BestStart Omahu Road

Education institution number:
55456
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
101
Telephone:
Address:

325 Omahu Road, Frimley, Hastings

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BestStart Omahu Road - 30/11/2020

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

BestStart Omahu Road is a privately owned, purpose built, education and care service governed and managed by BestStart Educare Ltd. The September 2019 ERO report identified non-compliances with regulatory standards that required addressing. The service has responded positively and progress is evident.

Summary of Review Findings

The service curriculum is inclusive. Kaiako engage in meaningful and positive interactions to enhance learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum provides children with a wide range of experiences to extend their learning and development.

Intentional strategies are in place to support children’s growing social competency and language, culture and identity. Assessment, planning and evaluation is in the early stages of implementation.

Effective governance and management systems are in place. Children’s well-being is supported by clearly implemented and monitored health and safety policies and procedures.

Key Next Step

To improve the extent to which assessment information shows children’s progress and learning over time.

Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows equipment and material is stored safely and can be easily and safely accessed by adults [PF8].

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)

Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

30 November 2020

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

BestStart Omahu Road

Profile Number

55456

Location

Hastings

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

115 children, including up to 35 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

105

Gender composition

Female 55, Male 50.

Ethnic composition

Māori 54, NZ European/Pākehā 25, Samoan 5, Cook Island 4, Other Pacific groups 4, Other ethnic groups 8.

Review team on site

November 2020

Date of this report

30 November 2020

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, September 2019; Education Review, September 2015.

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
  • previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
  • that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
  • that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
  • where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

  • discussions with those involved in the service
  • consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
  • observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.

BestStart Omahu Road - 23/09/2019

1 Evaluation of BestStart Omahu Road

How well placed is BestStart Omahu Road to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

BestStart Omahu Road is not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children. 

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

Background

BestStart Omahu Road, previously known as ABC Omahu Rd, is a purpose-built service licensed to provide education and care for 115 children, including 35 up to two years of age. At the time of this ERO evaluation, there were 129 children on the roll, including sixty who identify as Māori and thirteen of Pacific heritage. Five separate learning spaces provide for the different age group needs of infants, toddlers and young children.

The service operates under the umbrella of the national early childhood organisation, Beststart Educare. Since the September 2015 ERO report, there have been significant staffing and management changes. An interim centre manager was appointed in July 2019. During the onsite phase of the review, three teachers were new to the service and several were relieving teachers. Eleven teachers have an early childhood qualification and six educators are untrained. The majority of staff have been employed by the centre in the past twelve months.

A business manager and professional services manager work with the service to provide support to the centre manager and teaching team. They are responsible for quality assurance and professional learning.

The service's philosophy, reviewed in 2018, reflects the values and beliefs of teachers, families and whānau.

This review was part of a cluster of two reviews in Beststart Educare, Hawkes Bay.

The Review Findings

Leaders have identified, and ERO's evaluation confirms, that significant staffing changes have impacted on the quality and consistency of teaching practice. As a result, there is an urgent need for management to build the capability of the teaching team to improve the quality of education and care and outcomes for children.

BestStart's internal quality assurance systems identified areas of concern over time. These concerns have yet to be adequately and suitably addressed. Supporting the recently appointed leaders to embed Beststart systems and policies that guide centre operation, systems and processes, remains a high priority.

Children demonstrate good levels of confidence, independence and problem solving skills. Staff build positive relationships with families, supporting children's sense of belonging and wellbeing. Infants and toddlers have time and space to explore at an unhurried pace. Teachers are responsive to their rhythms and needs. A calm settled environment fosters children's sense of wellbeing.

Children have opportunities to celebrate their language, culture and identity. Te ao Māori is visible through te reo Māori, kupu and waiata, artefacts and local stories. This is an area that leaders have identified as an ongoing focus.

Teachers support families in accessing additional learning support to promote children's full participation in the programme.

Leaders and teachers continue to build their collective understandings of effective assessment, planning and evaluation practice. Further improvement is needed in:

  • the extent to which assessment practices are responsive to all children's languages, cultures and identities

  • promoting consistency of practice across the teaching team

  • intentional teaching strategies that add complexity to children's thinking and ideas

  • collaboratively planning and evaluating the impact of teaching practice on outcomes for children.

Internal evaluation practices need strengthening. A range of emergent and planned reviews have been undertaken that lead to some positive changes in the environment.

Priorities for the centre to improve outcomes for children include:

  • promoting educational success for Māori and Pacific children

  • sharing expectations of teaching practice to promote consistency

  • improving knowledge and understanding of internal evaluation

  • using well analysed evidence that supports teachers and leaders to make informed decisions

  • monitoring and evaluating practices and putting appropriate systems and processes in place to support high quality practice.

These improvements are necessary for leaders and teachers to improve curriculum delivery, teaching and learning practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of BestStart Omahu Road 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 practice teachers need to consistently implement:

  • policies and procedures, especially in relation to the service's child protection policy to guide the enactment of positive guidance strategies
  • the documentation of children's and families' full names for excursions
  • supervision practices and managing numbers of new children to ensure effective adult supervision.

Actions for compliance

ERO found significant areas of non-compliance in the service related to:

  • ensuring furniture or items intended for children to sleep on (such as cots, beds, stretchers, or mattresses) are arranged and spaced when in use so that: adults have clear access to at least one side (meaning the length, not the width); and children are able to sit or stand can do so safely as they wake

  • ensuring that the service is effectively governed and managed in accordance with good management practices

  • taking all reasonable steps to provide staff employed or engaged in the service with adequate professional support, professional development opportunities, and resources.

[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS10,) GMA1(a), (e); GMA6, Regulation 47].

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of BestStart Omahu Road. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services Central

Central Region

23 September 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

Location

Hastings

Ministry of Education profile number

55456

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

115 children, including up to 35 aged under 2

Service roll

129

Gender composition

Male 74, Female 55

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Pacific
Other ethnic groups

60
41
13
15

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

July 2019

Date of this report

23 September 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

September 2015

Education Review

October 2012

Education Review

March 2009

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.