138 High Street, Leeston
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.
Children First Pre School is a privately owned and operated education and care service. It has been relicensed under new ownership since 2018. The owner/centre manger leads a team of four qualified and two unqualified staff. Three aged-based rooms are set up for children from two years to school age.
The service curriculum is inclusive. Children experience positive, respectful interactions with adults, and have opportunities to develop an understanding of the dual heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. There are opportunities for children to learn about and respect other cultures. A vision, philosophy, policy framework and annual planning, guide service operations. There are established processes for teacher appraisal and internal evaluation. Health and safety procedures are monitored, and changes are made when required. The premises and facilities are resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending.
Next step:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
21 November 2020
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Children First Pre School |
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Profile Number |
70355 |
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Location |
Leeston |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
50 children aged over 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
60 |
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Gender composition |
Male 36, Female 24 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 13, NZ European/Pākehā 34, Other ethnic groups 13 |
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Review team on site |
October 2020 |
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Date of this report |
21 November 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2014; Education Review, September 2015 |
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 |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Children First Pre School provides education and care for up to 50 children aged from two years to school age. The service is privately owned and managed. The owners and some of the teachers have worked at the centre for many years. They and the other teachers work collaboratively to provide a programme in keeping with the centre’s philosophy. The focus is early literacy, especially pre-reading and language skills, first maths ideas, physical co-ordination, music, self esteem and belief in one’s own abilities.
The areas of strength identified in the last ERO report continue to be maintained. The manager and teachers have had effective support to help guide improvements, and significant progress has been made against the review recommendations. These include assessment of children’s learning and moving from a mostly teacher-led programme to a more child-initiated approach. The teachers have had individual and group support to help develop a shared understanding of best practice. They have widened the curriculum and improved the programmes they provide to give children a greater range of opportunities to explore and learn.
Teachers know the children well and work closely with one another and with parents to meet the children’s individual interests and learning needs. They have built on their understanding of children’s dispositions and are working towards being more specific about the learning they want to happen and how to achieve it. Teachers are developing useful ways to plan for both teacher-led learning experiences and child-initiated learning. They are respectful of children’s choices and preferences and value their cultural backgrounds.
Children benefit from the positive relationships they have with the teachers and each other. Teachers work well together and value one another’s skills and knowledge. They are clear about their roles and responsibilities and support one another to develop their strengths. A current feature at the centre is the good leadership of te reo and tikanga Māori practices. The teachers’ interest and enthusiasm for this has helped develop the children’s interest and learning.
The centre has useful links with the surrounding community. The manager meets regularly with a cluster of local schools and early childhood centres (ECE). It would be worth strengthening contacts with other early childhood services to share ideas and gather alternative perspectives. The manager regularly consults with parents and responds to their ideas, needs and concerns.
The teachers have had professional development to guide self-review processes and practices. A schedule for planned reviews should be established that includes the regular review of the things that impact most on children’s learning, such as interactions and the quality of programmes and teaching practices. The regular review of the centre’s philosophy would help assure managers that they are achieving the things they value for children to learn.
The smooth running of the centre's operations has been helped by the development of an annual plan. The managers have a system that supports their regular update of policies. This includes consulting with the community. The managers have developed the centre’s strategic plan. This needs further development to provide a clear way forward to achieve the centre's future vision and goals.
Appraisal processes are in place and teachers are encouraged to attend professional development and build their practice. The appraisal guidelines/procedures should be updated and the process needs to include an observation component. The manager will need to involve the registered head teacher when she conducts the appraisal of her staff. It would be useful to have an appraisal process in place for the manager to support her with the teaching aspect of her role.
The centre managers and ERO agree that the next steps for improvement are to continue using external professional support to further develop:
Before the review, the staff and management of Children First Pre School 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.
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 Children First Pre School will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
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 |
Leeston |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70355 |
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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 |
50 children, none aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
70 |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 38 Boys: 32 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Filipino Rarotongan Fijian Japanese Nepalese Unknown |
8 55 2 1 1 1 1 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 |
N/A |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
July 2015 |
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Date of this report |
21 September 2015 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
May 2010 |
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|
Education Review |
March 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:
Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education
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.