitoring of health and safety requirements is required.
Peel Forest Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
increase opportunities for children to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful learning contexts
embed a shared understanding of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki and use these to identify and document children’s learning and progress over time
deepen learning focused partnerships with parents and whānau to better inform assessment for learning
strengthen the evaluative aspect in internal evaluation through gathering a robust range of evidence to inform the evaluative thinking and reasoning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Peel Forest Preschool 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.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliances:
evaluation of emergency drills to inform the review of the emergency management plan
when children leave the premises on excursions, the excursion must include the signature of the person responsible for giving approval
a record of all medicine given to children and evidence of parental acknowledgement.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS17, HS28.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
10 March 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Peel Forest Preschool |
|
Profile Number |
65056 |
|
Location |
Geraldine |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
18 children, aged over two |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
26 |
|
Review team on site |
November 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
10 March 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2020; Education Review, December 2016 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Peel Forest Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Peel Forest Preschool is a small rural community-based education and care service situated in Peel Forest village. Families of children who attend come from the local area as well as the wider rural area. The preschool is licensed for 18 children over two years old who may attend for up to four days a week from 8.30am to 4pm.
The preschool philosophy emphasises the importance of children's rural background, experiences and interests being reflected in the curriculum. It focuses on children learning in a safe nurturing nature-based environment where they have opportunities to become confident and competent learners.
A parent management committee governs the preschool. The centre manager oversees the day-to-day operation of the preschool and leads a small team of two. The management committee, manager, teachers and community have worked hard over the past year to increase the number of children enrolled to support the sustainability of the preschool.
The preschool is part of Ka Awa Whiria Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning working collaboratively with other early learning services and local schools.
The December 2016 ERO report identified that improvement was required in the quality of planning, assessment, evaluation, and monitoring and reporting the progress towards achieving the strategic goals. Very good progress has been made in assessment and planning.
Children's learning and wellbeing is effectively supported by teachers. They experience a calm and unhurried learning environment and play well with and alongside one another.
Teachers know the children well and use their interests, strengths and preferences to provide a responsive curriculum that includes a strong focus on developing:
increasing independence and self-help skills
problem solving, early literacy and oral language skills
physical skills, imagination and creativity.
Teachers' conversations with children help them connect their home life with preschool experiences. They make good use of the local environment as a context for learning. Children have opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori and learn waiata. Their transitions into the preschool and on to school are well managed.
The teachers have developed effective systems for ensuring all children are assessed and planned for regularly over time. Children's progress in their learning is well documented. Teachers regularly consult with parents about their hopes and dreams for their children's learning and use this information to plan interesting experiences for individual children. Best examples show teachers and parents working in partnership to promote children's learning. A next step is to further unpack the strands, goals and learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum to interpret and set priorities for the preschool to guide planning.
Teachers effectively use self review to make meaningful improvements that benefit children's learning and wellbeing. Outcomes of review are shared with all those involved in the service. A next step is to build teachers capacity and capability for using internal evaluation to determine how well their practices support children's learning.
The governance committee have a useful manual to guide the members undertake their roles and responsibilities. They maintain close scrutiny and careful management of finances to ensure financial sustainability of the service. They utilise strong networks with the local community to benefit children at the preschool. The strategic and annual plan identifies key priorities for the operation of the service. A next step is to regularly monitor and report on the progress towards achieving strategic goals.
Key next steps for governance and management are to:
formally monitor and report progress towards the goals in the strategic plan
review policies to ensure they are current, coherent, fit for purpose and effectively guide practice and overtime evaluate how well these practices support children's learning.
strengthen the appraisal process and ensure the manager is appraised annually.
The key next step for teachers is to work with the committee, parents and children to unpack and interpret the strands, goals and learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum to set priorities for their preschool and guide planning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Peel Forest 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.
To improve current practice, the early childhood service management should ensure:
that the practice of ensuring two forms of identification for safety checks is reflected in policy
there is a schedule for ongoing internal evaluation.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance
evidence of how evaluation of the drills has informed the annual review of the service's emergency plan
a record of the time each child attending the service sleeps, and checks made by adults during this time.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS9.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services | Te Tai Tini
Southern Region
18 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.
|
Location |
Geraldine |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
65056 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
18 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
18 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Male 11 Female 7 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā |
16 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
November 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
18 February 2020 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
December 2016 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2014 |
||
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Peel Forest Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Peel Forest Preschool is a small rural, community-based centre. It provides education and care for children from two-years old to school age. The centre has a spacious outdoor area and is well resourced.
A new manager was appointed in May 2016. She administers the centre and leads the curriculum. The majority of the teachers are qualified early childhood teachers or working towards an early childhood qualification.
The centre is governed by a board of parents who are elected annually.
The trustees and staff have made significant progress since the 2014 ERO review. They have made very good use of the additional support that they received from the Ministry of Education to improve the quality of the service. The centre has a well-defined philosophy. Effective systems, procedures and practices have been put in place for governance, management and the curriculum. All legislative requirements have been met, including installing a new bathroom for the children.
Children are confident and engaged in their learning. Teachers work thoughtfully with parents to identify children's interests. They use this information appropriately to extend children's learning and provide programmes that are interesting and fun.
Children are well supported to be leaders in the programme and of their learning. Teachers encourage children to be inclusive and to work cooperatively with others. Older children willingly include younger children in their play.
Te reo and tikanga Māori are becoming well integrated into the programme. Teachers regularly use te reo Māori in the programme and in children's assessments and plans. Children are learning their mihi and take pride in leading karakia at kai times. Partnerships with Māori families are developing and leading to more sharing of bicultural knowledge and practice.
Teachers listen carefully to children and involve children in decision making about their learning and wellbeing. Teachers willingly join children's play and use these opportunities to help children problem solve, develop leadership skills and strategies to include the ideas of others. Physical activity, creativity and imaginative play are well integrated into the programme.
Teachers are beginning to use assessment and planning more effectively to build learning partnerships with parents and better guide learning and teaching in the programme. Assessment is beginning to provide valuable records of children's progress in the centre and home settings.
The board and managers are embedding effective systems for governing and managing the centre. The centre's philosophy clearly identifies what is important for children's learning in this community. The governance manual provides very clear guidelines and high expectations for trustees and centre operations. Strategic planning provides good directions for the ongoing development and improvement of the centre and children's learning.
The manager and teachers are putting a useful internal evaluation process in place. The example provided for ERO showed a well-planned approach and thoughtful analysis of information that had been appropriately used to develop an action plan. This should now be extended into all aspects of the centre's operations.
The trustees, managers and ERO agree that the key next steps for sustaining and continuing to improve the quality of learning and teaching include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Peel Forest 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:
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 Peel Forest Preschool will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern/Te Waipounamu
16 December 2016
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.
|
Location |
Peel Forest |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
65056 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
18 children, two years and over |
||
|
Service roll |
25 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 14; Boys 11 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
November 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
16 December 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
March 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 2009 |
||
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 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.