48 A Durham Crescent, Lower Hutt CBD, Lower Hutt
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Epuni Kindergarten provides all-day education and care for up to 40 children, aged over two years. Sessions run daily from 8:30am to 2:30 pm. Of the 53 children currently enrolled, ten are Māori and five are of Pacific heritage. The kindergarten serves a culturally diverse community.
The philosophy emphasises promoting children’s social and emotional competence, self-belief, sense of identity and love of learning.
Since the September 2015 ERO report, a new head teacher and teaching team have been appointed. They are all fully qualified. A number of new systems and processes have been put in place. At the time of this review, teachers were planning a redevelopment of the outdoor environment.
Epuni Kindergarten is one of 19 services in the Lower Hutt region, governed and managed by Hutt City Kindergarten Association (the association). Since the previous ERO review, a new senior leadership team has been appointed. This includes a general manager and two senior teachers, guided by a team leader. The governance board has also undergone significant changes.
The previous ERO report identified key next steps for this kindergarten that included developing assessment and internal evaluation practices. Suitable progress has been made.
Practices requiring development were also identified for the association. These included: strategic planning; cultural responsiveness to Māori and Pacific families; evaluation; and the appraisal process. Good progress has been made in these areas.
This review was one of a cluster of nine kindergartens in the Hutt City Kindergarten Association.
Children engage confidently in a programme that is highly responsive to their strengths and interests. Teachers facilitate opportunities for children to lead their own learning and see themselves as empowered learners. Meaningful literacy, numeracy and creative arts experiences are embedded in play. Teachers enable authentic opportunities to build oral language. Tuakana teina interactions between older and younger children are well promoted in the mixed-age setting.
The learning environment is a strength of the kindergarten. Teachers thoughtfully arrange children’s spaces and provide engaging resources to invite their focused exploration and promote friendships.
Te ao Māori values such as manaakitanga and wairuatanga are evident in daily interactions. Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are valued and teachers are committed to building their practice in these areas. Next steps are for them to consult with whānau Māori to find ways to localise their bicultural practice to the Epuni learning community. This is likely to be supported by the association’s current strategic focus in this area. Association leaders should also continue to build teachers’ understanding of specific strategies, in partnership with whānau, that promote the learning success of Māori and Pacific children.
Children and their families are warmly welcomed into the kindergarten. Teachers purposefully build positive relationships with parents and whānau, supporting their sense of belonging and celebrating their diverse languages and expertise.
Children with additional needs are well supported. External agencies are accessed, as appropriate, in consultation with parents.
A good relationship has been established with adjacent Epuni School. Reciprocal visits occur regularly. A range of useful strategies is in place to support children's and parents’ confidence when transitioning to school.
Learning portfolios are well used to record children’s progress, interests, ideas and growing friendships. Teachers acknowledge that assessment, planning and evaluation documentation is an area of ongoing development. They agree that they should make better use of parent aspirations, and children’s unique interests and cultural contexts, to plan and evaluate teaching strategies. Portfolios should more clearly show how tailored, purposeful practices have resulted in improved outcomes for children.
The teaching team are reflective and improvement focused. They are supported to grow their internal evaluation practice through useful association systems and tools. Senior teachers should continue to work with teachers to build their capacity to measure the impact of their practice on children’s learning outcomes.
Leaders demonstrate a strong commitment to enacting the kindergarten philosophy in practice. The team is collaborative and there are opportunities for teachers to take on leadership roles, according to their strengths and interests. They are engaged practitioners who actively promote the wellbeing and learning of children and their families.
A comprehensive, well-considered appraisal process is in place. Teachers challenge themselves to continually improve their practice through strategic goal-setting and professional learning. Plans are in place to further strengthen teacher development by implementing an inquiry-based approach to appraisal. This should support teachers to better measure the success of improved practices in promoting outcomes for specific children and priority groups.
The governance board includes community representatives with a wide range of useful skills. The board and senior leadership team work well together, with a shared commitment to meeting strategic goals and objectives for the benefit of children, whānau and community. Resource allocation clearly aligns with this focus. Equitable and inclusive ways to eliminate barriers to children’s learning and wellbeing are actively sought.
The association's senior teaching team are reflective and highly improvement focused. Robust, linked systems and processes have been skilfully developed to guide and grow teacher capability and positively impact on children’s learning. Leaders are successfully fostering a collective sense of responsibility for the vision, values and mission of the association.
