Drummond Rural Kindergarten

Education institution number:
80017
Service type:
Free Kindergarten
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
40
Telephone:
Address:

Domain Road, Drummond

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Drummond Rural Kindergarten - 22/05/2020

1 Evaluation of Drummond Rural Kindergarten

How well placed is Drummond Rural Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Drummond Rural Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Drummond Rural Kindergarten offers education and care to 33 children from the age of two years to school age. Children come from a wide geographic area and attend part-time.

The philosophy states the belief in: embracing New Zealand's bicultural heritage; providing an environment that excites and encourages learning; empowers children to be responsible decision makers learning alongside teachers.

The kindergarten is one of 23 centres within the Kindergartens South Association (KS). KS is managed by a board of governors and a general manager. The general manager works with a team of senior teachers whose role is to support head teachers and staff working within each kindergarten. Since the August 2017 ERO report there have been a number of changes within the board of governors and across KS management.

ERO recommendations for Drummond Rural Kindergarten in 2017, included further development of the philosophy, integrating bicultural perspectives and improving evaluation practice. Teachers are making progress in addressing these recommendations.

Recommendations for KS included clearly defining and aligning the service's philosophy and vision and improving how progress in meeting association goals is being monitored and evaluated. KS is making very good progress toward meeting the ERO recommendations.

This review was one of a cluster of seven kindergartens within KS.

The Review Findings

Children lead their learning and teachers respond well to their interests and individual needs. Children have access to a wide range of good quality resources within a spacious environment that provides a variety of opportunities for learning. Children are developing as confident, independent learners.

Through capable leadership, recent and repeated changes in staff have been well managed. Clear expectations for teaching and learning and effective systems are in place to build teachers' understandings of the key priorities for children's learning.

A key focus for development is children's oral language and literacy skills. A strength is the way teachers provide high-quality support for language learning. Children benefit from a wide range of effective strategies that encourage and extend this learning and their transition to school.

Other features of the kindergarten that have a positive impact on children's learning include the way teachers:

  • promote care for self and the natural world through kaitiakitanga learning

  • encourage decision-making, problem-solving and learning together

  • seek and use external agencies to ensure children with additional needs are supported in their learning.

Teachers are beginning to make Te Ao Māori visible across the curriculum with children learning waiata and exploring the natural world. Teachers now need a planned approach to further develop treaty-based practices and the integration of Māori perspectives within the programme. This should help to further support success for Māori children and ensure teachers' and children’s learning continues to build over time.

Useful management systems support learning and teaching. Teachers track individual learning and regularly monitor progress of children needing extra support. Processes are being established to further build the inclusion of whānau as partners in children’s learning. Teachers have begun to develop an annual plan and further define and align the vision and key priorities for children's learning.

Self review is providing useful insights into teaching and learning practices and results in positive outcomes for children's learning. Teachers need to continue to build their understanding and use of internal evaluation and extend the scope to evaluate the effectiveness of assessment and planning processes and the impact of new initiatives on outcomes for children.

KS leaders provide effective support and mentoring for the head teacher and teachers within the kindergarten. KS continues to make significant progress in improving the systems and process for the effective governance and management of the association.

Key Next Steps

Teachers agree their next steps are to continue to develop:

  • internal evaluation practices and use these to evaluate assessment and planning processes and the impact of new initiatives on outcomes for children.

  • the annual plan and ensure alignment of vision, philosophy and key priorities for children’s learning.

  • sustainable treaty-based practices and integration of Māori perspectives.

Next steps for the KS board and managers are to further develop and implement:

  • the KS strategic Intent and annual plan

  • the services guiding document Te Kaupapa mo nga akonga tatou

  • internal evaluation processes and practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Drummond Rural Kindergarten 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

22 May 2020

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

Location

Southland

Ministry of Education profile number

80017

Licence type

Free Kindergarten

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

33 children, over the age of 2

Service roll

54

Gender composition

Females 26 Males 28

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Other

9
36
9

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Over 2

1:10

Meets minimum requirements

Review team on site

March 2020

Date of this report

22 May 2020

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review

August 2017

Education Review

December 2013

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.

Drummond Rural Kindergarten - 09/08/2017

1 Evaluation of Drummond Rural Kindergarten

How well placed is Drummond Rural Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Drummond Rural Kindergarten is located in Drummond, Southland. It is licensed for 33 children aged from two years to school age. The kindergarten is open for five hours each week day. Many children attend the kindergarten part time due to the long distances their families travel from outlying areas. Children come from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, including seven Māori children at the time of the review.

