122 Musselburgh Rise, Musselburgh, Dunedin
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 (PDF 3.01MB) 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 (PDF 91.30KB) 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 Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh 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 |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whāngai Establishing |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
This small service is set in a refurbished villa, with a large outdoor area. It is one of three, owned and operated under Family Ties Educare. The owner plays a leadership and governance role, as the managing director. A head teacher and team of mostly qualified teachers provide education and care to children from infants to school age.
Children learn in a calm and settled environment. They know the centre routines well and take responsibility within these. The curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and has a strong focus on social and emotional competence. Children experience a wide range of interesting learning activities, in a well-resourced environment, with teachers supporting and extending them.
Infants’ and toddlers’ wellbeing and learning are very well supported. Teachers are nurturing and respectful. They use incidental moments to challenge and extend these children, especially early language. Strong attachments are evident between teachers and children.
The bicultural curriculum requires further development. A recent review resulted in teachers recognising the need to improve resources that reflect Māori culture and extending their use of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. Teachers are building their confidence to include te ao and te reo Māori into the curriculum.
Teachers increasingly consider the learning outcomes in Te Whariki, when planning and assessing children’s learning. This is more evident in group planning, where teachers closely observe children and document a range of information about their collective interests, strengths, and possible learning. Parents are well informed about children’s activities and learning through group planning. Teachers work closely with parents and external experts to support children with additional learning needs.
Individual assessment of children’s learning shows how their interests have been deepened. Teachers have positive relationships with parents and seek their aspirations for children’s learning. The documentation of this information requires further development to better show children’s progress in their identified goals in relation to:
Identifying the strategies that teachers will use to support the intended learning and evaluating how effectively these strategies have supported the learning has not yet been embedded in assessment practice.
Leaders and teachers reflect, plan and work collaboratively to implement a responsive and interesting curriculum. An effective appraisal process and relevant professional learning contribute to ongoing inquiry and improvement.
A process for review has been implemented and has been used to improve aspects of the curriculum. Building staff capability to do and use internal evaluation to better determine actions for improvement is not yet well established.
Leaders promote a shared understanding of the service’s philosophy and priorities for children’s learning. A sound policy and procedure framework is complemented by useful resources, and clear expectations for best practice. These contribute to the smooth running of the service, enabling teachers to focus on children, their learning and wellbeing.
Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to continue to embed:
Before the review, the staff and management of Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh 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
4 November 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh |
| Profile Number | 80010 |
| Location | Dunedin |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
23 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 13, Pacific 5, Other ethnic groups 3. |
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Review team on site |
May 2021 |
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Date of this report |
4 November 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2017; Education Review, August 2013. |
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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.
Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh provides a home-like environment for full-day education and care, catering for children from three to five years of age. The centre operates in a house with a large outside environment including an area the children call 'the garden' which they explore and play in. The centre's vision is to develop socially competent children with a 'yearn to learn'. Most children transition to this centre from Family Ties Educare - Eskvale.
This review was part of a cluster of three privately-owned centres in the Family Ties Educare organisation. The managing director of the organisation is one of the owners/licensees of this centre. She is managing the numbers at the centre to be twenty or fewer children. She is actively involved in some of the day-to-day centre operations. This centre is licensed for 25 children, including 10 under two years of age.
Since the 2013 ERO review, there have been staffing changes. This has included a new lead teacher. The ratio of children to teachers is low. The Family Ties Educare management team has recently improved the centre's capacity to respond to the areas identified for development in the last ERO report. A programme advisor was appointed in October 2016. She is supporting leadership and curriculum development across the organisation.
Children experience positive relationships with their teachers. Respectful, inclusive interactions are highly evident between teachers and children. Children's behaviour is managed positively and purposefully. Teachers are successfully sharing children's learning with parents and wider whānau via digital learning stories.
Teachers are readily adopting and implementing improved collaborative processes for assessing, planning and evaluating children's learning. It will be important to continue to embed these.
The new lead teacher is modelling effective teaching and learning strategies within the centre and is contributing positively to the organisation's current strategic focus.
Strengths of this centre include:
the way in which the lead teacher and teacher have worked together to adapt the use of the inside environment and resources to better meet children's needs
the positive changes to the group programme, including better responding to children's ideas
the purposeful activities provided to promote children's curiosity and experimentation
the increased focus on using the outside environment for teaching and learning
strengthening the way in which te reo Māori is used by teachers as part of the daily programme.
The recently-appointed programme advisor is effectively building staff and leadership capability at Family Ties Educare. She and the managing director have identified areas for significant improvement in the planning and assessment of children's learning. Staff have received some high quality internal professional learning and are positively engaged in the ongoing developments. Improvements have been made to strategic planning and some centre operational systems.
The programme advisor has effectively:
evaluated and reported on the quality of assessment and planning for children's learning across the organisation
worked with the head teachers and teaching teams to improve the quality of assessment, planning and expectations for evaluating children's learning
developed teachers' confidence and ability to understand children's learning and the impact of their teaching practices.
The managing director and programme advisor have rewritten the strategic plan to usefully reflect the key priorities for centre and organisation improvement. Centre management should find manageable ways to be systematically informed on the centre's progress toward meeting relevant annual goals and strategic priorities.
ERO, centre managers and the programme advisor agree that to sustain recent developments the programme advisor and head teachers should continue to work with the teaching teams to:
further develop evaluation of individual children's learning
refine the current assessment and planning model, particularly for individual children, and explore ways to make children's learning goals known and shared
build teachers' understanding and implementation of self review within the centre and across the organisation
review the sufficiency of outdoor resources and learning opportunities, within and beyond the centre.
The programme advisor and managing director should continue to support current leadership development. This should include clarifying and documenting lead teacher roles and responsibilities and how the Family Ties Educare philosophy is personalised by/for each centre.
The managing director must ensure that appraisal is rigorous, robust and meaningful for teachers, as identified in the last ERO report. Annual appraisals of teaching staff have not been completed. The managing director has introduced a new on-line system for teacher appraisal. Staff are in the early stages of working with this model.
In 2016 the Family Ties Educare organisation has undergone a number of key changes, including in personnel. To best meet their good employer responsibilities, the management should more frequently seek reliable, anonymous feedback about how staff feel about their employment conditions (including roles and responsibilities).
Before the review, the staff and management of Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh 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 Family Ties Educare - Musselburgh will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Te Waipounamu Southern
23 March 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 |
Dunedin |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
80010 |
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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 |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
20 |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 14 Boys: 6 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific |
6 13 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 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
December 2016 |
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Date of this report |
23 March 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
August 2013 |
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Education Review |
December 2009 |
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Education Review |
September 2006 |
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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.