117 Elizabeth Street, Invercargill
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.
Kew Pacific Island Early Learning Centre is governed by the Pacific Island Advisory and Cultural Trust (PIACT). An established centre manager is supported by a mix of long-serving and newly appointed staff. The culturally diverse roll comprises almost a quarter of children who are Māori, and half who are of Pacific heritages.
The service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning, interests, whānau, and life contexts. Children experience a language-rich environment that supports their learning and their developing social competence and understanding of appropriate behaviour.
The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own cultures and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.
More rigorous implementation of health and safety and governance and management practices is required to maintain ongoing compliance with the regulatory standards.
Next steps include strengthening the quality of planning and assessment for learning, particularly in relation to:
effectively implementing the service’s curriculum framework to show children’s learning and progress over time.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
Ensuring fixtures and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008; HS6.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Implementing a procedure that specifies that children are checked for warmth, breathing, and general wellbeing (HS9).
Ensuring: equipment, premises and facilities are consistently checked on every day of operation for hazards to children; accident/incident records are analysed to identify hazards and appropriate action is taken; hazards to the safety of children are eliminated, isolated or minimised (HS12).
Ensuring the temperature of warm water delivered from taps that are accessible to children is no higher than 40°C, and comfortable for children at the centre to use (HS13).
Having a record of excursions that includes consistent evidence of parental permission and approval of adult: child ratios for special excursions (HS17).
Ensuring rooms used by children are kept at a comfortable temperature no lower than 18°C (at 500mm above the floor) while children are attending (HS24).
Ensuring adults who administer medicine to children (other than their own) are provided with information and/or training relevant to the task (HS29).
Having a written child protection policy that contains provisions for the service’s identification of child abuse and neglect (HS31).
When undertaking safety checking of children’s workers, maintain detailed records of each component of the safety check and record the date on which each step was taken, including the date of the risk assessment required to be completed after all relevant information is obtained. Ensuring every children’s worker is safety checked every three years (GMA7a).
Having an annual plan identifying 'who', in relation to key tasks (GMA8).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
20 September 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Kew Pacific Island Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
65093 |
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Location |
Invercargill |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
33 |
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Review team on site |
August 2023 |
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Date of this report |
20 September 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review January 2017, Education Review, November 2014. |
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.
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.
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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kew Pacific Island ECE Centre is a well established service in Invercargill, governed by the Pacific Island Advisory and Cultural Trust (PIACT). The centre provides education and care for children from babies to school age and is licenced for 30 children including 10 up to the age of two years. The majority of the children enrolled have Pacific or Māori heritage.
The centre is staffed by four registered teachers, including the newly appointed centre manager. It also employs two teacher aides, a kitchen hand and an administrator.
The centre's philosophy is to provide rich learning experiences through children's identity, Pacific languages and cultures, working in partnership with whānau tangata Pasifika. Teachers have a holistic approach and a commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and the Pasifika Education Plan 2013 - 2017 underpin the programme.
The 2014 ERO report highlighted areas that managers and teachers needed to work on to promote good quality education and care for children. With the support of the Ministry of Education and other external help, managers and teachers have worked hard to improve the quality of the programme, centre leadership, management and governance. Significant progress and improvements have been made in all these areas.
A holistic approach to leadership, teaching and the programme for children, is resulting in positive outcomes for children. Children are independent, confident and competent learners who have a strong sense of ownership in the centre. They know routines well and lead group prayers or mat-time waiata. Children are engaged in activities that they create or teachers provide.
The curriculum is also responsive to children's languages and cultural backgrounds. A bicultural curriculum is highly evident. Māori children are well supported to achieve success through culturally relevant experiences. Children benefit from mixed-age groups that promote meaningful tuakana/teina relationships. The concept of ako is also valued as children interact with each other and adults. Teachers value whānau contributions to the programme, and are responsive to children's interests, strengths and abilities.
Infants and toddlers appear secure and trusting in the mixed-age environment. They are well supported by primary caregivers who ensure that there are comfortable, safe spaces to cater for children who are not yet mobile and for those who are crawling and learning to walk. Children up to the age of two benefit from a relaxed pace and peaceful environment that allows them freedom and time to explore. They are respected, and confident that teachers will tend to their needs.
The physical environment and wall displays support learning with a range of good quality resources for children to explore. Well defined areas of play encourage children to participate in the activities teachers provide. Internal evaluation has been focused on improving the programme and environment for children.
Teachers know the community well and have established partnerships with parents. Parents who spoke to ERO appreciate the significant improvements that have occurred since the new centre manager was appointed. There is a whānau atmosphere in the centre and more parents are supporting and participating in the learning programme. These positive relationships support children’s learning and their sense of belonging.
PIACT trustees are focused on managing change to improve outcomes for children in their community. They have made a key management appointment and have worked well with external support to build their understanding and effectiveness as governors. Trustees and the manager work collaboratively to develop and implement effective planning, systems, policies and procedures.
The manager is very experienced and has implemented a shared vision, focused on high quality early childhood education. She is growing teachers' capabilities and shared leadership through a new teacher appraisal process and internal evaluation that is resulting in continued improvements.
Trustees and the manager agree that they could continue to strengthen existing practices in order to sustain improvements, including:
internal evaluation
teachers' critical reflection on their practice.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kew Pacific Island ECE Centre 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.
The next ERO review of Kew Pacific Island ECE Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
20 January 2017
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 |
Invercargill |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65093 |
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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 |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
38 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 20 Girls 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Cook Islands Māori Tongan Samoan Croatian others |
7 14 6 5 2 2 2 |
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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 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2016 |
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Date of this report |
20 January 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
September 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
May 2011 |
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Supplementary Review |
November 2007 |
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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 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.