Capital Kids Co-Operative

Education institution number:
60215
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
37
Telephone:
Address:

16 Hugh Street, Newtown, Wellington

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Capital Kids Co-Operative

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Capital Kids Co-Operative are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whakaū Embedding

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Capital Kids Co-Operative is a mixed-aged community-based service, governed by a parent committee. A new centre manager has been employed since the last review. Since the 2021 ERO report, there has been progress in meeting all health and safety requirements. All teachers are qualified and registered. The service roll is diverse and includes a small number of Māori and Chinese tamariki.

3 Summary of findings

Tamariki are effectively supported by leaders and kaiako as competent and confident learners through a well-resourced, play-based curriculum. Music is a regularly offered in the curriculum. Key kaiako, in consultation with parents and whānau, support tamariki under the age of two to promote their well-being. Relationships between older and younger tamariki [ako and tuakana teina] are encouraged through collaborative learning and the use of intentional teaching strategies.

Kaiako recognise the capabilities of tamariki and build on these through designing a responsive curriculum underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Assessment and planning are reflective of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki. Children’s learning and progress is identified over time in relation to these outcomes. Partnerships are well-established and provide opportunities for parents and whānau to contribute to their child’s learning programme.

Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori is evident in the daily curriculum. It is timely to revisit the established localised curriculum to reflect a local narrative of the hapū and iwi of the area. The curriculum is culturally responsive. The languages and cultures of tamariki guide intentional teaching and learning approaches. Home languages are valued and kaiako capitalise on opportunities to integrate these into the programme. 

Governance, management, and kaiako are improvement focused. Effective systems and processes are now in place, including an annual management plan. Building the collective capability of all kaiako and governance to do and use evaluative approaches to better understand what is working and for whom is required.

4 Improvement actions

Capital Kids Co-Operative will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to:

  • increase the scrutiny of assessment information and use this to inform decision making and reporting

  • revisit the localised curriculum to reflect a local narrative of the hapū and iwi of the area

  • build professional capacity and capability of governing committee, management, and kaiako to lead areas of internal evaluation that identifies what is working well, and for whom.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Capital Kids Co-Operative 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

5 October 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Capital Kids Co-Operative

Profile Number

60215

Location

Wellington

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

30 children, including up to 12 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

100%

Service roll

40

Review team on site

June 2022

Date of this report

5 October 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, April 2021;
Education Review, May 2019

Capital Kids Co-Operative

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

Not meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.

Background

Capital Kids Co-Operative is a mixed-aged community-based early learning service, governed by a parent committee. It was placed on a provisional license after the May 2019 ERO report found that further development was required to promote positive learning outcomes for children. Progress is evident. There has been a change in management since the previous report.

Summary of Review Findings

Children’s exploration is promoted through planned and spontaneous experiences in the sufficiently resourced environment. The service recently developed a new philosophy that is underpinned by current research and theories to support outcomes for children.

The service’s curriculum is informed by newly introduced systems for assessment and planning that align with the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Strategies are in place to involve parents and whānau in their children’s learning. Consistent implementation of health and safety practices is required to meet all aspects of regulatory compliance.

Actions for Compliance

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

  • consistent recording of the time each child attending the service sleeps
  • medicine is appropriately disposed of or sent home after the specified time.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008 HS9, HS28.  

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • a procedure outlining how the service will provide for washing sick or soiled children
  • first aid kit is easily recognisable
  • an annual plan identifying who will do key tasks.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008 PF26, PF28, GMA8.  

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

15 April 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Capital Kids Co-Operative
Profile Number 60215
Location Wellington

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

30, including up to 12 children aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

38

Ethnic composition

Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 22, Asian 7, Other ethnicities 7

Review team on site

January 2021

Date of this report

15 April 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, May 2019; Education Review, June 2016.

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.