The kindergarten is governed by Kindergartens South (KS) and receives regular support from KS senior teachers. There are four teachers at the kindergarten, including two head teachers sharing the leadership role. After the 2013 ERO review senior teachers supported the teachers to develop action plans to address the key next steps. The team has made good progress in most of the identified areas, particularly in improving assessment practices for individual children. Effective internal evaluation continues to be an area for further improvement.

This review was part of a cluster of fourteen kindergarten reviews in the Southland Kindergarten Association (trading as Kindergartens South).

The Review Findings

Drummond Kindergarten is a focal point in the community, where parents, whānau and children are supported to make connections with one another and have a sense of belonging. This and effective leadership within the kindergarten are helping to promote positive outcomes for children.

Children benefit from a broad and localised programme. They have many opportunities to learn about early literacy, mathematics, and science in authentic contexts such as gardening and environmental activities. Teachers deliberately foster children's dispositions of creativity, curiosity, working with others and giving things a go.

Children are well supported in their learning. Children for whom English is a second language are well supported by the way teachers use deliberate strategies to help them to learn English. Teachers carefully plan to help children make smooth transitions to school.

All children are able to develop an understanding and appreciation of New Zealand’s bi-cultural heritage through hearing te reo Māori, waiata and learning about aspects of te ao Māori. To better show how Māori children are succeeding as Māori, teachers need to find ways to make Māori children's language, culture and identity more visible in records of learning.

Teachers are fostering genuine partnerships for learning with parents and whānau. This is evident in the way teachers:

  • value children's diverse backgrounds and enable parents to share their cultures and skills in the programme

  • seek and respond to parents' wishes for their children's learning

  • use what they learn from parents about their children's interests and strengths to enhance children's learning

  • regularly share specific information with parents about the learning that is happening in the kindergarten.

Leaders and teachers have developed effective systems for planning for individual children. Group planning clearly identifies intended learning and links to the centre philosophy. Teachers provide a wide range of interesting experiences relevant to the intended learning. Documentation needs to more clearly show the planning for these experiences and the associated strategies teachers will use to support learning. Individual records could better show how teachers respond to children's diverse languages, cultures and identities.

There are useful systems for the smooth running of the kindergarten. Leaders and teachers have clear ideas about what they believe and what they want children to learn. The current philosophy contains many of these ideas, but needs to be strengthened by making their desired outcomes for children's learning more explicit. Teachers need to document the kindergarten's vision to guide long-term direction for the kindergarten. It is important for teachers, when reviewing the philosophy and developing the vision, to:

  • ensure these reflect their commitment to the bicultural heritage of New Zealand

  • work collaboratively with parents to ensure their aspirations and values are included.

Teachers are committed to making ongoing improvements and are developing their understanding of effective internal evaluation. They need to continue to build their understanding and use of effective internal evaluation to monitor and improve programmes and practices.

The kindergarten benefits from ongoing and well-planned professional learning and development. A new appraisal system is being introduced, further development is required to include expectations for observations and explicit links to Tātaiako. Specific goals to support leadership should be included within the process.

The kindergarten receives good support from Kindergartens South (KS). The KS board has a clear strategic vision that outlines key priorities for development. The next step is to ensure explicit alignment of these priorities to each kindergartens’ long term planning. The board has identified that internal evaluation practice is not strong at board level. The board needs to receive evaluative reporting of how well these plans and other initiatives have been enacted and the impact on children’s learning.

Key Next Steps

The key next steps to promote positive outcomes for all children are for the head teacher and teachers with the support of the KS senior teachers to:

  • develop the vision and review the philosophy

  • ensure that documentation shows how teachers value and respond to children's diverse language, culture and identity, including Māori children

  • make visible in group planning the planned experiences and the strategies to support the intended learning

  • continue to strengthen and use effective internal evaluation.

The key next steps for the KS board are to:

  • ensure the appraisal system continues to be developed and embedded

  • develop and use rigorous internal evaluation practices

  • ensure explicit alignment of kindergarten planning to implement the KS strategic goals

  • receive evaluative reporting of progress towards the strategic goals.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Drummond Rural Kindergarten 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Drummond Rural Kindergarten will be in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

9 August 2017

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

Location

Southland

Ministry of Education profile number

80071

Licence type

Free Kindergarten

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

33 children aged over 2

Service roll

56

Gender composition

Girls: 30

Boys: 26

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Filipino
Other

7
42
3
4

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Over 2

1:10

Meets minimum requirements

Review team on site

May 2017

Date of this report

9 August 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

December 2013

Education Review

September 2010

Education Review

May 2007

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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.

Review Coverage

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.