285 Cashel Street, Christchurch Central, Christchurch
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Elim Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Elim Early Learning Centre is licensed to provide full-day education and care for 25 children, including seven under the age of two years. Children come from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, with some families having English as their second language. The centre is governed by a charitable trust and is situated within the Elim Church building in Christchurch.
The centre manager works with the head teacher to provide leadership for the curriculum and the daily programme. The head teacher was appointed in late 2018, and since the 2015 ERO review, there have been a number of changes in the teaching team. All teachers are qualified and registered early childhood teachers.
Leaders and teachers have made good progress in addressing the areas identified for improvement in the 2015 ERO report.
Key elements of the centre's philosophy include Christian values and aspects of Te Whāriki (2017), the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum. The philosophy also identifies what the centre values, such as:
caring, inclusive environments
strong relationships with children and their families
learning that inspires children to grow into competent, confident learners and communicators.
The learning priorities for children at this centre have been identified as early literacy and numeracy, technology, the visual arts, social competency, risk taking, resilience and healthy bodies.
Children benefit from intentional teaching that extends their interests and learning. Teachers provide a rich curriculum and an environment that empowers children to explore, create and investigate many opportunities for meaningful learning. Children have quality learning interactions with their teachers that help them to make connections with their lives beyond the centre and deepen their thinking. Children's diverse cultures are reflected in assessment and planning for their ongoing learning.
Younger children in the nursery enjoy consistent caregiving and nurturing relationships with a primary caregiver. They experience close connections with a small number of familiar adults. Their routines are carefully monitored, shared with parents, and respectfully managed to provide continuity between the centre and home. Parents are kept well informed about their child's learning and wellbeing.
Teachers are focused on ensuring inclusive and equitable learning outcomes for all children. They work with families to access external support. Children with additional learning needs, are very carefully planned for and their progress is monitored.
Teachers know the children’s interests, strengths and dispositions of the children. Individuals' and groups' learning is well planned. Children benefit from the way teachers carefully listen to them, respond to their questions and ideas, and value their contributions. The centre manager has identified, and ERO agrees, that teachers’ assessment and planning could be more consistent.
The centre’s community partnerships enrich and extend children’s learning and knowledge of cultures. Community members and some parents share the knowledge, resources and expertise that reflect their different cultural backgrounds. Learning programmes also include elements of Māori culture.
Leaders have a strong focus on building professional practice and knowledge. Teachers' strengths and interests are recognised and utilised in ways that help to build leadership capacity across the centre. External professional learning opportunities undertaken by the board, manager, leaders and teachers are clearly linked to children's identified needs.
The centre manager has high expectations for teaching, learning, coaching and mentoring. Centre operations are very well managed. Internal evaluation is focused on continuous improvement and positive outcomes for children. Coherent strategic and annual planning clearly identifies the centre's priorities and goals for achieving the vision and are regularly monitored. Teacher appraisal is supporting teachers to continue to build and improve their professional practice.
Leaders have identified and ERO agrees that greater consistency in assessment, planning and evaluation of children's learning and their progress is needed.
It is now timely to evaluate how well the centre's curriculum is achieving its priorities for children's learning.
Further next steps for this centre are to continue to strengthen:
the distribution of leadership roles, team work and collaboration across the teaching team
home-centre partnerships that are focused on children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Elim Early Learning 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services
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 |
65164 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 7 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
29 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 14 Girls 15 |
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Ethnic composition |
Pākehā |
12 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2019 |
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Date of this report |
15 April 2019 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
October 2015 |
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Education Review |
June 2013 |
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Supplementary Review |
March 2010 |
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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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The 2013 ERO report indicated that the centre required further development in the areas of improving assessment and planning, self review, strengthening appraisals and the further development of the board’s vision for the centre. Good progress has been made in many of these areas.
The centre has had significant and ongoing staff changes since the previous ERO review. At the time of this review, further staff appointments were pending, including some key leadership positions.
While ERO’s judgement is that the centre is well placed to promote positive outcomes for children, the ongoing progress of the centre, and the ability to sustain and build on the progress already made, will depend on the success of these staff changes.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Elim Early Learning Centre is located in the central business district of Christchurch. It is a Christian-based centre operated by the Elim Church. Most families who use the centre come from the wider community and a range of cultures and religions. The service has a small space for babies who aren’t mobile, however younger and older children generally spend time playing together in the shared indoor and outdoor spaces.
The centre was affected by the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, but is now building up roll numbers and is in a better financial position. A new centre manager started in 2014. She works with a team leader to provide leadership for the curriculum and daily programme. A board connected to the church provides governance.
Teachers are increasingly seeking children’s input into what they what to learn more about. They have developed clearer priorities for children’s learning across the programme. This includes a focus on developing children’s particular skills and interests.
Teachers interact with children in positive and affirming ways, working closely alongside children when they are playing. They now receive good feedback about their teaching through the appraisal process. This has been improved and is now consistently implemented.
Teachers have made improvements to programme planning and assessment practices. Teachers plan cooperatively and make sure they focus on meeting the interests and needs of individual children and groups of children. They now make better use of their planning to write more deeply about what they notice and how they extend children’s learning.
There is a strong focus on building effective partnerships with families. Parents are well involved and supportive of the centre. They contribute to maintaining the centre environment and creating displays. They volunteer in the programme and share their skills and strengths.
The centre is supportive of families in need and makes good links with external agencies to provide support for children and families who need additional help.
The new centre manager has developed effective management systems. Roles and responsibilities between the board and centre manager have been defined. The board has a clearer vision for the centre. The centre’s future direction and development has been reassessed.
The centre manager has developed useful strategic planning to guide ongoing centre development. She has used this as an effective tool to guide her work in promoting and leading centre improvements.
The centre manager and teachers have made good use of professional learning and development to support centre improvement, particularly in self review, identifying learning priorities, and management practices.
The quality of self review has been improved. A useful process is being followed and the centre manager is leading staff in this process.
The centre is still being affected by ongoing staff changes. A key next step for the centre is the successful management of staff changes and embedding of a new team culture while sustaining and building on the recent work done in improving teaching and learning.
Key areas for the centre manager and teachers to focus on include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Elim Early Learning Centre completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they select ‘have’ or ‘have not’ 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
To improve compliance practices there is a need to:
The next ERO review of Elim Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
16 October 2015
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 |
Christchurch |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
65164 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 7 aged under two |
||
|
Service roll |
36 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 22 Boys14 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Asian Other ethnicities |
4 22 3 4 3 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
August 2015 |
||
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Date of this report |
16 October 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
June 2013 |
|
|
Supplementary Review |
March 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
January 2009 |
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.
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.