Esk Valley Kindergarten

Education institution number:
5482
Service type:
Free Kindergarten
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
27
Telephone:
Address:

279 Esk Valley, St Andrews

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Esk Valley Kindergarten - 24/05/2017

1 Evaluation of Esk Valley Kindergarten

How well placed is Esk Valley Kindergarten 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

Esk Valley Kindergarten is a new kindergarten governed by the Waimate Kindergarten Association and is one of a cluster of two. The association also provides a mobile service that operates in the surrounding district. A general manager has responsibility for the overall operation. A senior teacher supports the teachers with their professional practice.

The kindergarten provides early childhood education to twenty children from two years of age to school age. Families and children attending are from a range of backgrounds and ethnicities. The new head teacher had been in the role for three months at the time of the review. The number of children attending the service has grown quickly since it opened two years ago. The increase has led to the association extending the days they are open from three sessions each week to a four-day week beginning this term. The sessions are provided in a building with limited space. This provides a challenge that the association, teachers, children and families manage well.

This is the kindergarten's first ERO review under its new name.

The Review Findings

Esk Valley Kindergarten welcomes families from a wide rural area who enjoy the opportunity to be together. The new head teacher has settled quickly into her role which has been helped by a strong sense of whanaungatanga within the community. Teachers effectively model inclusive behaviour through thoughtful, sensitive practices. They value the multicultural nature of the centre and work together to support the range of individual strengths, interests and needs of the children who attend. 

Teachers make use of incidental conversations with children to effectively build children's confidence to explore and understand the world around them. Teachers are particularly skilled at integrating learning in oral language and mathematics. Children are listened to, their views and ideas respected and teachers encourage them to be decision makers. They are able to make choices and be independent. Teachers support children with social development. Children were seen teaching and learning from one another through the strong friendships they have formed. They work and play cooperatively over time without the need for adult involvement.

Children are showing a developing interest in te reo and tikanga Māori and initiate learning in this area. The teachers intentionally teach te reo Māori during mat time. Children are becoming familiar with local stories, can say a mihi and enjoy singing waiata. Teachers are growing their understanding of Māori concepts. They have benefited from and greatly value the connections they have with local iwi and are planning ways to ensure they maintain and build on these connections.

Other features of the service that promote positive outcomes for children include:

  • the effective support teachers give children with special needs

  • the teachers' ability to critically reflect on children's learning and the impact of their teaching on learning

  • the range of relevant resources and activities teachers provide that link with children's home-life experiences

  • the regular gathering and use of parents' views and aspirations for children's learning.

The capable manager and kindergarten head teacher are improvement focused. The head teacher and teachers reflect daily on practice and use the information they collect to plan and evaluate programmes and their teaching. They recently identified the service’s key learning priorities for children’s learning and have begun to plan how to ensure these are achieved.

The internal-evaluation processes and practices used by the service have been effective. There have been useful planned and spontaneous reviews with positive outcomes for children. These practices now need to be consolidated with the new team. A schedule of reviews that includes key aspects of learning and teaching may be useful in guiding future development. The manager plans to review the internal evaluation system to ensure policy reviews are manageable and include evaluation against practice.

The governing body, manager and senior teacher work collaboratively to provide effective support to the service and ensure systems are cohesive and well aligned. There are practices in place to support ongoing improvements and manage health and safety. A strategic plan clearly states the association's philosophy, vision and values. Relevant strategic goals are closely monitored through a useful annual plan. The head teacher reports to the board regularly against annual goals. A robust appraisal system is embedding well.

Key next steps for the service have been identified by the manager, senior teacher and head teacher and ERO agrees. These are stated above and include continuing to develop and implement:

  • the assessment and planning system

  • bicultural practice and the integration of Māori perspectives

  • the recently identified centre-wide learning priorities for children

  • internal evaluation practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Esk Valley 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:

  • 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.

During the review ERO identified the need for the association to update the kindergarten's appraisal and appointments policies to meet new requirements. This was being attended to while ERO was on site.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Esk Valley Kindergarten will be in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

24 May 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 Early Childhood Service 

Location

St Andrews

Ministry of Education profile number

5482

Licence type

Free Kindergarten

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

20 children aged over 2

Service roll

21

Gender composition

Boys: 11

Girls: 10

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Chilean

3

16

2

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

March 2017

Date of this report

24 May 2017

Most recent ERO report(s) 

Education Review

June 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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.

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.

Esk Valley Kindergarten - 19/06/2014

1 Evaluation of Waimate Mobile Kindergarten

How well placed is Waimate Mobile Kindergarten 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

Waimate Mobile is the only mobile kindergarten remaining in New Zealand. Each week day, two teachers drive a van loaded with resources and equipment to a different rural location in the Waimate district. The teachers serve 5 very diverse communities over the week. The mobile kindergarten is the only preschool service some of the children attend.

With the help of the parents from the area, the teachers set up a play and learning programme for the local preschool children. Children aged from newborn to five years attend the three to four hour sessions with their parents. The sessions provide an important opportunity for families to get together, form friendships and share information that supports their children’s early education. The newly-appointed head teacher is fully trained and she and a teacher-aide plan a specific programme every week to meet the needs of the children attending each site.

