73 Whelans Road, RD 1, Levin
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Country Educare Children’s Centre is one of two privately owned services under the same governance. The service philosophy emphasises a caring, bicultural environment where children’s holistic development is nurtured. One quarter of children on the roll identify as Māori.
The service curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation of children’s learning. Children are provided with a range of experiences and opportunities to extend their learning and development.
Children develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritage of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Teachers engage in meaningful, positive interactions with children. Regular opportunities are provided for parents to communicate with staff about their child and be involved in decision making.
A continual focus on practices that ensure ongoing maintenance of licensing criteria is required.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to ensuring:
heavy furniture that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage is secured
checks are made to equipment, premises, and facilities on every day of operation for hazards to children and that these include, but are not limited to, all those listed in the licensing criteria
records of all medicine given to children attending the service include the amount of medication given
there is an annual plan to guide the service’s operation.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS6, HS12, HS28, GMA8.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
11 May 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Country Educare Children’s Centre |
| Profile Number | 40244 |
| Location | Levin |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
43 |
|
Review team on site |
March 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
11 May 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, January 2019; Education Review, February 2016 |
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.
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.
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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Country Educare Children's Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Country Educare Children's Centre is one of two privately owned centres in the Levin area. It is an all day education and care service licensed for 30 children, including 10 up to two years of age. Of 52 children enrolled, 22 identify as Māori.
The service philosophy emphasises a caring, bicultural environment where children’s overall development is nurtured. Regular access to a variety of animals and farm experiences are a feature of this service.
Most teachers are fully qualified. Day-to-day operation of the early learning service is the responsibility of the centre manager who supports the teaching team. This is overseen by the licensee.
The February 2016 ERO report identified areas requiring further improvement. These included strengthening internal evaluation and enhancing the appraisal process. Progress is ongoing.
Children benefit from a play-based programme that invites exploration and involvement in a wide range of activities. Regular outings and excursions in the rural setting fosters wondering and creativity. The philosophy is strongly evident in practice.
Teachers are attuned to the variety of ways children express themselves and are intentional in the way they recognise, respond, engage and extend individual’s interests. Warm and positive relationships were observed. There is a strong focus on developing children's social competence. Children's culture, language and identities are valued.
Te ao Māori is effectively incorporated in the centre's curriculum. Māori children's whakapapa is acknowledged and their sense of identity is promoted. Māori concepts and knowledge, karakia, waiata, local stories and te reo Māori are woven throughout the curriculum. Leaders and teachers are committed to improving their cultural knowledge in partnership with whānau, to further deepen their response to the delivery of the programme.
Well-developed assessment systems result in planning to progress children's individualised learning. Assessment portfolios show ongoing observations of children's interests, friendships and active participation in the programme.
Teachers sensitively respond to and support infants' and toddlers' needs. Young children experience a calm and unhurried learning environment. Tuakana teina is evident. Younger children are provided opportunities to engage with their peers within mix-aged group experiences.
An effective transition to school process successfully supports individual children's learning pathways. Close relationships with local schools includes information sharing and is responsive to the needs of children and their whānau. The service seeks ongoing feedback from schools about children's progress.
Internal evaluation needs further development for teachers to use the rich information that teachers gather, to know how effective their systems are in improving outcomes for children and families. A next step is to evaluate the extent to which children and their families' outcomes are improved through systems, processes and initiatives. This should include strengthening policies and procedures to better inform parents of the procedures and practices that align to the service's current practices.
Leaders should continue to strengthen their capability to effectively support teachers' professional learning. The appraisal process continues to need development to align to the Teaching Council's expectations. Leaders and teachers are growing their understanding of teaching as inquiry to build their capacity. They are highly reflective and improvement focused.
The important priorities for ongoing development are to continue to strengthen:
appraisal procedures to meet Teaching Council guidelines
internal evaluation capability to effectively measure the impact of systems and processes on outcomes for children
policies and procedures to better reflect good quality practices already in place, and identify where further adaptation is needed.
Before the review, the staff and management of Country Educare Children's Centre 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 earthquake risk assessment and the mitigation of risks for excursions. The service provider must ensure that:
Since the onsite stage of the review the service has provided ERO with additional evidence that shows steps taken to strengthen the risk assessment and management strategies documentation to be implemented for all excursions and outings.
The service provider should seek advice from licensing staff at the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Health about the number of animals and their free range access to both the indoor and outdoor licensed space.
The next ERO review of Country Educare Children's Centre will be in three years.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region
30 January 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 |
Levin |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
40244 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
52 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 31, Girls 21 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
22 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
November 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
30 January 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2016 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2013 |
||
|
Education Review |
April 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:
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.