Bear Park - St Clair

1 Evaluation of Bear Park - St Clair

How well placed is Bear Park - St Clair to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Bear Park - St Clair is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Bear Park - St Clair provides education and care for up to 60 children, including 25 aged up to two years. It is located in the Dunedin suburb of St Clair and operates from a large home. The centre layout provides for four teaching rooms and two purpose-built outdoor areas and a garden.

There are two teaching rooms for children under two years (Fantail and Morepork), and two for children over two years (Kea and Tui). Each room has access to one of the centre's two well-developed outdoor areas, providing for physical play and learning.

The service is supported by the Bear Park group and professional leader team located in Auckland. The centre staffing has remained stable and includes two head teachers. Good progress is evident in the way the centre has addressed the recommendations from its last ERO review in 2016.

The Review Findings

The centre's vision is deeply grounded in the concepts of kotahitanga and whanaungatanga. Leaders and staff aim to create an environment that fosters positive, reciprocal relationships, and nurtures children to be 'lifelong learners who are confident in their ability to make a meaningful contribution to their world'. Key priorities are for children to develop curiosity, creativity and a sense of their own uniqueness. This vision is underpinned by the philosophy of the wider Bear Park group which emphasises the values of:

• whakamanatanga (empowerment)

• kotahitanga (holistic development)

• whānau tangata (family and community)

• ngā hononga (relationships).

Children confidently engage in a rich curriculum that has a wide range of provocations. A focus on sustainability and nature-based learning, including localised excursions, are core focus areas of the programme. Teachers work attentively alongside individuals and groups. Interactions are respectful, highly responsive and engaging. Children have opportunities to challenge themselves, make choices and take risks.

Children are purposefully engaged in their learning for long periods of time. They have many opportunities to work co-operatively to complete their chosen activities. Teachers use a wide range of relevant and appropriate intentional teaching strategies to support children's learning, development and wellbeing. They effectively integrate early literacy and early numeracy learning into the programme. Very well-resourced indoor and outdoor environments provide many opportunities for curiosity and exploration. Children's growing independence and social competence are well supported.

Children's image of themselves as successful learners is celebrated in a range of well-planned and spontaneous ways. They have many opportunities to revisit their learning through their learning portfolios and specially-made books that reflect unique aspects of themselves and their families. Bicultural practices have strengthened across all areas of the centre's curriculum, and are consistently reflected in teacher practices. Ongoing efforts to strengthen learning partnerships with parents and whānau mean that children benefit from highly effective teaching practices that respond to their strengths, needs, interests, language and identity.

Collaboration between the professional leader team and teachers informs a robust cycle of assessment, planning and evaluation. Cultural information and parent aspirations are skilfully woven into individualised support and documentation of children’s interests, skills, dispositions and holistic development.

Children and families are highly supported by comprehensive, flexible processes as they transition into and through the centre. Regular communication and effective practices ensure that settling strategies are sensitively tailored to individual children. Children’s confident transitions from the service are well supported by highly effective, attentive partnerships between teachers, families and schools.

Infants and toddlers benefit from highly responsive interactions. Respectful staff provide them with space, time and choice. Teachers know these children and their families very well, and tailor their practice accordingly. All staff display a warm, calm and unhurried approach to a curriculum of care.

A collaborative leadership model effectively promotes continual improvement. Internal evaluation has been used very effectively by leaders and teachers to assess, plan and evaluate children's learning and development. Leaders have high professional expectations, and have purposefully built a cohesive and highly collaborative culture. Teachers have many opportunities to engage in professional development and critical reflection. An effective appraisal system is in place. Leaders and teachers use a strengths-based approach to meet appraisal goals and build teacher capability.

Key Next Steps

The leadership team has clearly identified, and ERO affirms, that the key next steps to further improve already effective practices are in:

• strengthening aspects of the bicultural curriculum

• using evaluation to show the impact of teaching strategies that support children's learning.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Bear Park - St Clair 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.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

30 May 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.