4 Kenmure Ave, Forrest Hill, Auckland
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Happy Kids At Home Childcare is privately owned and operated by two qualified teachers. Both owners are the visiting teachers who oversee the delivery of education and care by home educators. Most of the home educators are children's family members, such as grandparents. The majority of children attending are Chinese.
Educators engage in positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The service respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.
Educators’ care and education programmes are inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected. The curriculum provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development, both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups.
An annual plan and an ongoing self-review process guides the service's operation. Consistent implementation of systems and practices is required to maintain regulatory standards.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Having an outdoor activity space enclosed by structures and/or fences designed to ensure that children cannot leave the premises without help or knowledge of the educator (PF11).
Maintaining a first aid kit that complies with licensing requirements (PF15).
Having a written emergency plan and sufficient supplies to ensure the care and safety of the children and educator at the home and when away from the home (HS4).
Ensuring heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured (HS6).
Having a procedure for monitoring children’s sleep that ensures that children are checked for warmth, breathing, and general wellbeing at least every 10 to 15 minutes or more frequently according to individual needs (HS8).
Ensuring equipment, premises and facilities are checked every day of operation for hazards to children and appropriate action taken (HS11).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
16 February 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Happy Kids At Home Childcare |
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Profile Number |
47138 |
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Location |
Forrest Hill, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Review team on site |
December 2022 |
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Date of this report |
16 February 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2019 |
All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.
Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a license to operate.
having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
discussions with those involved in the service
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Happy Kids At Home Childcare is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Happy Kids At Home Childcare is privately co-owned and operated. The network provides care and education for up to 80 children in the homes of educators. This is a standard funded network with the majority of the educators living locally. This is the service's first ERO review.
The network was established with the intention of increasing the participation of Chinese children in early childhood education. At the time of this review, there are 55 children enrolled in the network and 22 educators who work under the guidance and supervision of the two owners, who are qualified and registered early childhood teachers. As visiting teachers (VT), they visit educators at least once a month or more regularly if required. The VTs, educators and all children except for one, are of Chinese heritage.
The philosophy expresses a commitment to provide respectful care practices and learning in a bicultural environment. It recognises and embraces the partnerships espoused in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and acknowledges that Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, will guide the programme provided for children. An external provider is contracted to support and strengthen leaders' practice and pedagogy to further support educators.
The service has a strong focus on the health, safety and wellbeing of children in its care. The VTs and educators monitor children's ongoing development and learning, and complete regular safety checks of homes. Visiting teachers provide opportunities for children and educators to experience a range of activities, including regular excursions. The music and movement sessions held in the local libraries are a popular part of the programme.
Visiting teachers help educators to understand the importance of children's learning through play and assist educators to recognise and support children's learning. Children up to two years of age enrolled in this network have their developmental milestones acknowledged and celebrated.
Providing children with authentic experiences of their heritage language and culture is a priority for this service. The majority of children are placed with a family member or someone connected with the family. Many of the educators have limited English. The VTs are fluent speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese. They are careful to facilitate communication with parents, and when needed in the home of the educator. The recent introduction of an online portal allows parents and whānau to see the VTs' monthly reports for their child, and to add their comments and stories if they wish.
The service is underpinned by genuine, supportive, culturally sensitive relationships. The VTs provide regular professional learning and development opportunities for educators to support them in their role.
Happy Kids At Home Childcare is a new service. Many of the systems, policies and procedures are in the embedding stage and some are still under development. Internal evaluation is used to improve planning and practice, and service operations.
The key next steps for improving the service are for visiting teachers to:
increase the focus on play-based learning and help educators notice children's learning
review the philosophy in order to strengthen the guidance it provides to achieve the service vision
continue to develop internal evaluation processes to promote greater depth of inquiry into educators' practice
strengthen the feedback to educators on what is going well and what could be improved.
Before the review, the staff and management of Happy Kids At Home Childcare completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
10 May 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 |
Forrest Hill, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47138 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
55 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Gender composition |
Girls 29 Boys 26 |
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Ethnic composition |
Chinese |
54 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
February 2019 |
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Date of this report |
10 May 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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No previous ERO reports |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.