Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre Aidanfield - 07/06/2017

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre, Aidanfield
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service 
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

How well placed is Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre, Aidanfield to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Cornerstone Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Cornerstone Early Learning Centre's programme reflects its strong commitment to Christian values. There are 4 qualified early childhood teachers, 3 of whom are fully registered and 1 who is provisionally registered. The centre has one large room and an outdoor area.

Centre leaders have responded to the recommendations outlined in the 2014 ERO report. They regularly share information about children's individual interests and capabilities and are more intentional about extending children's learning.

The centre is governed by a Board of Management which includes the head teacher.

The Review Findings

Children are settled and highly engaged. Teachers are nurturing and positive. They encourage children to be self-managing. Children confidently select from a wide range of available resources. Tuakana-teina relationships, where older children care for and support younger children, are highly evident.

Teachers are very aware of individual children's needs and readily respond to their requests. They provide good opportunities for children to explore and discuss their learning in groups or as individuals. They openly model Christian values particularly those of caring and respect. They closely align these with the Māori concepts of aroha, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga.

Children's cultural backgrounds are respectfully acknowledged and teachers use children's home languages often. A teacher who speaks Mandarin supports children and parents who are learning the English language. These practices positively build children's sense of belonging and respectfully support parents of these children.

Teachers collaborate and plan together to support their shared responsibility of the children. They regularly share ideas and resources to further enhance children's learning of Christian values. Additional learning opportunities based on Te Whāriki (the Early Childhood Education curriculum) are likely to provide a greater balance to what children are learning. Teachers regularly seek parents' aspirations and respectfully encourage their contributions to children's learning stories.

Centre leaders and teachers actively seek the support of specialists and agencies to meet the needs of children with additional needs. They effectively use the strengths of the staff to manage the centre's programme and build capability.

The head teacher and an experienced teacher collaboratively manage all aspects of the centre. They seek input from staff and community when making decisions about change. They effectively use internal evaluation to identify strengths and make improvements where necessary.

Key Next Steps

The head teacher and ERO agree that priority should be given to:

• making the balance between the teaching of the centre’s Christian values and the strands and principles of Te Whāriki more explicit

• regularly identifying individual children’s learning within the group stories

• making bicultural perspectives more visible in the programme and centre documents

• increasing the robustness of the appraisal process in order to meet the requirements of the Education Council.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre, Aidanfield 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. 

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre, Aidanfield will be in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern/Te Waipounamu

7 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.