254 York Place, Dunedin Central, 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 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.
ERO’s judgements for City Heights Montessori 2 are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whakatō Emerging |
City Heights Montessori is one of two privately-owned services. Children learn and play in separate age-based rooms. Since the last review the service has experienced a large turnover of staff. The Montessori philosophy and centre values of relationships, education and independence are promoted. Some progress has been made in addressing the key next step from the 2019 ERO report in relation to internal evaluation.
A small number of Māori children attend the culturally diverse service.
Children benefit from responsive relationships with their teachers and are engaged in their chosen learning. They access a wide range of learning opportunities including science, numeracy, and literacy. The environment is very well resourced, and thoughtfully designed. It clearly reflects the dual cultural heritage of Aotearoa. Children have opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori and experience aspects of tikanga Māori.
Teachers initiate learning conversations with children. They listen to them attentively to understand their perspectives and extend their oral language skills. Teacher’s role model to children, care and respect for each other, the learning resources and environment. Children with additional needs are well supported to achieve their goals.
Leaders and teachers are beginning to explore ways to use the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to assess and plan for children’s learning over time. The documentation does not consistently reflect the planned learning focus and each child’s language, culture, and learner identity.
An internal evaluation framework guides the review process. Multiple viewpoints are sought and contribute to the collaborative sense making. Leaders and teachers are yet to use internal evaluation to determine what is working or not, and for whom, to decide what changes are needed.
Consistent implementation of systems, process, and practices for monitoring ongoing health and safety, and governance and management practices are required to meet all aspects of the regulatory standards.
City Heights Montessori 2 will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning.
Leaders and teacher to:
explore the use of the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki in assessment and planning documentation, and clearly show:
strengthen implementation of the internal evaluation process by gathering a wider range of evidence linked to measurable indicators of high-quality practice. Use this information to inform analysis and decision making that identifies what is working well or not and for whom
implement systems for on-going monitoring to ensure the service is meeting the licensing criteria.
Before the review, the staff and management of City Heights Montessori 2 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.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance:
evidence of how the evaluation of emergency drills has informed the annual review of the emergency management plan
a record of all medicine (prescription and non-prescription) given to children attending service must include the time the medication is administered, the amount, staff signature and parental signature.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS28.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
hazards from cupboard doors, an electrical cord, microwave and oven, and window frames have been eliminated, isolated or minimised. [HS12]
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Services (ECE)
16 May 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
City Heights Montessori 2 |
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Profile Number |
80056 |
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Location |
Dunedin |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
58 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
46 |
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Review team on site |
February 2023 |
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Date of this report |
16 May 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2019; Education Review, July 2016 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
City Heights Montessori 2 is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
City Heights Montessori 2 is one of two privately-owned early childhood services operating on the same site, close to Dunedin city centre.
This service provides education and care for up to 58 children from the age of three to school age in two classrooms. In each classroom there is a head teacher with responsibility for the daily programme.
The centre is led by a professional leader working with a newly-formed leadership team. The team includes the head teachers and a manager.
Recommendations in the 2016 ERO report included clarifying the service's priorities for children's learning, improving assessment, planning and evaluation, clarifying leadership roles and responsibilities and strengthening internal evaluation.
Since then, the leader has strengthened the alignment of the service's practice with the Montessori philosophy. New members of staff have settled into their roles and the leadership team work together to share responsibility for the service's operation. Assessment practices and internal evaluation processes have also improved.
Children show a strong sense of belonging. This is evident in the ways they lead the direction of their learning, settle quickly and engage well with the daily programme. They are familiar with the daily routines and the teachers' expectations for their learning and behaviour. Teachers are highly responsive to children's interests, needs and preferences.
Children have easy access to a range of activities, good quality resources and equipment, all of which have a clear learning purpose. They are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for themselves and their learning. They focus in their play and learning for sustained periods in a calm environment.
Children's early literacy and numeracy learning are very well supported by teachers within the daily programme. Teachers use a wide range of appropriate intentional teaching strategies to support children's learning, development, social competence and wellbeing. Learning records show teachers close monitoring of children's progress over time, across the curriculum and Montessori learning objectives.
The service values New Zealand's bicultural heritage. Teachers are working to improve their te reo Māori. A planned approach is needed to build the confidence and ability of all teachers to support children's learning in te reo Māori and to make Māori perspectives and the enactment of the Treaty of Waitangi principles more visible within programmes and practices. The next step is for teachers to show more clearly and consistently how they affirm, support and celebrate the language, culture and identity of all children and their families in the programme and in documentation.
Leaders have high expectations for children’s learning and are making good progress embedding programmes and practices in line with these. The philosophy and vision have been revised to support the service's aspirations and priorities for children's learning. These priorities for learning could be further simplified. This may help teachers and leaders to more effectively evaluate how well the programmes and practices are supporting the desired outcomes for children.
Leaders and teachers have used internal evaluation processes well to make improvements in practice leading to positive outcomes for children. Leaders and teachers are beginning to make use of quality indicators to inform their judgements. They could further develop the review schedule to ensure that the key aspects of the service's operation that impact most on children, are reviewed regularly over time.
The centre's development is guided by useful strategic and annual plans. The leadership team work closely to manage the service's systems and to determine roles and responsibilities in line with newly developed job descriptions. It is time to review systems and processes to ensure regular checking of consistency of practice in relation to compliance requirements.
ERO, the professional leader and leadership team, agree that the next steps for improving centre practice include:
a planned approach to building the ways teachers affirm, support and celebrate Māori culture and the language, culture and identity of all children and their families and make this more visible in programmes and practices
continuing to build internal-evaluation processes and practices, including the development of a schedule to ensure the regular review of key aspects of the operation over time, including priorities for children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of City Heights Montessori 2 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.
To improve current practice within the context of health and safety, leaders need to develop more effective processes and monitoring systems to ensure consistent compliance with regulatory requirements.
In particular, leaders need to implement a robust system for monitoring the consistency of practice when teachers record children's sleep and when teachers complete excursion forms.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
20 August 2019
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 |
80056 |
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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 |
58 children aged over 2 |
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Service roll |
45 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 24 , Girls 21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
July 2019 |
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Date of this report |
20 August 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
July 2016 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2013 |
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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.