ERO and kindergarten teachers agree that their priority next steps are to:
ERO, the governance board and senior leaders agree that they should continue to build their effectiveness by:
Before the review, the staff and management of Epuni Kindergarten 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
The next ERO review of Epuni Kindergarten will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
17 October 2018
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 |
Lower Hutt |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5328 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
40 children aged over 2 |
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Service roll |
53 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 32, Girls 21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
September 2018 |
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Date of this report |
17 October 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2015 |
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|
Education Review |
September 2012 |
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|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
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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:
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Epuni Kindergarten provides education and care for children from two to five years of age. Sessions are offered each day from 8.30am to 2.30pm. The kindergarten is licensed for 40 children. At the time of this review the teaching team consisted of two permanent and two relieving teachers, all fully qualified. The programme is further assisted by support staff. The kindergarten has a positive reporting history with ERO.
The July 2012 ERO report identified areas requiring further development. These included strengthening assessment, self review and bicultural practice. Some progress is evident in these areas and teachers remain committed to strengthening their practice.
The kindergarten is governed by the Hutt City Kindergarten Association (the association). Two professional practice managers (PPMs) are employed by the association to provide professional support and guidance to teachers. Since the previous review there have been several changes of General Manager.
This review was part of a cluster of nine kindergarten reviews in the Hutt City Kindergarten Association.
Children are supported to lead their learning and make choices about their play. They happily explore and experiment within a secure and interesting environment. There is a wide range of spaces and resources to extend play and learning, including small areas deliberately arranged to promote individual and small group learning. Children’s independence is encouraged. They are assisted to take responsibility and care for their own wellbeing, and for others, with an explicit focus on being kind and safe.
Positive relationships are a significant feature of the kindergarten. Teachers’ interactions with children are respectful, gentle and nurturing. Purposeful conversations promote their language and learning. Children confidently interact with one another and with adults, including visitors. Family members spoken with during the review appreciate the whanaungatanga that teachers promote. They feel welcomed and supported. Some parents actively participate in the programme and encourage others to do the same.
Māori perspectives are promoted through the curriculum and environment. Teachers are committed to developing and integrating te reo Māori naturally into the programme.
A strong relationship and sharing learning experiences with the local school support children’s transition to school. Well-established partnerships with specialist services and the head teacher’s knowledge of special education contribute to good levels of care and education for children with additional learning needs, including oral language and communication. The head teacher assists teachers to develop inclusive strategies to support children.
Teachers know children and their families well. They discuss children’s strengths, interests and needs and how to respond to these within the curriculum. Processes for assessment and planning have been reviewed and modified. Learning stories provide attractive records of children’s experiences and participation. These records are easily accessed by children to share and revisit their learning.
Teachers are beginning to show increased connections in the assessment records over time. They should continue to strengthen the quality and documentation of planned teaching strategies to more effectively extend children’s learning. ERO and teachers agree that children’s profiles should more clearly show increased reflections of how teachers promote children’s language, culture and identity. This should include building on families and whānau aspirations for their children.
There is a good self-review process in place and recent reviews, including evaluative PPM reports, have led to some useful next steps and improvements. Teachers are reflective and improvement focussed. They should continue to develop their self-review processes so they become more evaluative and clearly identify the impact of the curriculum and teaching on outcomes for children.
The association is part way through the implementation of a new approach to appraisal. Once fully established this should assist leaders to provide a robust, supportive and developmental process. The PPMs should then undertake regular monitoring of how well appraisal is being implemented in each kindergarten.
The board receives a range of useful information. A key next step is for leaders to undertake more evaluative reporting to assist in decision making and ongoing resourcing. The strategic plan provides a vision and shared direction to guide development. Establishing clearer measures of success should strengthen evaluation of progress towards goals. In addition, strategies that promote cultural responsiveness to Māori and Pacific families should be highlighted in strategic documents.
The PPMs provide half-yearly written reports. These show how the kindergarten is meeting legislative requirements, and at times, make recommendations. The reports should be strengthened by providing critical feedback on the quality of teaching and the effectiveness of the curriculum in improving outcomes for children.
The association provides guidance and support to teachers for continuous improvement of teaching and learning. This includes:
At the time of this review the association was involved in a formal review to determine the future direction of Hutt City Kindergartens. ERO identified that within the current operating model the capacity of senior staff to provide targeted support that promotes ongoing improvement to teaching and learning is limited.
ERO identified that priorities for improvement should include:
The association should:
Before the review, the staff and management of Epuni Kindergarten 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
The next ERO review of Epuni Kindergarten will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central
23 September 2015
|
Location |
Lower Hutt |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
5328 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children over two years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
35 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 18, Boys 17 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Indian Other ethnic groups |
12 8 2 9 4 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
August 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
23 September 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
December 2005 |
||
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.