201 Sandwich Road, St Andrews-Hamilton, Hamilton
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Creators @ Home - Ōtautahi 2 is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Creators @ Home-Ōtautahi 2 is part of a national service that provides care and education for children from birth-to-school age in the educarer's own home.
Prior to 2014, this service was known as Footsteps. The November 2011 ERO report of the Footsteps service, identified a range of practices requiring further development. Creators Education Trust worked in consultation with the Ministry of Education to meet full licensing conditions for all of its home-based services.
A national coordinator has oversight of all Creators @ Home early learning services. In the home-based services, regional leaders are responsible for managing the work of the visiting teachers. In this network, two visiting teachers and the regional leader work together to support in-home educarers in providing suitable care and learning programmes for children.
Three models of support are in place: 'At Home', where educarers care for children in private homes; 'Awhi' for caregivers of children under shared guardianship with Oranga Tamariki; and 'Awhi Whānau' for whānau caring for the children of family members. The majority of children in this network are supported by the 'At Home' model.
The philosophy of the service is based on the Reggio Emilia approach where positive relationships are promoted and children are at the forefront of learning.
This review was part of a cluster of four home-based education and care network reviews in the Creators @ Home service.
A positive team culture ensures staff demonstrate a commitment to respectful teaching and equitable opportunities for children. The particular needs of infants and toddlers, including specific resourcing and appropriate learning experiences, are well considered. Foster parents are partners in their children’s learning and are involved in the provision of ongoing support. Children with additional needs are effectively supported.
The curriculum provides appropriate learning experiences which enable children to explore and make discoveries. Visiting teachers and educators work together to respond to each child's interests, creativity and inquiries. An increasing commitment to developing the use of te reo and tikanga Māori provides a bicultural curriculum approach for children.
There is a systematic approach to self review that is well led by the visiting teachers. Self review is aligned to regional priorities and linked to professional development and positive outcomes for children. Children’s learning records demonstrate a trusted partnership with educarers that support the writing of carefully-considered and well-articulated learning stories. Supplementary visits are made to support educarers with differentiated planning and assessment for children with additional needs.
The visiting teachers promote a shared vision and philosophy which provides a holistic approach to children’s learning and wellbeing. They foster, positive, respectful relationships across the service including partnerships with parents and whānau. Leadership ensures a collaborative and reflective culture is focused on improvement and positive outcomes for children. Visiting teachers support and mentor educarers to encourage children to become confident, competent lifelong learners.
ERO and the national leaders agree that the key next steps to strengthen governance processes and practices are to:
ERO and the national and regional leaders agree that the key next steps for the network are to improve:
The national and service managers must ensure that:
Before the review, the staff and management of Creators @ Home - Ōtautahi 2 completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
15 April 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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47385 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
22 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Quality |
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Gender composition |
Boys 10 ; Girls 12 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
1 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
January 2019 |
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Date of this report |
15 April 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.