54 Weir Road, Waianiwa
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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 |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
This is the first ERO review of Waianiwa Kindergarten under new ownership. It is a small, privately-owned, community-based service, located in rural Southland and caters for children from two years to school age. The community is ethnically diverse. Many children are from the surrounding rural area.
The play-based curriculum provides children with a range of indoor and outdoor experiences and learning opportunities. Teachers engage in positive interactions which are responsive to children’s interests and needs. Assessment documentation shows children's learning based on their interests, parent aspirations and progress in relation to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Premises, facilities and resources are reflective of the service’s rural philosophy. Suitable health and safety practices are in place. Governance and management systems ensure policies and procedures are in place to guide the daily operations.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education & Care Services 2008, HS28.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
28 February 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Waianiwa Kindergarten |
| Profile Number | 80024 |
| Location |
Waianiwa, Western Southland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
19 children aged over 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
24 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 3, NZ European/Pākehā 11, Filipino 5, Other ethnicities 5 |
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Review team on site |
January 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
28 February 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review Report October 2018; Education Review Report February 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.
Waianiwa Kindergarten has recently changed from being community-based to a privately-owned kindergarten in Western Southland. It is a small, rural centre with a maximum roll of 19. Children come from a wide geographical area to attend the centre. The centre has extended its hours of service and is now open five days a week from 8.00am until 2.30pm.
All staff, apart from the owner, are new to the kindergarten, since the 2015 ERO review.
Key points from the philosophy include a focus on:
strong, reciprocal relationships
children learning in a positive, safe environment
allowing children time to be competent, confident, life-long learners
supporting tuakana-teina relationships
teaching children to respect and take responsibility for people, places and things
providing a fun, child-initiated, play-based programme that challenges and empowers children.
Leaders and teachers have made good progress on most of the recommendations since the last ERO report.
Positive, respectful relationships are highly evident at all levels. Interactions between teachers and children are learning focused. Teachers build children's oral language, support children's literacy and numeracy development and build children's knowledge of the world and understanding of themselves as learners. Teachers actively support children to be independent and confident.
Children play and learn through a variety of interesting activities. The centre provides a wide range of resources which children have ready access to. This enables them to make choices about what they want to do and use. Regular visits and shared activities with the local school help children to make smooth transitions. Teachers provide activities and experiences that are relevant to the rural environment and children's home lives.
The curriculum includes Māori perspectives. The support from The Resource Teacher of Māori has strengthened the competence of teachers in te reo and tikanga Māori. Children's awareness of their bicultural heritage is increasing.
Planning and assessment links closely to Te Whāriki (The Early Childhood Curriculum). Planning supports children's identified needs and learning. Teachers and parents set goals for children's learning and development. Learning stories clearly show children's progress towards identified goals and how teachers plan to extend the intended learning. Children with diverse needs are well catered for. They have individual development plans and receive support from outside agencies.
The owners have strengthened the professional capability of the staff by addressing both individual teacher and centre needs. The centre is at the beginning stages of implementing internal evaluation.
ERO and the centre have identified the following areas for further development to improve outcomes for children. These are to:
gather parent voice for the development of the philosophy and valued outcomes
reflect the centre's commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi in the philosophy
reinstate group planning based on the identified needs of the children.
The owners and centre manager need to develop and implement a system for the timely review of policies and procedures.
Before the review, the staff and management of Waianiwa 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:
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.
A number of health and safety issues were identified while ERO was on site. To address these issues the owner and manager need to:
ensure exit doors are clear of obstacles
develop risk-analysis management documents for all excursions beyond the centre
add the Vulnerable Children's Act requirements to the appointments procedure.
The next ERO review of Waianiwa Kindergarten will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
30 October 2018
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.
|
Location |
Waianiwa, Western Southland |
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|
Ministry of Education profile number |
80024 |
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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 |
19 children aged over 2 years |
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|
Service roll |
25 |
||
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Gender composition |
Boys: 16 Girls: 9 |
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|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
October 2018 |
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Date of this report |
30 October 2018 |
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|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 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:
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.