74 Bowmont Street, Invercargill Central, Invercargill
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The Cottage Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Cottage Kindergarten provides education and care for up to 33 children from aged two years to school age. The learning community consists of whānau from a variety of cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. The philosophy promotes the concepts of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, ukaipotanga and matauranga, and aims to support learning in an environment that is nurturing, respectful, and inclusive.
This is one of 23 kindergartens within the Kindergartens South Association (KS). KS is managed by a board of governors and a general manager. The general manager and a team of senior teachers support head teachers and staff working within each kindergarten. At the time of this review the head teacher was working part-time in a temporary leadership position. The kindergarten was also drawing on a pool of regular relievers, familiar with the service and the children, to cover ratio requirements.
Since the August 2017 ERO report, there have been a number of changes within the board of governors and across KS management. The next steps for the association and the kindergarten included to clearly define and align the philosophy and vision and further develop systems to support development and improvement of the operation and kindergarten practices. The association, general manager and kindergarten leaders have made very good progress addressing the recommendations in the 2017 ERO report.
Further developments highlighted in the August 2017 ERO report for The Cottage Kindergarten, included the need to improve information sharing and involvement of parents and families, being clear about learning priorities, showing how teachers respond to children’s language culture and identity and strengthening internal evaluation. There has been good progress in addressing the next steps, however due to staffing changes these also continue to be areas for improvement.
This review was one of a cluster of seven kindergartens within KS.
Teachers have developed a shared understanding about what they value for learning. They use a range of effective practices that help children learn in a calm and safe setting. They regularly adapt the environment and their practices to provide for the changing needs of children and to support social and emotional development. There are a number of transient families. Teachers respond to individual children's learning during the time they attend. Teachers use of a range of effective strategies to build children's confidence, independence and resilience.
Teachers value input from parents, whānau and the community and are developing good communication systems to build learning partnerships. They seek external support to help ensure children and those who are English Language Learners, are able to be supported, heard, and feel included.
The development of teachers understanding, skills and knowledge around Te Ao Māori and a holistic approach to wellbeing, is helping children's development. Programmes to support coordination, brain development and build resilience are having a positive impact. Children are also becoming familiar with karakia, waiata and te reo Māori which is helping to promote success for Māori and an understanding of New Zealand's bicultural heritage.
Features of the centre that have a positive impact on children's learning include:
access to a wide range of resources and experiences which align well to the kindergarten's learning priorities and children's interests
good leadership that is building team cohesion and a shared understanding of curriculum and delivery
the team seeking and using external input as needed, to help support children with additional needs.
A useful system is in place to track individual learning and ensure all children are regularly assessed and supported to meet learning goals and realise parents' aspirations. Assessment, planning and evaluation processes are continually being refined and improved. Internal evaluation processes are becoming established and reviews show that teachers' participation in professional development leads to positive 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.
Kindergarten leaders and teachers need to continue to develop and:
implement effective assessment, planning and evaluation processes, including showing how well they promote and further enhance children's culture, language and identity
build positive learning partnerships with parents, families and community
finalise and implement their annual plan
implement effective internal evaluation processes to regularly evaluate the impact of the curriculum and how well they achieve the kindergarten's learning priorities.
Next steps for the KS board and managers are to further develop and implement:
the KS strategic intent and annual plan
the service's guiding document Te Kaupapa mo nga akonga tatou
internal evaluation processes and practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Cottage 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
6 May 2020
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 |
Invercargill |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
90036 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
33 children, over the age of 2 |
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Service roll |
31 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 17 Girls 14 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
9 |
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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 |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2020 |
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Date of this report |
6 May 2020 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
August 2017 |
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Education Review |
November 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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Cottage Kindergarten, located in central Invercargill, provides full-day education and care for children from 8:15am to 5:15pm. The kindergarten is licensed for 33 children aged from two years to school age. A quarter of the children identify as Māori and a quarter of the children are from diverse cultures and ethnicities.
The kindergarten is governed by Kindergartens South (KS). The kindergarten receives regular support from senior teachers. After the 2013 ERO review, senior teachers supported the head teacher and teachers to develop action plans to address the key next steps. The teaching team has made significant progress in embedding processes for planning, assessment and evaluation. Implementing effective internal evaluation is still a work in progress.
The kindergarten is led by an experienced head teacher and is staffed by teachers and support staff. Since the last ERO report, the outdoor spaces have been extended and developed to better provide for children's learning in an all-day programme.
This review was part of a cluster of 14 kindergarten reviews in the Southland Kindergarten Association (trading as Kindergartens South).
The head teacher is effectively supporting teachers to promote positive outcomes for all children. This is evident in the clear and high expectations for supporting children's learning, and useful systems to build and share knowledge in the teaching team. The teaching team makes good use of professional learning and development to improve its teaching practices.
The kindergarten vision, and long and short-term plans have not been developed in consultation with whānau. Currently these reflect what teachers believe are the desired outcomes and key priorities for children's learning. The next step is for teachers to find authentic ways to collaborate with whānau to develop a longer-term vision to guide the kindergarten's future direction.
The well-developed philosophy clearly identifies desired learning outcomes for children. It shows teachers' commitment to New Zealand's bicultural heritage through key concepts of whanaungatanga and tuakana/teina. Teachers view children as capable and confident learners. Teachers plan and implement programmes that are responsive to the diverse strengths, interests and capabilities of the children. They are creating an environment where Māori children and their whānau know that their culture is valued. They intentionally include Māori perspectives in the programme and have an ongoing focus to build their own bicultural practices.
Teachers acknowledge and value families' diverse cultural backgrounds. They have identified they will continue to work in partnership with whānau to provide programmes that are responsive of every child's language, culture and identity, and make use of the expertise that parents have to offer. Teachers need to develop planning to guide and monitor the effectiveness of this work.
Children with diverse learning and behaviour needs are very well supported. Teachers, with the support of KS and external agencies, develop detailed planning and implement specific strategies leading to improved outcomes for these children.
Teachers provide a wide range of interesting experiences for children, including a weekly outing for older children to experience nature in a local reserve. There are also many opportunities for children to:
Teachers have developed effective systems for assessment, planning and evaluation. These enable teachers to:
gather and respond to parents' and whānau wishes for their children's learning
share their knowledge and collectively know the children well as individuals and learners
plan appropriate programmes for individuals and the diversity of groups, for example, boys and toddlers
deliberately design the programme and decide how to structure time, space and use of resources to support learning.
Teachers have clear ideas about the intended learning for children in the group planning. However, they need to make this learning more known to parents.
Internal evaluation is used to make improvements. Aspects of the process need to be further strengthened to be fully effective.
The kindergarten benefits from well-planned and ongoing professional learning and development and is well supported by the senior teachers. A new appraisal system is being introduced, however further development is required to include expectations for observations and explicit links to Tātaiako.
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 kindergarten's 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.
The key next steps to promote positive outcomes for all children are for the head teacher and teachers to:
find ways to work in collaboration with parents and whānau and to reflect their aspirations and expectations within the vision, and long and short-term planning
continue to show in the programme and documentation how they value and respond to all children's language culture and identity
continue to strengthen bicultural practices
strengthen and use internal evaluation practices to inform decision making.
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.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Cottage 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.
The next ERO review of The Cottage Kindergarten will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
2 August 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.
|
Location |
Invercargill |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
90036 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
33 children aged over 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
42 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys: 23 Girls: 19 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10 |
|
|
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 |
2 August 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
November 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2009 |
||
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.