AUT Campus, Gate 3 Akoranga Drive, Northcote, Auckland
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 |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Not meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Akoranga Childcare Centre is an established service. A parent board provides governance support to the centre manager. The manager leads a team of eight qualified teachers and three unqualified staff, including a centre cook and administrator. Twenty percent of enrolled children are of Māori heritage.
The curriculum is informed by assessment and planning that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts. Adults engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.
Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences. The learning environment provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development, both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups.
Consistent implementation and monitoring of practices and processes is required to maintain regulatory standards.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
ensuring any windows or areas of glass are either made of safety glass; or covered by an adhesive film designed to hold the glass in place in the event of it being broken; or effectively guarded by barriers which prevent a child striking or falling against the glass
having a current fire evacuation scheme approved by Fire and Emergency New Zealand
maintaining a daily hazard register that includes all considerations required as part of the HS12 criterion
ensuring that records of excursions include evidence of parental permission and approval of adult: child ratios for special and regular excursions
ensuring that if children travel in a motor vehicle while in the care of the service the written permission of a parent is obtained before the travel begins
having evidence of a record of all safety checks of staff as required by the Children’s Act 2014.
Licensing Criteria for Centre Based Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF7, HS4, HS12, HS17, HS18, GMA7A.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Ensuring a tempering valve or other accurate means of limiting the temperature of hot water is installed (PF24).
Having an emergency management plan that includes a list of safety and emergency supplies and resources sufficient for the age and number of children and adults at the service; and details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency; and a communication plan for families and support services (HS7).
Maintaining a record of emergency drills carried out and evidence of how evaluation of the drills has informed the annual review of the service’s emergency plan (HS8).
Having a system to ensure the temperature of warm water delivered from taps that are accessible to children is no higher than 40°C (HS13).
Having a system to ensure that water stored in any hot water cylinder is kept at a temperature of at least 60°C (HS14).
Having a procedure outlining the service’s response to injury, including the review and implementation of practices as required (HS27).
Having a process for gaining written authority from parents for the administration of medicine in accordance with the requirements for the category of medicines as outlined in Appendix 3 (HS28).
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence issued to this service provider. ERO will not undertake a further review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets regulatory standards.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
28 June 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Akoranga Childcare Centre |
|
Profile Number |
20001 |
|
Location |
Northcote, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
42 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
40 |
|
Review team on site |
May 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
28 June 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2018 |
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.
having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
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:
curriculum
premises and facilities
health and safety practices
governance, management and administration.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory 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:
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 certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
discussions with those involved in the service
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Akoranga Childcare Centre is a not-for-profit service, located on the Akoranga campus of Auckland University of Technology (AUT). It is an open-plan, mixed-age centre, licensed to provide for up to 40 children, including eight under two years of age. The centre serves a culturally diverse community. The families of many children enrolled are AUT staff members or students.
Parents lead a management committee that is made up of parent, staff and AUT representatives, as well as the centre director. They work collaboratively and meet regularly to receive reports from centre leaders against the strategic and annual plans. The centre director/senior teacher and head teacher are part of a team of nine teachers, most of whom are registered teachers. Many have been in the centre for a long time.
The centre's philosophy is underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, with an emphasis on bicultural practices, positive guidance, literacy and numeracy. Teachers believe that children learn best through play and incorporate routines and structure into daily programmes.
ERO's 2014 report noted that positive practices identified in its previous report had been sustained. The centre was well led and managed. The report identified a variety of high quality practices that continue to be evident. These include effective communication and relationships with whānau, culturally responsive practices, and skilful support for children's learning and wellbeing.
ERO's 2014 report affirmed the teaching team's plans for enhancing outcomes for children, and noted the need to strengthen strategic planning and teacher appraisal practices. The centre has responded very well to these next steps. Since 2014, targeted professional development (PLD) for teachers has helped to promote and sustain consistently high quality teaching and learning. The centre is part of the Northcote Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako, which provides access to further comprehensive PLD opportunities.
Children are active participants in a challenging and responsive curriculum. They are well supported by teachers to see themselves as capable and confident partners in the learning process. Children show initiative and engagement in leading their own uninterrupted learning for sustained periods. They have access to a wide variety of resources in all learning areas. The natural and open-ended resources promote children's creativity and provide them with good opportunities to explore.
Children up to the age of two years benefit from caring teachers who promote a calm and peaceful environment. Education and care routines are appropriately individualised. Tuakana/teina relationships are supported as younger children have easy access to the outside area for their own exploration and to play with the older children.
The introduction of a 'Real Play' approach has been influential in strengthening children's leadership of their own play, supported by effective teaching practices. Teachers respond very effectively to children's emerging interests. They value and affirm children for their ideas, prior knowledge and experiences. High quality questioning encourages higher order thinking and facilitates complex play. Teachers foster literacy and mathematical learning opportunities as part of children's play and as they relate to children’s interests.
Teachers' commitment to bicultural practices is evident in daily programmes. Adults and children use te reo Māori naturally during play and daily interactions. A focus on integrating Māori concepts is apparent in the use of natural resources and in displays in the environment. Strong partnerships with whānau and the community support teachers' responsiveness to diversity.
Planned learning is very visible in centre displays and is reflected in the programme in action. High quality portfolios provide good information about children’s learning experiences and progress over time. Centre leaders encourage families’ contributions to planning and evaluating programmes, and their engagement in their children’s learning.
The centre is well led and effectively managed. Strategic planning is a collaborative exercise and is informed by internal evaluation. Professional development is planned to support centre leaders in their leadership and management roles. Teachers enthusiastically commit to PLD to improve their practices and enhance outcomes for children.
Centre leaders and teachers have identified appropriate strategic goals and next steps for ongoing centre development, including:
continuing to build capability in, and the use of, in-depth internal evaluation
ongoing high quality professional development for teachers.
This is also an opportune time for centre leaders to refine the centre's philosophy to better reflect the centre's strategic direction.
Before the review, the staff and management of Akoranga Childcare Centre 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 Akoranga Childcare Centre will be in four years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
20 June 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 |
Northcote, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20001 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
46 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 24 Boys 22 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
20 June 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
December 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2012 |
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|
Education Review |
November 2008 |
||
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.