- ERO evaluates and reports on the education and care of children and young people in early childhood services and schools.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Bairds kindergarten is a well established service in Otara. It is part of the Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA), which provides a governance and management framework and support personnel to assist the kindergarten.
The kindergarten caters for up to 30 children over the age of two years who can attend sessions that align well with school hours. The kindergarten serves a mainly Māori and Pacific Island community, and this diversity is reflected in the teaching team. A long-serving head teacher is supported by two fully qualified teachers, two teacher aides and an administrator. This team, established during 2016, has a focus on improving teamwork.
Aspects of the kindergarten's philosophy that are evident in practice include learning partnerships with whānau, working as a cohesive team, shared values and ongoing teacher professional development.
This review was part of a cluster of 10 kindergarten reviews in the Auckland Kindergarten Association.
A feature of the kindergarten has been the way that staff have developed innovative ways to encourage whānau participation. This has resulted in deeper whānau engagement with the programme. Whānau are beginning to take on leadership roles in kindergarten events and becoming advocates for their children as they transition to school.
Children are happy and engaged in their self-chosen activities. They are affirmed in their languages and cultural identity and are supported in their use of home languages. Children have opportunities to participate in a variety of externally provided performing arts and sport experiences.
The learning programme is based on children's interests and includes excursions into the local and wider community. Regular stories about children's learning experiences identify their dispositions for learning. Parents have many opportunities for contributing to the records of their children's learning. Teachers plan appropriate experiences to widen children's interests and evaluate parent participation with the programme. This process could be more useful if teachers planned learning programmes more purposefully to extend and deepen the dispositions that they identify.
The teaching team participates in a variety of professional learning and development (PLD) opportunities to support the ongoing improvement of their teaching and family support practices. PLD has resulted in a greater focus on increasing children's English vocabulary and skills for positive social relationships. A stronger focus on critical inquiry into the effectiveness of teaching practices could help teachers to continue improving learning outcomes for children.
Association systems for monitoring and promoting improvement in kindergarten operations are well established. Kindergarten operations are guided by a comprehensive strategic plan and a shared vision, linked to the AKA strategic goals. The AKA continues to review and refine its policies and procedures, including those for teacher appraisal and the endorsement of teachers' practising certificates.
New AKA roles have been established to provide more targeted support for head teachers and their leadership and management roles. A Quality Improvement Process (QIP) is aligned with AKA and kindergarten strategic plans, monitors quality and promotes ongoing improvement in kindergartens. AKA support and guidance is responsive to each kindergartens individual context.
The kindergarten team and AKA personnel agree that key next steps for ongoing kindergarten improvement are to:
implement a more useful internal evaluation process
review the effectiveness of the learning programme and increase the complexity of learning for individual children.
ERO recommends that teaching staff access external support to establish effective internal evaluation for ongoing improvement in teaching practices and learning outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Bairds 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Bairds Kindergarten will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
15 March 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.
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Location |
Otara, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5030 |
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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 |
30 children, over 2 years of age |
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Service roll |
30 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 19 Boys 11 |
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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 |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2016 |
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Date of this report |
15 March 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
May 2014 |
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Education Review |
April 2011 |
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Education Review |
May 2008 |
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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.