Creators @ Home -Waikato Tahi

Education institution number:
46044
Service type:
Homebased Network
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
7
Telephone:
Address:

201 Sandwich Road, St Andrews-Hamilton, Hamilton

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Creators @ Home -Waikato Tahi - 29/06/2017

1 Evaluation of Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi

How well placed is Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi provides education and care for children from birth to school age in Hamilton and surrounding areas. The service is operated by Creators Education Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that operates a network of home and centre-based services throughout New Zealand. The service is licensed for 60 children and at the time of this review had a roll of 85, including 13 Māori children.

Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi is funded as a standard service where not all educarers hold an early childhood education qualification.

The service's philosophy states a belief that 'love is all you need, children are uniquely created full of wonder and potential, constructing their own knowledge. A culture of innovative learning in homes will provide a rich educational experience for tamariki'.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from participating in a rich and varied curriculum programme. They have many opportunities to explore the local and wider community including participating in weekly playgroups organised by the service. Individual portfolios, which are also available in electronic format, provide children and parents with an attractive and meaningful record of their involvement in the programme.

Children with special learning and health needs are well catered for within an inclusive environment. Priority is placed on extending children’s literacy, mathematics and oral language skills through meaningful play. Children under two benefit from being in environments where educarers closely follow the preferences parents have for their children. The service is yet to fully develop and implement systems to promote Māori children’s language culture and identity.

Educarers have a well-managed approach to supporting children's transition to school and are working in close partnerships with parents. They provide daily opportunities for parents to share important information about their child. Children’s learning and wellbeing are well supported by participating in meaningful programmes.

Visiting teachers are highly responsive to supporting educarers to promote positive outcomes for children. They regularly provide meaningful feedback and guidance to educarers. Visiting teachers implement robust quality assurance processes to ensure that educarers provide a safe environment for children. Some visiting teachers model effective assessment practices and provide high quality feedback for educarers. Promoting the consistency of these practices is an ongoing priority for leaders.

Service leaders are knowledgeable and well informed. They are experienced early childhood educators. Leaders are reflective and focused on providing positive outcomes for children. They have developed high levels of trust with visiting teachers and provide them with relevant support and guidance. Leaders work with visiting teachers and educarers to regularly review policies. Useful processes are being established to review the effectiveness of service operations. Effective leadership contributes to positive outcomes for children.

The trust provides strong governance for the service. A clear vision and strategic plan guides the development of the service. A well-developed policy framework underpins the service's operations. The trust provides generous support for visiting teacher professional development. Well-developed governance processes support the service to provide positive outcomes for children.

Key Next Steps

ERO and service leaders agree that a key next step is to build consistency of effective visiting teacher practices. Consideration should be given to:

  • developing agreed and shared expectations for educarers continued professional learning

  • providing visiting teachers with regular feedback about the effectiveness of their practice

  • strengthening the current teacher appraisal process.

Leaders and visiting teachers should give priority to supporting educarers to implement programmes that support Māori children’s language, culture and identity and promote New Zealand’s bicultural heritage for all children.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi 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:

  • 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 Creators @ Home-Waikato Tahi will be in three years.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato/Bay of Plenty

29 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 Home-based Education and Care Service 

Location

Hamilton

Ministry of Education profile number

46044

Institution type

Homebased Network

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

60 children, including up to 60 aged under 2

Service roll

85

Standard or Quality Funded

Standard

Gender composition

Boys 44 Girls 41

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
African
Other

13
63
4
5

Number of qualified coordinators in the network

5

Required ratios of staff educators to children

Under 2

1:2

Over 2

1:4

Review team on site

May 2017

Date of this report

29 June 2017

Most recent ERO report(s) 

Education Review

July 2014

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

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.

Creators @ Home Christian Homebased Childcare - 26/09/2014

1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

Creators @ Home Christian Homebased Childcare is a new home-based service that opened in October 2012. The service caters for children from birth to school age. It operates under the governance of the Creators Educational Trust, which is a charitable trust. The service director and management team oversee the quality of education and care provided by the services early childhood centre, after school care programmes and homebased education and care. Management reports to the trust.

The service philosophy reflects what management and staff value and believe is quality education and care. At Creators they believe in children experiencing loving relationships and developing a Christian worldview. Value is placed on children learning in an environment that embraces parents as partners in their child’s learning. Children experience a learning environment that nurtures their creativity, encourages innovative learning, and reflects New Zealand’s bicultural heritage and Māori as tāngata whenua.

