Eastside Playcentre

1 Evaluation of Eastside Playcentre

How well placed is Eastside Playcentre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Eastside Playcentre requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

Eastside Playcentre requires further development so that Playcentre Aotearoa, leaders and parents ensure compliance with all health and safety licensing requirements, as outlined in the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008.

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

Background

Eastside Playcentre is licensed to provide mixed-age sessional education and care for 17 children, four days a week. This includes 10 children up to the age of two years old. At the time of this review, 20 children were enrolled.

The Playcentre Aotearoa philosophy, ‘whānau tupu ngātahi – families growing together’, is to empower parents and children to learn, play and grow together. Alongside this, the centre philosophy promotes manaakitanga and a sense of belonging for tamariki and whānau.

Since the February 2017 ERO report, the New Zealand Playcentre Federation has restructured by amalgamating all associations to form Playcentre Aotearoa. Eastside Playcentre is part of the Lower North Island Region and is supported by a regional manager and support persons. Whānau and families share responsibility for the curriculum. Day-to-day operation is undertaken by session support personnel and centre-elected office holders. A centre support worker and centre administrator regularly visit playcentres to provide professional support, strengthen practice and promote improvement.

The previous ERO report identified areas for development for the association and the playcentre. These included: internal evaluation; planning and evaluation; appraisal processes; transition to school; Te Tiriti o Waitangi based practices; and sustainability of operation. Some of these areas have been strengthened.

This review was part of a cluster of 11 playcentre reviews in the Lower North Island Region.

The Review Findings

Some required practices and procedures that promote children's health and safety need to be more systematically attended to. Playcentre Aotearoa, leaders and parents, need to use recently established systems and processes to ensure and maintain a physically safe environment.

Children engage in learning experiences as confident, independent explorers. Their wellbeing is positively nurtured within a whānau context. Infants and toddlers experience a nurturing responsive environment. Deliberate teaching strategies effectively support learning outcomes for tamariki in well-resourced indoor and outdoor areas.

Recently introduced practices guide assessment, planning and evaluation well. Leaders model good teaching practices. The approach is encouraging greater input from families and providing links to learners' interests and relationships. This platform informs purposeful planning sessions. Portfolios include narratives of children's learning experiences and progression over time.

Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are incorporated through karakia, waiata, te reo Māori and celebrations. Tamariki contribute positively to these rituals. Te ao Māori is evident in the environment. Members identify a next step is to further include te ao Māori in the planning and assessment practices. ERO's evaluation affirms this direction.

The revised parent education programme is more accessible to centre members. At this playcentre, experienced early childhood leaders purposefully build members' capability with focus on increasing membership, encouraging adult education and supporting new members into centre roles.

Since the completion of the appraisal cycle for 2018, the process for session support staff has been strengthened in relation to specific roles and responsibilities. The process identifies professional learning and development needs of staff and focuses on achievement of goals. The 2019 cycle of appraisal is yet to be completed.

The national restructuring process continues to require significant attention and support to implement an extensive range of systems and processes. Regular communication from Playcentre Aotearoa seeks to keep parents informed of progress, changes and upcoming requirements. National policies and procedures have recently been introduced and parents are in the process of aligning practices to these. Further support is needed from regional staff for them to fully understand and implement these in order to meet licensing requirements.

Key Next Steps

At playcentre level, priorities are to continue to:

• ensure members' participation in education programmes

• further develop understanding and use of effective internal evaluation for improvement

• include te ao Māori throughout the planning and assessment processes.

Playcentre Aotearoa should:

• continue to build knowledge and understandings of policies and procedures and support systematic monitoring of these to ensure licensing requirements are upheld

• fully implement the 2019 cycle of appraisal.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Eastside 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:

• 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to children's physical safety. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas and ensure:

• loose equipment and resources that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured in the office

• any windows accessible to children are made of safety glass or covered by suitable adhesive film

• the layout of the outdoor environment supports effective adult supervision

• outdoor equipment meets Playcentre playground safety standards and licensing requirements.

[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS6, PF7, PF5]

Since the onsite stage of the evaluation, the centre has provided evidence that:

• loose equipment and resources that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage in the office are secured

• outdoor equipment meets Playcentre playground safety standards and licensing requirements.

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develop a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services Central

Central Region

21 November 2019

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

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.

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.