11a Cross Street, Regent, Whangarei
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Geckos Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakatō Emerging Whakatō Emerging |
Geckos Early Learning Centre is one of four services in Whangarei with two Auckland based owners. A centre manager oversees the daily operations of the centre and is supported by an operations manager. Children enrolled are of diverse ethnicities, including a small number who are of Māori heritage.
Children benefit from a calm, unhurried, environment and are comfortable with routines, showing a strong sense of belonging at the service. They have opportunities to revisit their learning and to be involved in small group activities or to play independently. Their preferences are respected, and they are encouraged to express their ideas.
Children are viewed as confident and capable learners. They lead their own learning in a natural environment which is set with opened-ended resources. This encourages children’s imagination and creativity and offers opportunities for physical challenges and sustained engagement.
Children are exposed to te reo Māori and tikanga Māori through waiata, karakia, and resources within the natural learning environment.
Teachers are beginning to explore various ways to engage with whānau to increase the focus on children’s learning and progress. Teachers could further consider ways to capture all children’s cultures, languages and identity, and make these visible in planning and assessment documentation.
Leaders have a focus on relationships and are building a professional culture within new teams. This is supporting positive relationships with children and their whānau. Engagement with whānau is valued by the leader and teachers, and they now need to consider parents’ aspirations to enable and implement a responsive curriculum for all children.
Leaders and teachers are beginning to use internal evaluation to support equitable outcomes for all children. They now need to use evaluation to unpack in-depth shifts in teaching practices and improved outcomes for children, monitoring these overtime.
Leaders are beginning to develop a professional growth cycle. They now need to regularly mentor teachers to build their teaching and leadership capabilities.
Geckos Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Build the teaching team’s capacity to use individual children’s assessment, evaluation, cultures, languages and identity to improve outcomes for learners.
Further develop internal evaluation processes by focusing on how improvements are impacting on children’s learning.
Continue to regularly mentor teachers to build teaching and leadership capabilities with a focus on shifts in practices and outcomes for tamariki.
Before the review, the staff and management of Geckos Early Learning Centre completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence it has addressed the following
non-compliance:
Having a current fire evacuation scheme that is approved by the New Zealand Fire Service and that includes regular trial evacuations for fire emergencies to be done at least every six months and reported to Fire and Emergency New Zealand within 10 working days of taking place (HS4).
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
12 October 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Geckos Early Learning Centre |
| Profile Number | 46126 |
| Location | Whangarei, Northland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
26 children over 2 years |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
26 |
|
Review team on site |
August 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
12 October 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2018 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Geckos Early Learning Centre is licensed for 24 children aged over 2 years. It provides full day programmes in a renovated house beside Whāngarei Primary School. The community attending the centre is predominately NZ European/Pākehā. Increasing numbers of children come from other ethnic backgrounds. The centre has recently been sold.
The centre philosophy is influenced by the Reggio Emilia and focuses on "empowering children to dream, soar and succeed in their lives, form friendships and be curious about the world". Links to the early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, are identified along with the team’s commitment to working in partnership with a diverse community.
A team of four registered teachers provides a good staff to child ratio. The 2015 ERO report commented on a well-designed and resourced learning environment where teachers promote children's exploration and curiosity. The team has built on the recommendations of the ERO report by regularly monitoring progress towards achieving their strategic goals.
Children and their whānau are warmly welcomed into the well-resourced centre. A caring home-like, inclusive and respectful culture is evident. Children independently access a wide range of equipment. Children settle quickly into self-directed exploration, learning activities and play.
Children are capable, confident and articulate. They benefit from the centre's and teachers' calm unhurried pace. They engage well with their teachers and with the responsive, child centred programme. The programme provides good opportunities for them to think and solve problems. Children have extended periods of uninterrupted play that enables them to sustain their interest in activities.
Teachers align children's learning programmes to the principles and strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. They also integrate literacy and numeracy well into play throughout the day. Programmes have a strong focus on environmental sustainability and making connections for children to the local area.
Teachers respond well to children's interests. They are committed to supporting children to become independent, resilient, capable and confident learners. Leaders and teachers continue to strengthen their practice by being deliberate and intentional when planning learning provocations. They carefully consider ways that additional challenge can be provided for capable learners.
Teachers use te reo Māori and waiata during the day. They plan to continue to build their knowledge and capability in te reo and tikanga Māori, so children can benefit from a strong bicultural curriculum.
Teachers develop good relationships and learning partnerships with families. They work collaboratively with parents and other agencies to support children who have additional learning needs. Parents are provided with good information about children's progress. Children's transitions into the centre and on to school are very well planned and managed. These features promote children's sense of belonging and positive learning outcomes.
At the time of this evaluation, new owners had taken over management of both centres. The former owner initiated a careful and well thought out hand over. Good long-term plans are in place to guide future developments, and the centre's policies and procedures are regularly reviewed.
The centre has developed the leadership capacity of staff through an emphasis on developing teachers as leaders. A new head teacher was appointed in 2017. She works well with the head teacher of the neighbouring Geckos centre. She ensures teachers have curriculum leadership opportunities to build a strong learning community.
Recent and appropriate professional development programmes have strengthened teachers' internal evaluation capabilities. Centre leaders and teachers use internal evaluation practices to ensure continuous improvement. Recent and useful internal evaluation has focused on Te Whāriki and on children's learning opportunities in mathematics.
Centre leaders agree that the key next steps for the centre include continuing to:
deepen teachers' understanding and confidence to extend and challenge children's thinking
assist teachers to be more intentional and deliberate when planning learning provocations that will challenge and extend children
develop bicultural programmes and further strengthen teachers' knowledge and capability in te reo and tikanga Māori.
Before the review, the staff and management of Geckos 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.
The next ERO review of Geckos Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
10 August 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.
|
Location |
Regent, Whangarei |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46126 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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|
Number licensed for |
24 children over 2 years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
28 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 18 Boys 10 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
7 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
July 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 August 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2015 |
|
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.