451 Te Rapa Road, Te Rapa, Hamilton
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
BestStart Te Rapa Road Kindy is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
BestStart Te Rapa Road Kindy is located in north west Hamilton. The centre provides all-day education and care for children from two years to school age in three large rooms and two outdoor areas. It is licensed for 85 children. At the time of this review 91 children were enrolled. There are 65 who identify as Māori and 10 children of Pacific origin. A range of other ethnicities are also represented. The centre provides a van service to assist parents and whānau to access the service.
Since the last ERO evaluation in January 2016 the centre manager position has been replaced by a complex manager position. A curriculum lead position has been created and a new appointment to this role was made in 2018. There has been extensive building work completed to create an administrative area and a place for teachers to work and meet with whānau if necessary.
The centre philosophy states that they support both whānau and tamariki to feel safe, valued and empowered to grow into confident and capable learners.
The service is operated by BestStart, a charitable organisation owned by the Wright Family Foundation. Since the last ERO review of this centre a new Chief Executive Officer has been appointed. Regional and local professional service and business managers oversee the central North Island BestStart centres. Their vision is to work in partnership with families, whānau, teachers and communities to enable children to achieve their learning potential.
The centre is a member of the North West Hamilton Kahui Āko|Community of Learning.
This review was part of a cluster of 15 reviews in the BestStart organisation.
Children respond to the range of relationship-based strategies teachers use to engage them in learning. Respectful interactions are evident between teachers and children. Teachers know the child in the context of family and whānau. Children are well engaged in their play and learning as a result of consistent and clear expectations and the use of effective positive guidance strategies.
Leaders and teachers work effectively with parents and whānau. Relevant agencies are accessed to support children with additional learning needs to improve and enhance their learning. Relationships with whānau have strengthened and they feel welcome and valued as key participants in their child’s learning.
The centre curriculum supports children to develop a sense of belonging. The centre has recently reviewed learning opportunities in the environment to further engage children in sustained and focused play. There are many opportunities for children to become self-managing and independent learners. Centre displays are attractive and effectively promote the development of social skills. Older children have opportunities to support younger children in the daily routines.
The centre seeks ways to maintain children’s connections to their bicultural identity. Māori language and tikanga are visible in the centre. Leaders continue to work with iwi to develop resources around local iwi history and places of significance. Leaders are working with the Kāhui Ako and schools to develop more sequential learning pathways and positive connections to their local schools.
Leadership has a strong focus on equitable outcomes for all children. The centre philosophy has been collaboratively reviewed to align with these valued outcomes. Leaders and teachers have worked hard to develop an environment that supports children's learning and engagement. There are clear expectations for teaching and learning practices. Teacher strengths are valued, and innovation is encouraged. Effective self-review is leading to improvement in outcomes for children.
Strong systems and processes guide centre operation. Internal evaluation is improvement focused and includes ongoing consultation with families and whānau. There is clear alignment between regional strategic direction and centre annual plans. The appraisal process assists teachers to inquire into and strengthen their practice. This process is supported by regular and ongoing coaching and mentoring. Several initiatives to remove barriers to education and support children's wellness, promotes equity in learning opportunities. The organisation's philosophy, vision and goals promote positive learning outcomes for all children.
The centre now needs to:
strengthen all aspects of individual planning and assessment
continue to develop teacher capability to add depth and complexity in all curriculum areas and in particular support for oral language development.
Before the review, the staff and management of BestStart Te Rapa Road Kindy 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:
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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Central Region
4 November 2019
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.
|
Location |
Hamilton |
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
30348 |
|
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
|
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
|
|
Number licensed for |
85 children, aged over 2 |
|
|
Service roll |
91 |
|
|
Gender composition |
Male 49 Female 42 |
|
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
65 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
50-79% |
|
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
September 2019 |
|
|
Date of this report |
4 November 2019 |
|
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
April 2016 |
|
Education Review |
March 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2010 |
|
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.
