BestStart Kilmarnock Street

1 Evaluation of BestStart Kilmarnock Street

How well placed is BestStart Kilmarnock Street to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

BestStart Kilmarnock is well placed to promote positive outcomes for children.

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

Background

BestStart Kilmarnock operates under the BestStart management structure. BestStart is a large national organisation that owns early childhood education services across Aotearoa New Zealand.

BestStart Kilmarnock, previously Educare Kilmarnock, and BestStart Montessori Mona Vale merged in April 2019. The centre is licensed for 115 children, including a maximum of 25 under-two-years old. The centre has four classrooms including a Montessori classroom. The children in the Montessori and the children under two have separate outdoor spaces. The two classrooms catering for children from two years to school age share an outdoor area.

The centre manager has responsibility for the operation of the centre and was appointed in April 2019. BestStart professional and business managers were also appointed to the service in April 2019. Many of the staff have worked at the centre for a long period of time. The centre manager and most of the staff are qualified early childhood teachers. The manager and teachers in the Montessori classroom, are also qualified Montessori teachers.

The service's philosophy emphasises children becoming confident and competent learners. Respectful and reciprocal relationships between children, whānau and kaiako are valued. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is acknowledged.

Progress has been made in addressing the key next steps in the November 2015 ERO review report, since the recent appointments of a new centre manager and BestStart professional and business managers. New systems and processes have been put in place for internal evaluation, assessment, planning and evaluation and promoting Māori perspectives. Relationships with schools have been strengthened to support children's smooth transition to school. Embedding the recently introduced processes for internal evaluation, assessment, planning and evaluation, and continuing to improve the inclusion of Māori perspectives remain key next steps, identified in this report.

The Review Findings

Children experience friendly, caring and responsive relationships with their teachers and each other. Teachers spend time with children listening to their concerns helping them to play cooperatively and learning to respect others.

Children are confident, engaged in meaningful learning and frequently persist to experience success in their learning. This is most evident in the Montessori classroom. The new assessment, planning and evaluation processes are used well to plan and implement programmes that extend children's learning in this room. Regular evaluation shows the effectiveness of the programmes in improving outcomes for children and teaching practices. Teachers know what they need to do to provide children with learning experiences that challenge and promote learning.

Children's home cultures are recognised, valued and included in the programme. Teachers are culturally diverse and representative of the local community. They work effectively with families to help them share their language and the important aspects of their culture to benefit children's learning and wellbeing. Parents from all cultures spend time in the centre, participate in the programme and centre events.

Children under two years enjoy a secure and nurturing environment. Routines are flexible to meet the needs of each child and respectful of their home cultures. Children are settled, comfortable and social within the centre environment.

The manager and staff are building stronger relationships with their Māori families. Māori whānau readily share information to support Māori children and staff within the centre. The managers acknowledge that the inclusion of te reo and tikanga Māori needs to increase significantly to meet the centre's philosophy goals and to ensure Māori children are proud of and confident in their culture.

Teachers are developing a better understanding of assessment planning and evaluation, since the new process was introduced in 2019. They are beginning to gather parent aspirations, identify goals, plan, track and evaluate children's progress and the effectiveness of their teaching approaches. The next step is to improve consistency.

The managers and teachers have recently completed an internal evaluation that shows in-depth understanding and use of the process. This is the first internal evaluation completed by the new managers. They now need to replicate this process to the same depth in future evaluations.

The centre manager, and professional and business managers work together effectively to improve the quality of the service. They share a vision and have high expectations for teaching and learning. Emphasis is placed on valuing the expertise that staff bring and involving them and families in decision-making. Carefully constructed and implemented plans for improvement are also helping to ensure successful outcomes are achieved for those involved.

BestStart has a well-established management structure. Policies and procedures provide clear guidance to centre managers for the operation of the centre and maintaining health and safety for children, staff and parents.

Key Next Steps

BestStart managers and ERO agree that the key next steps for BestStart Kilmarnock include:

• increasing the visibility of bicultural perspectives and practices across all aspects of centre operations and documentation

• improving consistency of assessment, planning (including intentional teaching) and evaluation for learning

• embedding high quality internal evaluation across the centre

• evaluating the strategic plan in relation to identified goals and outcomes.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of BestStart Kilmarnock Street 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

14 May 2020

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.