Rice Park Heywards Road, Clarkville
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Clarkville Playcentre requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Clarkville Playcentre operates as a parent cooperative under the governance and management of the Playcentre Federation, Upper South Island Region. This centre is licensed for up to 25 children, including 10 children under two. The centre is open four mornings a week. The centre has a large outdoor area.
The playcentre employs a coordinator. Parents are rostered to help at each session. The Upper South Island Region employs a centre support person and an administrator who regularly visit the playcentre to support the parents and coordinator.
The centre's philosophy emphasises children and parents learning together and children becoming competent and confident learners and communicators. The 2016 philosophy also states that the centre will provide a safe and stimulating environment.
The centre coordinator has been employed at the centre for a number of years. Roll numbers are increasing. Nearly all children attend the playcentre one day a week and also attend other centres.
The playcentre has made limited progress to meet the recommendations in the 2014 ERO review. The only recommendation in the 2014 report met is to fill all office bearer positions. The recommendations that have not been met include, improving the quality of adult to child interactions, bicultural understanding and practices, internal evaluation and operating effectively as a parent cooperative.
In this review, ERO also identified a number of health and safety concerns. Assessment, planning and evaluation have also been identified as areas for improvement.
This review was part of a cluster of eight Playcentre reviews in the Playcentre Federation, Upper South Island Region.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Children confidently select from a wide range of well-presented activities and resources in the indoor and outdoor areas. Adults place a strong emphasis on providing a natural environment and excursions into the wider community.
The Upper South Island Region has recently become more involved in the centre. Parents have begun to participate in the parent education programme. An internal evaluation workshop is helping adults begin to understand internal evaluation and its value in improving the quality of learning for children and adults.
Assessment, planning and evaluation is variable and depends on the parent's understanding and commitment to the process. Parents are invited to set goals for their children but there is little planning or useful monitoring of children's progress. The children's learning and the ways adults support learning are not well documented or clearly evident in the programme. Assessment, planning and evaluation processes and practices are not aligned sufficiently to Te Whāriki 2017.
The parent cooperative has yet to develop ways to regularly include and progress te reo and tikanga Māori in the programme.
Operational systems and practices to support the ongoing operation and improvement of the parent cooperative are either incomplete, new, or not well implemented. The centre now needs to:
focus the roles and responsibilities of the coordinator and parents more explicitly on children's learning and wellbeing
develop a process to implement, monitor and report against the centre's 2019 strategic plan
create a 2019 appraisal agreement for the coordinator
review and revise the centre's 2016 philosophy to ensure it reflects the centre operations and programme in 2019.
The playcentre does not have robust systems and practices for children's health and safety. These include the supervision of children, maintaining sleep records and excursions from the centre.
The Upper South Island Region, the playcentre and ERO agree that the conditions to support outcomes for children must improve. For this to occur the Upper South Island Region must provide more regular and ongoing support to increase the adult's knowledge and commitment so they can:
operate as an effective parent cooperative
make better use of the strategic plan, internal evaluation, the coordinators appraisal and the parent education programme to improve the quality of children's learning and wellbeing
develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of Te Whāriki 2017 to improve assessment planning and programme evaluation processes and practices
integrate te ao Māori into all aspects of centre life and documents
ensure the coordinator participates in regular appraisal.
There continues to be significant change occurring with the playcentre's governance and management at regional and federation levels.
Before the review, the staff and management of Clarkville Playcentre 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety, and governance and management. To meet requirements the centre needs to:
ensure supervision of children in the indoor and outdoor areas, particularly the tennis court where children always need direct adult supervision
maintain records of the time each child sleeps and when checks are made by adults
ensure parents give prior written permission for their child's participation in excursions as well as the proposed adult to child ratio
maintain an ongoing programme of internal evaluation
undertake regular appraisal of the coordinator.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, - Reg 46; HS9; HS 17; GMA7, CMA6
To improve practice the centre needs to:
ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini
Southern Region
29 August 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.
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Location |
Clarkville |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70036 |
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Licence type |
Playcentre |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
37 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 21, Girls 16 |
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Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā |
31 |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:1 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
June 2019 |
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Date of this report |
29 August 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2014 |
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Education Review |
July 2010 |
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Education Review |
March 2007 |
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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 |
Clarkville Playcentre promotes positive learning outcomes for children. ERO is confident that with increased support and guidance from Canterbury Playcentre Association, the playcentre will be better placed to promote positive outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
This playcentre operates under the guidance of the Canterbury Playcentre Association. The playcentre is a parent cooperative with parents encouraged to be involved in all aspects of the centre’s programme and operation. Playcentre philosophy is based on the belief that children reach their full potential when their parents understand their development and take part in the learning process. A coordinator with higher playcentre training takes responsibility for facilitating the programme each session. Some roles on the parent committee, such as parent group president, have not been filled.
Clarkville Playcentre is located in a rural area, adjacent to a local school. It is open for four sessions a week. Many of the children attend one session a week and often use other early childhood services in the area as well.
Since the July 2010 ERO review, there have been some changes in the parent group and coordination team. In response to ERO’s previous recommendations the parent group has made most progress in increasing parents’ involvement in assessing children’s learning and programme planning.
This review was part of a cluster of six reviews in the Canterbury Playcentre Association.
Relationships between adults and children are positive and affirming. Parents encourage children in their play and actively praise efforts by children that acknowledge endeavour and success. Parents like the sense of family and the ways they support each other and their children within and beyond the centre. There is strong support for adults with very young babies.
Children’s learning is well supported by an expansive and attractive outdoor area. It supports children to learn about the natural world. The variety of learning activities promotes children’s curiosity, challenges their physical skills and encourages active exploration. Children have a range of opportunities to play independently, follow their own interests and choose their own learning pace.
Parents actively promote new learning by setting up interesting activities. They regularly add new resources to sustain children’s interests. Planned experiences and excursions in the local and wider community provide meaningful links to the learning programme.
Self review has contributed to the increased involvement of parents in assessment and planning. The new ways for recording children’s learning are building parents' confidence in contributing to recording learning for other children as well as their own. Parents are focusing more on the learning that is occurring and are increasingly aware of the links to Te Whāriki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum.
Parents are obligated to contribute to the centre through participation in training, management and operations and the maintenance of facilities. While there are some areas for improvement there is good use made of some parents’ skills and prior experience. Parents receive good information through minutes and newsletters.
The association needs to provide better support and guidance to the parent group and coordinator. Limited progress has been made in the areas of future planning, strengthening parent involvement, increasing interactions that extend children’s learning or promoting bicultural awareness that were identified in the 2010 ERO review. Centre development would be supported by the association helping the parent group develop clearer long term plans that identify priorities for improvement and action plans to support the parent group to make progress towards their goals. ERO has requested a copy of this planning.
Children’s learning would be further supported by increasing parents' understanding and confidence in:
The parent group has identified, and ERO agrees, that parents also need to improve their bicultural understandings and practices. This is a current topic for their self review.
The parent group has undertaken significant work on redeveloping their planning and assessment practices. The next steps to build on these developments are to:
There is significant change occurring in the structure of governance and management at association level. The recent review of governance and management has been supported by useful and consultative processes.
The association has identified, and ERO agrees, that the next steps for the association include association staff:
In addition a system for the regular appraisal of Centre Support Team members should be re-established.
Before the review, the staff and management of Clarkville Playcentre 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:
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 Clarkville Playcentre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
National Manager Review Services Southern Region
4 March 2014
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 |
Clarkville, North Canterbury |
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
70036 |
|
|
Licence type |
Playcentre |
|
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
|
|
Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under two |
|
|
Service roll |
29 |
|
|
Gender composition |
Boys 18 Girls 11 |
|
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā |
1 28 |
|
Review team on site |
December 2013 |
|
|
Date of this report |
4 March 2014 |
|
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
July 2010 |
|
Education Review |
April 2007 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2004 |
|
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:
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.