BestStart Coronation Road

1 Evaluation of Kiwicare Coronation

How well placed is Kiwicare Coronation to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Kiwicare Coronation provides an all-day education and care service within a culturally diverse community. Forty percent of children enrolled are of Indian heritage and 25 percent are from Pacific Island nations. Approximately ten percent are Māori. The centre has two areas for children aged up to two years and for children aged between two and five years. The recently reviewed philosophy is based on the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.

In the past three years the service has undergone significant change. In 2013 it became part of the BestStart Education and Care Centres organisation. BestStart provides an overarching governance and management framework, as well as business and professional services managers to support individual services. A permanent centre manager, appointed in December 2014, has responsibility for the daily management of the centre. Five registered teachers are supported by unqualified staff. The centre also employs a cook and an administrator.

The well-established teaching team has worked to align centre processes and policies to BestStart expectations. They have also maintained positive features identified in ERO’s 2013 report. These include providing an inclusive programme that is responsive to children’s interests and strengthening partnerships with families/whānau.

The Review Findings

Children demonstrate a sense of wellbeing and belonging. Nurturing interactions support infants' and toddlers' wellbeing. Older children are confident communicators who play co-operatively and capably manage their relationships with teachers and other children. They negotiate and ask questions to self-direct their learning for sustained periods of time.

Teachers warmly welcome children and their families. They interact respectfully with and listen carefully to children, providing resources to support their exploration and learning. The environment is well set up to promote children's participation in play. Children's understanding of numeracy and their written and oral literacy development is supported in meaningful ways. Teachers are committed to increasing their knowledge of tikanga and the use of te reo Māori.

The programme reflects the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, through a balance of teacher led and child initiated discovery. Teachers work well together to respond to children’s interests. The teaching team has made significant progress in documenting and assessing children’s strengths, interests and learning. Teachers could now enhance curriculum practices by:

• documenting individual planning for infants and toddlers

• planning more deliberately to promote children's physical activity

• making links between learning narratives to show how teachers have extended children's learning over time

• evaluating the group programme to show how experiences and teaching practices have made a positive difference to children's learning.

Parents and families/whānau make frequent contributions to children's learning records. Teachers value the information that parents share about children’s home and community experiences. They have extended their knowledge of Pacific Island nations through their discussions with families. Inviting families/whānau to write and share information about children's cultures and home languages could further increase teacher's knowledge of individual children.

Teacher appraisal systems are used well to reflect on individual growth. Teachers have made significant progress in understanding that evaluation is a way to improve learning outcomes for children. Long-term goals and annual action plans guide ongoing improvement. Teachers could now:

• link action plans with internal evaluation and regularly monitor progress towards meeting action plan goals

• establish centre-wide evaluation priorities that promote inquiry into teaching practices

• strengthen links to the practicing teacher criteria in teacher appraisal systems.

BestStart has useful systems for monitoring service operations. These include regular management meetings and an internal audit process (QEC), which is used to identify challenges and develop plans for improvement. The strategic plan is linked to the BestStart vision, the centre's philosophy statement and QEC action plans.

BestStart personnel visit the centre regularly. They provide effective guidance. This has contributed to improved curriculum programmes and teaching practices. Professional learning and development opportunities have supported teachers to improve their skills and knowledge. This is evident in the improved quality of assessment practices and teachers' increasing understandings of centre evaluation systems.

Key Next Steps

To build on existing good practices leaders and teachers could:

• further strengthen programme assessment and evaluation practices

• use internal evaluation to continue to build shared team understandings of effective teaching.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Kiwicare Coronation 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.

In order to improve current practices, the centre manager should ensure that the effectiveness of the evacuation plan is evaluated annually.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Kiwicare Coronation will be in three years.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

8 June 2016

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 and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.