4 Ngatoto Street, Ngaio, Wellington
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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Grace Kindergarten are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
| What the service knows about outcomes for learners | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
|
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whāngai Establishing |
|
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakaū Embedding |
|
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
|
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
|
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
Grace Kindergarten is a community-based early childhood centre located in Ngaio. A charitable trust board governs the centre. Responsibility for day-to-day operation is undertaken by the head teacher. The service's philosophy is based on Christian values. Good progress has been made in addressing the areas for improvement identified in the 2018 ERO Report.
The responsive curriculum promotes children’s mana and identity as learners. Leaders and teachers build collaborative, responsive, and respectful relationships with children and their families. They value parent and whānau perspectives. Children with additional needs are very well supported and benefit from the calm and settled environment. A sense of belonging and wellbeing are fostered through this approach.
Children’s learning goals have been developed in partnership with parents and whānau. They are inclusive of the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and Christian values. These are highly evident in assessment, planning and evaluation processes and underpin the learning programme. Teachers are intentional in how they use the learning outcomes through assessment documentation. Greater emphasis on identifying progress against the goals and learning outcomes to inform next steps more reliably is required. Visibility of children cultures, languages and identities is variable through assessment documentation.
Teachers value te ao Māori and have identified a strategic priority of authentically enacting Te Tiriti o Waitangi. While they use te reo and tikanga Māori, these are not yet consistently integrated into daily practice in meaningful ways for children.
Leaders and teachers are collaborative, and improvement focused. Ongoing review of aspects of the curriculum informs improvement. Systematic use of the internal evaluation framework is required to better support teachers to know how well improvement actions have impacted on outcomes for children.
The centre is strongly led. Trusting relationships support collaboration with a sustained focus on improvement. Professional development is targeted and purposefully sought. The wellbeing and learning of children, and the strong focus on Christian values are at the centre of decision making.
The kindergarten is thoughtfully governed by a trust board. Recent professional development has led to clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Strategic planning appropriately informs centre direction.
Grace Kindergarten will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Grace 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
15 February 2022
| Early childhood service name | Grace Kindergarten |
| Profile number | 60347 |
| Location | Wellington |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
27 children aged 2 years and over. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
36 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 26, Other ethnic groups 8. |
|
Review team on site |
November 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
15 February 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2018; Education Review, July 2014. |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Grace Kindergarten is a community-based centre located in the Wellington suburb of Ngaio. The service's philosophy is based in Christian values. It promotes the uniqueness of each child and the importance of family.
The service is licensed to provide care and education for 27 children, aged over two years. A young tamariki session operates two days a week, and older tamariki session operates for the remaining three. A diverse range of children attend the centre from the local and wider community.
A charitable trust and a management board govern the centre. The head teacher is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the centre. All full-time teachers are qualified and registered. Parent helpers support the operation of each session.
The July 2014 ERO report identified areas requiring development in relation to curriculum indicators and bicultural practices. Significant work has been completed on creating curriculum indicators that strongly align to philosophy and the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Children experience a curriculum that effectively responds to their interests, strengths and capabilities. The service's priorities for learning clearly drive development of the programme and teacher practice. Children lead their own learning in an environment that encourages participation and exploration. Science, literacy and music are highly evident.
Plentiful resources support a bicultural curriculum. Teachers use basic te reo Māori in conversation and more deliberately in formal parts of the programme. Leaders should continue to strengthen the meaningful use of te reo Māori across the teaching team.
Teachers effectively support children's investigation. A range of strategies extend children's thinking and develop oral language. Children engage in sustained play, communicate effectively and revisit their prior learning.
Children with additional learning needs are very well supported to achieve positive learning outcomes. Teachers carefully consider how to build an inclusive learning environment. They work with parents and external agencies to identify, progress and monitor learning goals for these children.
Strong, respectful relationships are evident between teachers, children, parents and whānau. Parents regularly participate in sessions and centre activities.
Teachers collaboratively plan for and assess individual children's learning in response to their interests and needs. Regular evaluation of progress towards learning goals over time is evident. Parent aspirations and feedback contribute to teachers' knowledge about the child. Children's profile books give a sense of who they are and what they can do.
Responsiveness to individual culture, language and identity is developing. Teachers should continue to explore ways to uphold children's cultural connections within daily practice and planning. A focus on increasing effectiveness in promoting educational success for Māori, and for children of Pacific heritage, is required.
Transitions are well considered and responsive to individual children. Links to local schools are continuing to strengthen. The current review of the transition to school process is timely.
The head teacher fosters the enactment of a shared vision within the centre. Teachers are given the opportunity to lead areas of interest. Building staff capability is identified as a priority of the board. A key next step is to develop a robust appraisal process that aligns with Education Council expectations.
Governance and management responsibilities are not clearly separated. Further clarifying the roles and responsibilities of board members should promote more effective operation of the centre.
Regular self-review on all aspects of operation results in change. A key next step is for teachers to develop an evaluative focus that identifies high quality practice, steps for improvements and the impact of change on children's outcomes.
ERO has identified that key next steps are for leaders and teachers to:
Leaders and managers should:
Before the review, the staff and management of Grace 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.
ERO identified an area of non-compliance.
When is ERO likely to review the service again?
The next ERO review of Grace Kindergarten will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
1 February 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 |
Wellington |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
60347 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
27 children aged over 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
49 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 33, Girls 16 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
November 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
1 February 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
July 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 2011 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2008 |
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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.