Busy Bees Roscommon Road

1 Evaluation of Choice Kids Roscommon Road

How well placed is Choice Kids Roscommon Road to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

The service is in the process of strengthening processes to ensure that it complies with regulations and best practice. There are aspects of the education programme and health and safety that need to be managed more carefully.

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

Background

Choice Kids Roscommon is one of seven Choice Kids centres operating in the Manurewa area. New structures and processes are being developed across the rapidly growing Choice Kids organisation to improve governance and management systems and enhance the quality of the services provided. This is the first ERO review of the Roscommon centre.

The centre provides all-day education and care for up to 90 children, including a maximum of 20 children under two years of age. The ethnicities of the children who attend are varied. The largest groups are Māori and Pacific and smaller groups include Indian and Middle Eastern children. This cultural diversity is reflected in the staff team.

Children are divided into three age groups, each with separate indoor and outdoor spaces. The children over two spend some of their time sharing the outdoor areas with the older age group.

The centre manager is responsible for the day-to-day running of the centre. At the time of this review she was on leave and her assistant manager was acting in this role. The centre employs staff who provide five meals each day for children, and also provide hospitality for whānau and visitors. A daily transport service helps children get to and from the centre.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from positive interactions and supportive relationships with teachers. Teachers often engage children in conversations that promote their thinking and oral language skills.

Staff promote and model respect and children respond well in their interactions with each other and with adults. They are also respectful of their environment and the centre's resources.

Managers should review the environment for babies to ensure that it is a comfortable area for children and their teachers. They should also ensure that these children have easy access to resources that are culturally relevant and promote cognitive development. Sleeping facilities should be reviewed to ensure that beds are appropriate and allow children to sleep according to their individual routines in a quiet area.

Teachers are making progress in planning a programme that is more responsive to children's interests. They observe children, and record in individual portfolios what they have noticed about their interests and learning. Teachers make links to curriculum goals, and describe specific actions that they will take to promote children's learning. They sometimes revisit children's learning and comment on the impact of their teaching.

The centre is very inclusive. Manaakitanga and whanaungatanga are evident, with many initiatives in place to support families/whanau. Cultural events are included in the centre programme.

Managers are also aware that the indoor areas could be improved by helping teachers to create more discreet play areas. This could encourage children to work collaboratively for extended periods of time on more complex play that promotes their learning.

The new leadership structure, and related organisational processes, being developed by Choice Kids are likely to help this centre to improve its education and care service for the community it serves. It has the potential to develop a culture of ongoing improvement and to support centre staff to engage in internal evaluation that contributes to strategic planning and development. Leaders should also strengthen human resource management practices, including staff appraisal and professional learning and development.

Key Next Steps

Centre managers agree that the next steps for the centre include:

• continuing to develop the education programme so that it is more responsive to the cultures, interests, and needs of children

• strengthening management processes, including staff performance management, policy review, and internal evaluation and strategic planning

• reviewing the environment to ensure that it is safe and supports children's wellbeing and sense of belonging.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Choice Kids Roscommon 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.

To improve current practices, managers should:

• improve the building's acoustics to reduce noise levels

• ensure that hazards in the environment are clearly identified and well managed.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

• the identification and management of hazards and risks, including safe-fall zones around equipment

• the alignment of police vetting and health and safety policies with legal requirements, especially in relation to the Vulnerable Children's Act

• reporting to parents and the local community about how Equity Funding is spent.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS12,13,15, GMA7A; Early Childhood Funding Handbook, Ch10.

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service consult with the Ministry of Education and plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report. 

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Choice Kids Roscommon Road will be within two years.

Steffan Brough

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

16 June 2017 

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.