Creators @ Home based network is overseen by two qualified teachers, who visit children in educarers’ homes. The visiting teachers are responsible for supporting educarers to implement the early childhood curriculum and ensure regulation requirements are met in the educarer’s family home setting.

Children learn in a wide range of varied contexts within educarers homes and the wider community. The learning programme is underpinned by the Reggio Emilia approach to education, which gives priority to providing child-centred education, with an emphasis on positive relationships and learning in the natural environment.

Children experience positive and trusting relationships with educarers that foster their well being and sense of belonging. Educarers work closely with families in the best interest of children. Educarers are well supported in their role through regular visits and guidance from qualified experienced visiting teachers.

Future Action

ERO is confident that the service is being managed in the interest of the children. Therefore ERO will review the service again within three years.

2 The Focus of the Review

All ERO education reviews in early childhood focus on the quality of education. For ERO this includes the quality of:

  • the programme provided for children
  • the learning environment
  • the interactions between children and adults.

The Quality of Education

Background

The service has a shared vision which states that ‘every child has a unique talent, gift or ability that reflects God’s image. Creators believe that education should be fun and exciting where children learn that their identity is securely fixed in God’s love. From this foundation children will feel confident to explore, learn and discover the world’. During this review ERO visited two educarers homes and attended a children’s art class alongside the visiting teachers.

The trust provides governance for the service, while the director and visiting teachers provide management and leadership for the service. They have established a collaborative team culture that is focused on positive outcomes for children and their families.

Since this home-based network opened, management has focused on developing self-review processes to monitor, embed and continually improve the quality of the service.

Areas of good performance

The Creators director and visiting teachers are strong advocates for children and their families. Key priority areas for the service have been developing a strategic and annual plan. Self review has included the service philosophy and positive guidance practice within the service. Guidelines and expectations for practice have been developed for educarers. A sound framework for self review has been established and focuses on ongoing improvement to the quality of education and care for children. Another area that is currently under review is recognising Māori as tāngata whenua and developing practices to value New Zealand’s bicultural heritage.

Children enjoy a wide range of varied contexts within educarers homes and the wider community. Visiting teachers encourage educarers to access local play groups to provide children with opportunities to develop friendships and socialise with others. Educarers are supported to network, with one another in their roles, and get together monthly to attend an external art class for children. Some educarers further enrich the programme through regular excursions to places of interest in the wider community, such as visiting the zoo, nature walks, parks, bus trips and other stimulating experiences outside the home.

Educarers and children establish close and trusting relationships. Children’s wellbeing and sense of belonging is fostered in a small family group environment. Parents and educarers work closely together and share in the experiences that children have. Visiting teachers support educarers to identify children’s interests and discuss ways of extending learning through identified interests. Individual assessment booklets celebrate children’s time in the service and capture the rich range of experiences they receive. Stories and photographs are shared with children and families.

Visiting teachers visit home environments and monitor the education and care provided for children. They support educarers to implement the early childhood curriculum. Visiting teachers develop educarers capacity in their role. Educarers are provided with relevant guidelines that clearly outline the services expectation for education and care. Professional readings and workshops further empower educarers to fulfil their role. After each home contact educarers and parents receive written feedback from visiting teachers about the positive outcomes observed for children over the month.

The service’s vision, values and beliefs are reflected in educarer’s homes and promoted by management and visiting teachers. This shared approach is supporting children to develop as confident and capable learners.

Area for development and review

Management has identified and ERO agree that the key next step for ongoing review and development is to continue strengthening communication between families and the service to support children’s holistic development.

3 Management Assurance on Compliance Areas

Overview

Before the review, the management and staff of Creators @ Home Christian Homebased Childcare completed an ERO Home-Based Education and Care Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:

  • curriculum standard
  • premises and facilities standard
  • health and safety practices standard
  • governance management and administration standard.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on outcomes for children:

  • emotional safety (including behaviour management, prevention of bullying and abuse)
  • physical safety (including behaviour management, sleeping and supervision practices; accidents and medication; hygiene and routines; travel and excursion policies and procedures)
  • staff qualifications and organisation
  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

4 Future Action

ERO is confident that the service is being managed in the interest of the children. Therefore ERO will review the service again within three years.

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services Northern Region

26 September 2014

About the Service

Location

Hamilton

Ministry of Education profile number

46044

Service type

Homebased Network

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Service roll

34

Gender composition

Girls 21

Boys 13

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā

Māori

Tongan

24

7

3

Review team on site

July 2014

Date of this report

26 September 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

No previous ERO reports