88 Commerical Street, Takaka
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. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
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He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre is a community-based, non-profit service. A parent governance board oversees and supports the centre. A centre manager has responsibility for the day-to-day running of the service. Leadership of some curriculum areas is distributed among the teaching team. The learning environment is divided into two adjoining spaces, for older and younger children.
Children benefit from a rich and responsive curriculum. They demonstrate confidence, social competence and focused engagement. Highly attentive teachers support their explorations and build their mana as successful learners. Infants and toddlers experience warm relationships and unhurried, individualised care. Teachers collaborate with families and external agencies to support children with diverse learning needs.
Well-established community networks support the provision of relevant experiences in the local area, including visits to schools, marae and sites of significance. The teaching team continues to work with mana whenua to build the bicultural programme.
Kaiako have developed an individualised approach to assessment, planning and evaluation of children’s learning. They are beginning to build on their positive relationships with families to enable shared planning for children’s learning. Targeted strategies to respond to the cultures, languages and identities of all families are being developed.
The teaching team has yet to work with families to establish the learning priorities, aligned with the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, that matter most for their curriculum.
Leaders and kaiako work well as a team. Relational trust at every level of the service supports debate, problem solving, negotiation and critical reflection on practice. Purposeful and systematic internal evaluation practices result in ongoing improvement. A stronger focus on determining the impact of teaching practices on children’s learning and wellbeing outcomes would add value to these processes.
A culture of collective responsibility and professional engagement is sustained. Governance and management practices facilitate a positive working environment and low turnover of kaiako, conducive to the building and sustaining of quality adult-child relationships and effective practices to support children’s wellbeing and learning.
The parent board works well to support the service. Members take a systematic and professional approach. The learning and wellbeing of children are the primary considerations in decision making and allocation of resources.
Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement
Planning. These are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
8 March 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre |
| Profile Number | 65404 |
| Location | Takaka |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
38 children, including up to 8 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
59 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 11, NZ European/Pākehā 45, Other ethnic groups 3. |
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Review team on site |
January 2021 |
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Date of this report |
8 March 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2015; Education Review, March 2012. |
How well placed is Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
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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.
Golden Kids Early Learning Centre is a community-based centre that provides care and education for children aged from birth to five years of age. The centre has a long waiting list for available spaces. It has good links with local schools that support children to transition successfully to school.
The day-to-day running of the centre is managed by the head teacher and administrator with the support of a parent board. The centre has stable staffing and leadership. There is a commitment to employing trained staff and actively encouraging and supporting potential future early childhood teachers.
The strengths identified in the March 2012 ERO report have been retained and built on. The centre responded well to the areas for improvement identified and has made the most progress in improving appraisal and aspects of assessment.
The centre’s philosophy is shared by its community, and highly evident in centre practices.
Children play and learn in an environment that supports their sense of wellbeing and belonging. Teachers provide a daily programme that is calm and settled with routines that are flexible, well paced, familiar and meaningful for children. Babies' and toddlers' needs are well catered for in a programme that respects their choices and preferences, and gives them the space and time to lead their learning.
Teachers develop respectful relationships with children and their families and help children develop good relationships with others. They have developed useful strategies, such as home visits, to help children extend their relationships beyond the centre and make stronger links between the centre and their home lives.
Parent contributions are valued. Teachers seek parents’ aspirations, views and contributions to the programme. The centre provides further opportunities for parent involvement through the parent board. The centre makes good use of its location next to community services to provide additional support to parents and families, when needed.
The centre’s curriculum is strongly influenced by following children’s interests which are providing many opportunities for children to take the lead in their own learning. Children spend prolonged periods of time engaged in play which is actively and skilfully supported by teachers.
A feature of the centre is the significant work undertaken to successfully promote stronger te reo and tikanga Māori practices. The centre has implemented a wide range of strategies, including ongoing teacher professional development, and successfully engaged with the local Māori community to make this happen. Children benefit from the significant opportunities they have to learn about and celebrate the Māori culture and language.
Key features of the environment are:
Teachers have developed thoughtful and purposeful group planning practices that help them focus on the ways they will extend and build on children’s interests and individual characteristics. This planning also shows that teachers regularly evaluate and adapt programmes and teaching practices to better promote children’s learning. Displays about children’s learning interests are attractively presented they support parents and children to talk together about what children are doing during the programme.
The centre benefits from strong professional leadership that is improvement focused and supports well-considered decision making. The head teacher actively uses and builds on staff strengths in ways that result in shared leadership. This is resulting in a strong sense of teamwork and a collaborative approach among staff.
The teaching team is reflective about its practices. Centre leaders have implemented some useful systems for monitoring practices, such as giving regular feedback to teachers on the quality of assessment and planning.
Centre leaders and ERO agree that key next steps for the centre include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Since the onsite stage of the review, the centre has appointed a Privacy Officer and begun to develop an overarching policy to help guide the centre’s privacy practices. ERO recommends the centre also reviews its child protection policy to ensure that it clearly supports section 15 of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989.
The next ERO review of Golden Kids Inc. Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
5 May 2015
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 |
Takaka |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
65404 |
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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 |
38 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
78 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 35 Boys 43 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Pacific Other European Asian Other ethnicities |
10 59 2 4 2 1 |
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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 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
March 2014 |
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Date of this report |
5 May 2015 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) These are available at www.ero.govt.nz |
Education Review |
March 2012 |
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Education Review |
June 2008 |
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Supplementary Review |
September 2005 |
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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.