310 Evans Bay Parade, Greta Point, Wellington
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Active Explorers Greta Point is owned by Evolve Education Group, which is responsible for governance. A centre manager, supported by an area manager, leads a team of teachers across three learning areas. The December 2018 ERO report found that the service was not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
The service curriculum is inclusive and informed by assessment, planning and evaluation aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Whānau aspirations are gathered to inform planning for children's learning. Children and infants are given time and space to learn at their own pace. The design and layout of the premises supports the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. A variety of resources are provided that are appropriate to the differing ages and abilities of those attending.
Leaders are committed to providing professional learning that aligns to the service’s priorities and enables teachers to stay current with relevant theory and practice. A policy framework and an annual plan guide centre operation.
Next steps are for teachers to:
provide children with more opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori.
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
2 March 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Active Explorers Greta Point |
| Profile Number: | 60090 |
| Location | Wellington |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
65 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
49 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 4, NZ European/Pākehā 21, other ethnic groups 24 |
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Review team on site |
January 2022 |
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Date of this report |
2 March 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, December 2018; Education Review, October 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 |
Governance practices are not yet implemented with sufficient rigour to assure leaders that the company guidelines are followed. Leadership, quality of curriculum, appraisal and review and evaluation practices all require further development to support and sustain improvement.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Active Explorers Greta Point, previously known as I Kids Greta Point, is a purpose-built education and care service in central Wellington. The centre is licensed for 65 children, including 25 up to the age of two years. At the time of this review, 10 children identified as Māori. Full-time education and care is offered across three playrooms.
Since the October 2015 ERO report, the service has changed ownership. It was purchased by the Evolve Group (the organisation) in July 2017. It provides governance guidelines, systems and processes for centre operation. An area manager offers professional support and guidance to teachers and leaders. The centre manager has overall responsibility for day-to-day operation. Two team leaders support teachers in their roles and have oversight of the curriculum.
The team leaders are new to their positions in 2018. They are in the initial stages of developing their leadership skills and understanding their roles.
The October 2015 ERO report, for I Kids Greta Point, identified areas requiring further development. These included: the strengthening of assessment, planning and evaluation practices; building an understanding of the self-review process and knowledge of evaluation; consulting with parents and whānau to define success for Māori and Pacific children; and the appraisal process. As a result of the change of ownership little progress has been made in these areas.
Learners experience a range of activities that enable them to explore and begin to make sense of their world. Children respond well to teachers and their peers. A range of activities and routines are largely teacher led and are generally used for settling and transitioning children to eating times, rather than having a learning focus. Some aspects of literacy and numeracy are evident in the activities provided and the environment. Children aged up to two years are cared for in a calm and unhurried manner.
Teachers demonstrate limited knowledge of how to support children’s learning and development. Interactions are predominantly positive, however few effective teaching strategies were evident. Leaders acknowledge the need for focused professional development to enable effective teaching to take place.
Cultural responsiveness is emerging. Teachers are beginning to integrate aspects of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori into the curriculum to support Māori learners. Teachers' cultural backgrounds and awareness of additional needs are used to inform the programme. Artefacts, celebrations of cultural significance and waiata are evident throughout the centre and programme. Continued development in this area is required.
Children with additional needs are identified and appropriate advice is sought. Actions to support these children need to be better developed and implemented.
Assessment, planning and evaluation of children's learning requires strengthening. Teachers have begun to collect parent aspirations to inform children's individual programmes. They have trialled a range of formats to plan for children and investigated ways to assess and report children's learning to parents. However, assessment and planning for learning is currently minimal and inconsistent in format.
Useful appraisal processes are documented, however these are not yet implemented with sufficient rigour. There is little evidence of observations of teacher practice or robust feedback from the appraiser. Planned and sequential development of staff, including provisionally certificated teachers and teachers in training, has suffered as a consequence.
Some reflective practice is evident, however understanding of the process and purpose of review and evaluation is not yet sufficiently developed. The centre manager has accessed professional development focused on positive behaviour guidance and is planning to address identified needs. Some evidence is gathered, changes considered, but any impact is yet to be evaluated.
Stronger support by the organisation to assist service improvement, is a priority. The organisation has yet to provide effective support and mentoring for teachers in training and the centre manager. In addition, ERO identified concerns with the regular monitoring of practices to ensure compliance with regulatory matters are consistently met. Ongoing support is required to address a wide range of issues that have the potential to impact on achieving positive learning outcomes for children. This includes:
ongoing systematic support and guidance to ensure all guidelines and expectations are met and the quality of teaching and learning is improved to provide positive learning outcomes for children
providing suitable leadership development to ensure leaders have the capability to monitor and grow professional practice within the centre including, robust planning and assessment practices that consider children's interests and demonstrates how children's individual culture, language, identity and specific needs are catered for
developing centre wide understanding of review and evaluation. This should consider the impact of initiatives, interventions and day-to-day teaching practice on positive outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Active Explorers Greta Point 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to the provision of the curriculum, staff appraisal and professional development.
To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
develop and implement a curriculum that responds to children's learning interests and strengths, provides a positive learning environment, reflects an understanding of learning that is consistent with current research
implementation of the appraisal process to meet Education Council requirements and Evolve guidelines. [Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, Reg 42 (a, I, iii, iv) (c i), GMA 7]
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Active Explorers Greta Point. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.
The next ERO review of Active Explorers Greta Point will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern Region
18 December 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.
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Location |
Wellington |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
60090 |
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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 |
65 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
83 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 46, Girls 37 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10 |
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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 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2018 |
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Date of this report |
18 December 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2015 |
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Education Review |
February 2013 |
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Education Review |
March 2010 |
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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.