38 Pembroke Crescent, Glendowie, 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 |
|
Curriculum |
Not meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
The Japanese Kindergarten is a small centre providing a programme focused on the Japanese language and culture. A maximum of eight children attends each day and most children attend one day a week. The qualified centre manager supports a teaching assistant.
The service curriculum is consistent with the prescribed curriculum framework that applies to the service but requires some inclusion of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. A philosophy statement guides the service’s operation. The service provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning. Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The service curriculum respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.
Ongoing monitoring of premises and facilities, health and safety, and governance and management practices are required to sustain regulatory compliance.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, C5.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
15 November 2021
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Japanese Kindergarten |
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Profile Number |
10145 |
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Location |
Glendowie, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
8 children over 2 years of age |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
35 |
|
Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā 2, Japanese 30, other ethnic groups 3 |
|
Review team on site |
August 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
15 November 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, December 2017; Education Review, February 2014. |
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 licence to operate.
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Japanese Kindergarten is a small centre that provides an immersion programme, focused on Japanese language and culture, for eight children each day. The majority of children attend one day a week for full day or sessional care.
All children who attend the centre have Japanese cultural backgrounds, and are between two and five years of age. The centre has a waiting list for places, with some parents eager for their children to attend for more days during the week. Children play and learn in a mixed-age group. The owner/operator has NZ teaching qualifications. She employs two Japanese speaking, and trained early childhood teachers.
ERO's 2014 report noted settled children, and respectful and responsive interactions between teachers and children. These positive aspects are still evident in the programme. The report identified development priorities that included annual and strategic planning. It also recommended that the owner seek professional development about current research in early childhood teaching and management. The owner has made good progress in addressing these priorities.
The centre programme is focused on learning in a full immersion Japanese language and cultural setting. Children are warmly welcomed at the start of the session, and encouraged to make choices about where they want to play. Teachers speak Japanese only in these conversations. Children settle quickly, play peacefully with others, and talk freely to teachers and their peers. They speak in Japanese, with varying levels of expertise, and are responsive to teachers' questions and suggestions.
Children are eager participants in the programme. The learning programme provides a blend of teacher-led and child-initiated play. Children have opportunities to listen to skilled story-telling by teachers, to join in musical experiences, and to be creative. Teachers use a thematic approach to help children to learn about traditional Japanese creative crafts, and extend their Japanese vocabulary.
The early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, includes the expectation that all children will learn about the dual cultural heritage of New Zealand. While this is not yet a strength in this already bilingual centre, teachers strive to include te reo Māori in meaningful contexts. The owner plans to develop this aspect of the programme.
Relationships with parents are open and inclusive. The owner regularly shares information about children's development with parents, both formally and informally. She invites parents' input into the programme. Parents comment about, and contribute to, planning for individual children. The recent development of portfolios for children is helping teachers to plan the programme. Portfolios are valued by both children and their parents.
ERO identified areas of the centre's operation that need attention. These include:
upskilling the teaching team about New Zealand's bicultural expectations as outlined in Te Whāriki, and including reference to te Tiriti o Waitangi in the centre's philosophy
continuing to work with an external mentor to strengthen teachers' understanding about current good practices in New Zealand early childhood education.
Before the review, the staff and management of Japanese 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:
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 Japanese Kindergarten will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
7 December 2017
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 |
Glendowie, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10145 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
8 children over 2 years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
41 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 26 Girls 15 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Japanese/Pākehā |
19 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
October 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
7 December 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
December 2007 |
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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.