ERO visited one of the 5 sites during the review.

At the time of the review the board and the general manager were in the process of working with the Ministry of Education to enable the Mobile Kindergarten venues to meet the 2008 ECE regulations and licensing criteria. The association, with the support of the various communities, is committed to retaining what is considered an essential and valuable service benefiting the local children, their families and communities.

Since the 2010 ERO review there have been several changes to the structure of some of the kindergarten sessions and to their location. Some adjustments were made to meet the changing needs of the community and to provide more appropriate session sites. Other improvements have followed from a comprehensive action plan the teaching team developed to address the recommendations from the last ERO review

This review was part of a cluster of 2 kindergarten reviews in the Waimate Kindergarten Association.

The Review Findings

Documents and discussions with managers and teachers, together with the observations from the one site ERO visited, show that the service provides a range of experiences for children. A feature of the service visited is the way the beliefs of the teachers for learning could be seen in what they do with and for children. Whanaungatanga (relationships and community connections) and Manaakitanga (caring for one another) are particularly strong. It was evident that parents and children greatly value the service. They settle quickly with high levels of engagement in the session.

Other positive features include:

  • children benefiting from supportive relationships and the affirming, respectful interactions that occur between and with the adults present
  • children supporting one another and interacting positively and caringly
  • children having access to a wide range of experiences and good quality resources and equipment that encourage and support all forms of learning
  • parents and teachers working together to set up the session, ensure the session goes well and supporting children’s wellbeing and safety
  • the way the teacher’s planning reflects the changing needs of the community and the individual children attending.

Teachers have effective learning conversations with children. They intentionally plan to help children learn social skills. They use their knowledge of children and their families as a starting point and gather parents’ wishes for their children’s learning to strengthen this process.

Children, parents and teachers take collective responsibility for younger children. Children consistently play well with and alongside each other in small group activities.

The teaching team is very aware of the diverse cultural backgrounds of the families attending and is highly sensitive and responsive to these. Special attention is paid to ensure that all families and children feel welcome, that their culture is acknowledged and supported and that they feel their contribution is valued.

Teachers have worked hard to build their knowledge and skills in Te Ao Māori. They plan ways to support children to become familiar with New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. Maori concepts are evident in documents and children’s profile books. This learning is beginning to emerge in the programme with increasing participation by parents and children. This area of development is ongoing.

Teachers have good systems for managing, tracking and monitoring children’s learning. The children’s profile books show clearly what learning is valued by the community. The parents that ERO spoke with expressed appreciation for profile books and said they support their relationship with the teachers and encourage them to reflect on their child’s educational experiences.

The teaching team reflects in depth on what they do to help children develop and learn and they are focused on improvement. The teachers are motivated to learn and to participate in regular ongoing professional development. They creatively problem solve to find solutions to a range of complex situations that arise due to the nature of the service. Through an ongoing process of review, they have identified aspects of the programme and their practices that can be further refined. These include bicultural development and the integration of a Māori dimension, clarity of learning intentions and building parents’ understanding of the programme. A greater focus on evaluation will further strengthen the review process.

Governance and Leadership

Governance. The board and general manager work well together to ensure that the association is well governed and well managed. Board members have useful ongoing training to help them understand their roles and responsibilities. There are comprehensive policies and procedures to guide the operations of the association and effective monitoring systems. There is alignment between the association reviews and the kindergarten reviews.

The board has a clear vision and strategic plan to guide the association’s future. It has identified that the upcoming review of the strategic plan will include a focus on outcomes for children. The board, general manager, and teachers have actively sought ways to engage with local iwi and to build bicultural practices across the association. It would be useful to include bicultural development in the strategic plan to sustain and enhance the progress that has been made.

Association support for the Kindergarten. The general manager and senior teacher provide strong professional leadership to the two kindergarten services. They visit each site regularly and visits are followed by detailed reports and actions and reflections for the teams to consider.

The teachers, general manager, senior teacher, board members and parents communicate frequently and work well together. There is a well-established culture of ongoing professional development and reflection within the organisation. The association is very supportive of emerging leadership amongst the teaching teams.

Management of Mobile kindergarten. The head teacher provides strong leadership within her team. She and the teacher-aides have developed effective and efficient systems to manage the complexity of delivering an early childhood service to the various rural sites and to widely diverse communities.

Key Next Steps

Appraisals. Further develop the process to better show the input from the appraiser.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Waimate Mobile 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:

  • 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 Waimate Mobile Kindergarten will be in three years.

Graham Randell National Manager Review Services Southern Region

19 June 2014

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

Location

Waimate, South Canterbury

Ministry of Education profile number

5482

 

Free Kindergarten

Licensed under

Chartered not licensed

Number Chartered for

68 Over two years of age

Service roll

A total of 100 children attend across 5 sites

Gender composition

Boys: 52 Girls: 48

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Nepalese

Filipino

Australian

South African

8

80

6

3

2

1

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%

Based on funding rates

50-79%

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

Not applicable

 
 

Over 2

1:20

Meets minimum requirements Parents also attend

Review team on site

May 2014

Date of this report

19 June 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

September 2010

 

Education Review

July 2007

 

Education Review

July 2004

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 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.