21 Stourbridge Street, Barrington, Christchurch
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.
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakatō Emerging Whakatō Emerging |
ERO’s judgements for Kidditech Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Kidditech Early Learning Centre is privately-owned. A centre owner and a head teacher, lead a team of mostly qualified teachers. The centre roll is culturally diverse, including almost a quarter of Māori children and a small number of children of Pacific heritage. There have been staff changes since the 2020 ERO review, including leadership. Little progress has been made in addressing the key next steps identified in the 2020 ERO report. Internal evaluation and developing and implementing a bicultural and culturally responsive curriculum, including support for Māori learners remain priority areas for development.
Children have a range of opportunities to learn in a curriculum aligned to the service’s learning priorities of creativity, exploration and project-based learning. Teachers respond well to children’s interests and extend their learning through a variety of teacher and child-led experiences.
The bicultural curriculum requires further development. Children have some opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori through daily routines and group activities. Further developing the cultural expertise and knowledge of all teachers is required to extend the bicultural curriculum.
Leaders and teachers are at the beginning stages of implementing effective assessment and planning for learning practices. Documentation could more effectively show teachers:
more regularly seeking and responding to whānau aspirations for their children’s learning
developing planning, teaching strategies and experiences intended to foster learning
making visible children’s languages, cultures, and learner identities
Children with additional learning needs are identified and acknowledged. Teachers collaborate with external agencies and whānau to develop a range of support strategies so they might participate fully in the curriculum alongside their peers.
A process of self-review is used to review and improve aspects of operations and practice. Growing leadership capability is now required to build the collective capacity of the teaching team to do and use effective internal evaluation to know what is working well or not. There are suitable systems in place to guide the daily operations of the service.
Kidditech Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Develop and implement a rich bicultural curriculum that promotes Māori success.
Build leaders’ and teachers’ understanding and capability to implement effective assessment for learning practices.
Build leaders’ and teachers’ collective capability to do and use effective internal evaluation for improvement.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kidditech Early Learning Centre 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.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
A record of the time each child attending the service sleeps, and checks made by adults during that time (HS9).
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
15 June 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Kidditech Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
70095 |
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Location |
Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
30 children aged over 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Review team on site |
February 2023 |
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Date of this report |
15 June 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2020; Education Review, September 2016 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kidditech Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kidditech Early Learning Centre is a privately-owned service located in Spreydon, Christchurch. The owner works in a collaborative partnership alongside the centre leader. The centre is licensed to provide education and care for up to 30 children. It is a full-day service for children from the age of two up to school age, and operates from Monday to Friday.
The philosophy of the centre focuses on the holistic learning and wellbeing of children. This is expressed through a science and technology-based curriculum and an environment that fosters experimentation, discovery and creativity. The philosophy places emphasis on building positive relationships and allowing children to develop their full potential to enable them to become competent and confident learners and communicators.
The core values of Kidditech Early Learning Centre are expressed as fun, calm, inspiring, caring and creative. Leaders and teachers believe that 'learning is a lifelong journey, and we incorporate inspiration and fun into all we do'.
Since the 2016 ERO review staffing has remained stable and all teachers are qualified early childhood teachers. The centre is a part of Te Mana Raupō Kāhui Ako/Community of Learning.
The centre has a focus on building strong, positive and respectful relationships that are based on meeting the learning needs of children. There are consistent efforts to seek and share the aspirations parents have for their children. Children and teachers learn within respectful and positive relationships. Teachers are collaborative, sharing information about children's learning and taking a shared responsibility for children's learning.
The centre philosophy is evident in practice. The emphasis on science and technology is reflected in the many activities and resources provided for children to interact with. There are regular opportunities for children to learn about the natural, physical and material worlds. The environment is purposefully set up to support exploration and discovery. Teachers recognise opportunities to foster children's independence and self-management and encourage them to take risks. An increased understanding of te ao Māori and development of culturally responsive practices will improve practice in this area.
Planning ensures an effective response to individual children's needs. Teachers notice and support children's dispositions and attitudes for learning. They recognise individual strengths, interests and abilities. Children with additional learning needs are well supported by individual and sensitive approaches that involve family and external agencies.
There are useful systems to help identify areas for service improvement and guide strategic planning. Parents are regularly consulted and their views responded to. The service's development of consultation with whānau Māori will assist improvement. Teacher appraisal helps to identify priorities in teaching and learning and to set strategic goals. Strengthening of internal evaluation processes will provide a deeper understanding of how effective these systems are.
The centre has identified, and ERO agrees, that key next steps are to:
improve bicultural practices in consultation with whānau and iwi to ensure an authentic local curriculum
increase teachers' understanding of how to support Māori learners as Māori, and reflect this within the environment and practices of the centre
improve teachers' use and understanding of culturally responsive practices.
ERO also identified that teachers and learners need to develop a deeper understanding of how to use internal evaluation to determine the effectiveness of initiatives and innovations.
ERO recommends that the centre seeks external provision of professional development to improve understanding and use of:
culturally responsive practices
internal evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kidditech 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:
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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini
Southern Region
4 March 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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70095 |
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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, two years of age and over |
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Service roll |
49 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 28, Girls 21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2019 |
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Date of this report |
4 March 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2016 |
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|
Education Review |
May 2013 |
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|
Education Review |
September 2009 |
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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.