739 Weedons Ross Road, West Melton
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
West Melton Nursery and Preschool Limited is a privately owned and operated service. It is governed by the Childcare and Learning Group. Children learn and are cared for in three separate areas. The centre manager is supported by a curriculum leader, regional manager and business manager. The service changed ownership in October 2020.
Children are provided with opportunities to explore spacious indoor and outdoor areas. They are supported to be engaged in the learning environments.
Teachers provide education and care through interactions intended to enhance children's learning and nurture relationships. They use te reo Māori in the daily programme giving children the opportunity to develop an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Leaders and teachers prioritise the health and safety of children. The premises and facilities are well maintained. Parents contribute to the service through input into policy reviews. A philosophy and suitable systems for managing the service guide the daily operations.
Next steps include:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
8 February 2022
| Early Childhood Service Name | West Melton Nursery and Preschool Limited |
| Profile Number | 65099 |
| Location | West Melton |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
82 children, including up to 16 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
60 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 8, NZ European/Pākehā 47, Other ethnic groups 5 |
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Review team on site |
November 2021 |
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Date of this report |
8 February 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2020; Education Review, June 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 |
West Melton Kindergarten, Nursery & Learning Centre Ltd requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
West Melton Kindergarten, Nursery and Learning Centre is a privately owned and operated service. It provides full-day care and education for up to 87 children in three separate learning spaces for different ages, including for twelve children aged under two.
The owner manages the service supported by a supervisor who has responsibility for the day-to-day organisation. Since the June 2016 ERO report there has been some staff changes, including two of the three team leaders.
The service philosophy places a strong emphasis on providing tamariki with a welcoming, homely environment in partnership with parents, where children are stimulated and challenged to become confident and competent learners. It also acknowledges children's cultural diversity and promotes strong links with the local school.
The June 2016 ERO report identified key next steps for improvement. These were: reviewing the transition to school programme; staff appraisals and the appointments process and strategic and annual planning. Some progress has been made in these areas. However, appraisals and aspects of strategic planning continue to require improvement.
Leaders and teachers know the children and their parents well. Children's wellbeing and belonging are enhanced by carefully considered and well-managed transitions into and within the service.
Children's learning and development are supported through caring relationships with their teachers. Children play well together, work cooperatively and are inclusive of others in their play both indoors and in the large outdoor environment. They are encouraged to be independent and follow their interests in learning. Children are confident and able to take risks to extend their physical development. Any child who has additional learning needs is well supported.
Infants and toddlers have familiar teachers who can welcome and care for them. They experience an unhurried and calm pace where their exploration is encouraged and carefully supervised.
The service's strategic plan identifies that the leaders and teachers need to further develop, implement and consistently embed effective systems to assess, plan and evaluate children's learning and development aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. There needs to be greater urgency to ensure that this work is carried out. This should include consultation with parents and children about priorities for learning, including parents aspirations for their children and integration of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Teachers undertake spontaneous internal evaluation that leads to some improvement. Leaders and teachers need to develop capability to carry out deliberate, systematic internal-evaluation processes and use these to evaluate the service's improvement actions. Teacher appraisal needs to be strengthened to meet professional requirements.
Key next steps for the owner and manager are to build leadership capacity and capability to:
develop and implement effective assessment and planning for children's learning that regularly and consistently responds to parents' wishes for their children
continue to develop a service curriculum aligned to Te Whāriki that reflects the wishes of parents, children and service staff
implement actions to meet the strategic goals that focus on outcomes for children and rigorously monitor progress against these
develop effective evaluation processes for improvement and evaluate how well the service's curriculum, processes and practices promote children's learning
ensure policies and practices integrate and reflect Māori ways of knowing, being and doing
improve the system and quality of teacher appraisal.
Before the review, the staff and management of West Melton Kindergarten, Nursery & Learning Centre Ltd 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 identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance and management. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
developing an ongoing process for self-review that helps the service maintain and improve the quality of its education and care
teacher appraisal system.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA6, GMA7.
ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
19 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 |
Canterbury |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65099 |
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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 |
78 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
87 |
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Gender composition |
Male 46, Female 41 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
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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 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2019 |
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Date of this report |
19 February 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2016 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2012 |
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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.