Appleby Playcentre

1 Evaluation of Appleby Playcentre

How well placed is Appleby Playcentre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Appleby Playcentre requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

The service has experienced complete turnover of personnel since the 2015 ERO Review. Many of the current members are new to playcentre. Members agree that they are in a developmental phase.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Appleby Playcentre is one of 13 early childhood services set up by the Nelson Playcentre Association (the association). It operates two morning sessions each week and is licensed for 25 children, including up to 15 aged under two years. At the time of this review 18 children were enrolled.

The New Zealand Playcentre Federation (the federation) is undergoing a significant restructure that includes amalgamating the 32 associations nationwide into one organisation, Playcentre Aotearoa. To date the legal amalgamation of the associations has not been completed so centres continue to operate in accordance with original association policies. Nelson playcentres are now managed from a regional office based in Christchurch.

The May 2015 ERO report identified there was a need to strengthen assessment, planning, and evaluating children's learning and self review. A number of key next steps related to improvements in the association were also outlined. Since the 2015 review, all parents are new, with many starting recently. Two new session facilitators started in 2019 who each work one day a week.

A centre support worker (CSW) visits the centre to provide professional advice and feedback to strengthen the programme for children. Support for compliance with regulations is the responsibility of a centre administrator (CA). Both the CSW and CA are employed by the federation. Two paid session facilitators each with a recognised qualification lead curriculum development and provide ongoing support for parents' participation in the learning programme.

Playcentre philosophy recognises the importance of parents working together, alongside their children, to support their self-initiated play and promote their learning.

This review was one of eight in Nelson and Marlborough playcentres.

The Review Findings

The programme is highly responsive to children's needs and emerging interests. Adults encourage children to investigate, socialise, make their own choices and have fun. Creativity and self-expression are fostered. Oral language is well modelled and aspects of literacy introduced in play-based ways. There is good provision for infants and toddlers. Children are settled, cooperative, confident and happy learners.

Children have access to a wide range of learning materials. The outdoor play space is well equipped to promote adventure and challenge. Children enjoy the opportunities provided. Many sustain their play for long periods.

Promoting a shared understanding of assessment for learning is a key priority especially with the recent influx of new families to the centre and appointment of new session facilitators. The focus on encouraging parents' interest and input into their children's learning plans and supporting their understanding of the Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki (2017), should continue. The session facilitators and CSW should also consider ways to make planning and evaluation increasingly focused on learning, rather than activity-based.

Guidelines are in place to help members successfully support children's transitions to primary school. This should be a continued focus for development if the centre is seeking to retain learners up until school age.

While te ao Māori is visible within the environment, the associations' and federations' acknowledgement of the importance of bicultural partnership is not yet sufficiently reflected in the centre's daily practice and development planning. The recent appointment of a Māori development officer at federation level and field worker, based regionally, should assist with this work.

The CSW provides regular and valued face-to-face feedback and assistance to members, including strong support to build a sense of team. ERO's evaluation concurs with the centre support coordinator's findings, that CSW support should be increasingly focused on centre needs and improvement. A more evaluative approach linked to strategic priorities and growing members' practice, is likely to further promote and sustain improvement over time.

A new appraisal process is in place to support the CSW, CAs and session facilitators in their roles, and supports reflection on their practice. This process should be reviewed after its first cycle to ensure sufficient rigour in relation to goal setting, observations of practice and feedback to effectively support development. Appraisal was undertaken for the session facilitator in 2018.

A comprehensive range of association policies is in place to support members shared understanding of Playcentre expectations. Many of these are past their review date. Some no longer reflect up-to-date legislation at association level. While the legal amalgamation of the associations is imminent, in the interim, the centre should have access to a full range of up-to-date guidelines for practice.

A range of tools is being developed to assist with the implementation of internal evaluation at all levels. In this centre, understanding and use of this improvement-focused approach is at a very early stage.

The restructure of playcentre operation is being carefully worked through to support a new and more sustainable future for the organisation. The regional office provides a range of support for centres. This includes new roles designed to redistribute the management of compliance and administration, and improved assistance to members for curriculum, teaching and learning, internal evaluation, adult education, marketing and property. Leaders report that the strategic focus on growing a sense of community, and increased membership and parent involvement is already resulting in increased collaboration across centres and interest in Playcentre philosophy. Detailed action plans should contribute to progress in meeting goals.

Key Next Steps

ERO and regional leaders agree that the federation should prioritise:

• support for the CSW to further promote members' understanding of programme planning and evaluation, internal evaluation, te ao Māori and implementation of a bicultural curriculum

• further development of CSW and CA support and reporting

• review and further development of the appraisal process for the CSW and CA

The current focus on strengthening leadership, growing a sense of community, parent participation and collaboration between playcentres should continue.

At Appleby Playcentre it is important for facilitators and members to:

• develop shared understandings of focused self review and implement evaluation processes to effectively inform future decision making

• continue to foster a culture of collaboration and cooperation.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Appleby Playcentre 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.

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

Actions for compliance

ERO identified an area of non-compliance relating to governance and management. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following area:

• self review

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA6

In order to improve current practice the service provider should ensure:

• the centre has a complete set of up-to-date policy guidelines

• emergency plans are reviewed annually

• provision for sleeping children is clarified.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

6 June 2019

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.