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.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Community Kindy Te Rapa is located in Te Rapa, Hamilton. It provides education and care for children aged two years to school age from the wider Hamilton region. The centre operates a highly effective van service to assist parents/whānau to access the service. At the time of this ERO review 77 children were enrolled, including 56 of Māori descent.
The centre operates under the umbrella of BestStart Educare Limited (formerly Kidicorp Limited), which provides the centre with policy, strategic direction, financial and business management. The staff benefit from the focused professional leadership and guidance provided by BestStart professional services manager (PSM) and business manager (BM) who also supports the implementation of BestStart goals. These goals cover staffing, finances, curriculum, resource and premises, communication, and consultation with parents and whānau.
ERO’s 2013 report identified next steps about professional growth of the teaching team in relation to the bicultural curriculum and assessment practice. Since the 2013 ERO report the centre manager, PSM, BM, and several new teachers have been appointed. Together they have made good progress in addressing these next steps.
The centre's philosophy aims to 'inspire tamariki to flourish as life-long learners'. Teachers have recently reviewed the centre philosophy and aspire to provide a warm, responsive and welcoming environment where children and families come for support and care. The philosophy also expresses that emotional wellbeing, independence, self direction, curiosity, exploration and trusting relationships are essential for children to grow and develop.
A significant change in the way the service operates has been implemented. It has moved from three age-based rooms to three environment/curriculum rooms where children from 2 to 5 years of age play alongside each other and tuakana-teina relationships support the learning of others.
Young children enjoy in-depth play and exploration in the redeveloped, purposeful and motivating environments for learning. They actively participate in creating and maintaining these areas, demonstrating high levels of ownership and confidence and decision making. They are also able to contribute their ideas. Children are capable learners. They skilfully respond to new ideas and interests through carefully considered teaching strategies, resourcing and presentation of areas of play.
Relationships throughout the centre are caring, respectful and reciprocal at all levels. Teachers give strong priority to developing genuine and trusting relationships with families and children. Parent contributions and knowledge about their own children are valued by teachers and this information is responded to and incorporated into the programme and centre operations. Children benefit from caring and responsive interactions that follow their personal routines and preferences. Friendships between children are highly evident.
Teachers' model and foster concepts of kaitiakitanga (caring for the environment), aroha (friendships and caring for others), ako (learning together), tuakana/teina and kotahitanga (standing tall, working together).
The well-designed, rich, play-based curriculum reflects and responds to children’s cultural identities, ideas, interests, parent and teacher aspirations. Curriculum priorities include:
an emphasis on oral language, meaningful integration of literacy, mathematics and science concepts, and technological processes
a ‘be school ready’ approach that fosters children's’ development of foundation skills at all ages
extensive use of the wider community to enrich experiences and learning
carefully-planned and well-supported transitions from home and the centre for tamariki and families
practices that contribute to the centre’s bicultural development and value Māori knowledge and concepts about the natural world.
Leaders and teachers engage in extensive and responsive self-review systems. Teachers are well supported by the PSM, BM and the centre manager to take on board new learning and deeper reflection about their practice through this self review. In addition, teachers have access to meaningful and ongoing professional learning and development from Best Start and external providers.
The centre manager and second in charge effectively implement a consultative and shared approach to leadership that values the strengths and contributions of staff and families. They are developing a team culture of ongoing learning and critical reflection that is focused on promoting positive outcomes for children and families.
ERO acknowledge the progress the service has made in relation to bicultural development and assessment, planning and evaluation. It is important for teachers to continue to advance and embed these practices and more directly link them with assessment and intentional teaching strategies, tātaiako and staff appraisal.
Before the review, the staff and management of Community Kindy Te Rapa 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 Community Kindy Te Rapa will be in three years.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
21 April 2016
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.
|
Location |
Hamilton |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
30348 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
85 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
76 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 44 Girls 32 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Tongan Indian African Samoan Filipino Latin American |
51 12 4 3 2 2 1 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
January 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
21 April 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
January 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2010 |
||
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.
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.