Capital Kids Co-Operative - 29/05/2019

1 Evaluation of Capital Kids Co-Operative

How well placed is Capital Kids Co-Operative to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Capital Kids Co-Operative is not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Capital Kids Co-Operative is a non-profit early childhood service in central Wellington. Its premises are leased from the City Council by an incorporated society. It is run by parents and teachers in partnership, to provide education and care for a maximum of 30 children, including 12 up to two years. Of the 38 children enrolled, three identify as Māori.

The management committee takes collective responsibility for ensuring that children play and learn in a family-like environment. Building and maintaining respectful, trusting relationships is a priority.

The service philosophy, reviewed in 2018, reflects teachers' beliefs about nurturing children’s learning.

An acting centre manager has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the service. The service committee is currently recruiting for this position.

The July 2016 ERO report identified areas for development. These included: strengthening assessment, planning and evaluation; consistently integrating te reo Māori; and strengthening the internal evaluation processes. Little progress has been made in developing these areas.

The Review Findings

Children's sense of belonging is supported by responsive, respectful and nurturing relationships. They have access to a good variety of natural resources. Social competence is well promoted. Children play cooperatively. A calm atmosphere is evident.

Teachers regularly request and value parents' and whānau aspirations for their children and seek to respond to these. Routines for children are consistently implemented. Time is given to ensure infants and toddlers are well settled as they transition into the service.

Assessment for learning is not well understood. Since the previous ERO review teachers have developed curriculum statements for each learning space. These help inform parents about the centre programme. Service procedures that guide assessment practice, require improvement to clearly outline expectations for teachers' to implement quality assessment and plan for children's learning.

Individual children's portfolios, seen by ERO, were inconsistently maintained with some significant gaps between stories. Improved monitoring is required to ensure that planning for learning occurs frequently, consistently and is evident in assessment documentation.

Transitions to school are well supported. The service gathers a range of information from parents. Each child is taken on a planned visit to their school with teachers. This often includes a group of friends.

Self review and internal evaluation are not well understood or implemented. Developing a framework to assist leaders’ and teachers’ to understand and implement review is an area for improvement. This approach should highlight what they do in relation to current theories and practice in early childhood education and enable them to more critically evaluate their practice.

The learning environment should be enhanced through regular and systematic assessment and review of play spaces and resources. ERO identified that some of these spaces were cluttered and included damaged resources.

Teachers' are appraised annually, this supports them to identify areas for further development. The process would be more robust if it included:

  • targeted observations of teacher practice, linked to identified goals
  • regular meetings throughout the appraisal cycle
  • meaningful feedback to deepen teachers' understanding about their teaching and learning.

Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are evident in aspects of daily practice. Leaders are aware of the importance of continuing to build their bicultural knowledge and confidence to fully integrate aspects into their daily practice. Teachers are working with whānau Māori to identify aspirations and to support the learning and success of their tamariki.

The service strategic plan has useful goals to support the realisation of the centre vision of creating an excellent educational environment. The goals, if implemented could be used to develop staff capability through improved practice and support positive outcomes for children.

A priority is to develop sustainable systems and processes, focused on the provision of high quality practices. Policies and procedures need to include relevant legislative and curriculum changes. This includes the identification of hazards and potential hazards in the environment and taking prompt action to eliminate, isolate and minimise risks to children and adults.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Capital Kids Co-Operative 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

Actions for compliance

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

  • assessment, planning and evaluation

  • self review and internal evaluation for accountability and improvement of education and care

  • regular and systematic review of all policies and procedures, including the annual review of written emergency planning

  • identifying and addressing health and safety issues relating to fittings, fire and earthquake documentation, earthquake risks and sleep records

  • safety checking of workers.

[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, C2, HS1, HS6, HS7, HS8, HS9, GMA6, GMA7A]

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Capital Kids Co-Operative. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

29 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

Location

Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

60215

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

30 children, including up to 12 aged under 2

Service roll

38

Gender composition

Boys 22, Girls 16

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Asian
Samoan

3
28
6
1

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:3

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

April 2019

Date of this report

29 May 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education Review

June 2016

Education Review

July 2013

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.