10/2 Triangle Road, Massey, 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.
Thriving Kids is a privately owned, purpose-built early learning centre. It is one of two education and care services under the same ownership. Children are from diverse cultural backgrounds. Approximately a quarter of children enrolled are Māori or have Pacific heritage. This is the first ERO review of the service since ownership changed in August 2020.
The service’s curriculum is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation that demonstrate an understanding of children’s learning, interests, whānau, and life contexts. A range of experiences and opportunities are provided to enhance and extend children’s learning and development, both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups. The service curriculum provides a language-rich environment.
A philosophy statement guides the service’s operation, it expresses their beliefs, values, and attitudes about the provision of early childhood education and care. Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions that enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.
Next steps include continuing to:
develop and strengthen learning-focused relationships with parents, whānau, and the wider community
explore ways in which the service’s curriculum can support children’s right to be confident in their own culture, reflecting and celebrating individual children’s languages, cultures, and identity.
The service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Equipment, premises, and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children, which include all considerations of this criterion (HS12).
When children leave the premises on an excursion a record is kept which includes the names of adults and children involved, evidence of parental approval of adult:child ratios and the signature of the person responsible (HS17).
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
18 November 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Thriving Kids Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
45122 |
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Location |
Massey, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
75 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
73 |
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Review team on site |
September 2022 |
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Date of this report |
18 November 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Previously Reviewed as Junior Junction Massey |
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.
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 |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Junior Junction Massey provides full-day or sessional early childhood education and care for children up to five years of age. It is licensed for up to 75 children, including 25 children under the age of two years. Children are catered for in three age-related groups, and play outdoors in two playgrounds.
Relationships with parents and whānau, and celebrating cultural diversity are central to the core values that underpin the centre’s philosophy. The programme is guided by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
The centre is privately owned and operates under the umbrella of Junior Junction Holdings Limited. The owner delegates responsibility for day-to-day operations to the centre manager. A mentor teacher is responsible for the appraisal process within the organisation. The centre manager is supported by three head teachers who have responsibility for children's care routines and programmes provided within each room.
The centre offers good adult-to-child ratios. Nine of the 18 staff members are registered teachers. A cook provides daily meals for children, including special dietary meals.
The 2014 ERO report noted that the centre catered well for children's cultural diversity and teachers placed value on acknowledging parent aspirations for their children. These aspects are still strengths in the centre. Areas for development included ensuring the transition to school programme reflects the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and reviewing the centre philosophy. Good progress has been made in these areas.
Children enjoy friendly and caring interactions with adults and each other. Teachers talk with parents respectfully to find out about their children's cultural backgrounds. Group activities and festive events are celebrated, giving children good opportunities to take pride in their cultural heritage. Teachers use a variety of home languages that reflect those of the centre staff, families and children. Teachers increasingly use te reo Māori through visual cues, music, vocabulary and in their learning stories, to promote bicultural awareness.
Children are free to choose activities and teachers support them in their play. They are encouraged to develop social skills through opportunities to share and negotiate their play. Outcomes for children could be improved through increased opportunities for teachers to observe and reflect on ways they extend children's learning through play.
Wall displays promote and celebrate children's learning. Leaders could now consider how learning environments provoke imagination and creative thinking for all children, particularly for older children.
Infants and toddlers learn in a separate room with its own outdoor learning area. Designated primary caregiving approaches ensure that infants and toddlers benefit from nurturing care. Respectful practices allow them to explore and learn at their own pace. Teachers and parents regularly share information to foster children's sense of security and wellbeing.
Teachers in each room are collegial and plan together. Children's interests, parent aspirations and centre events inform programme planning. Teachers continue to strengthen programme planning and the evaluation of the impact that their teaching strategies are having on outcomes for children.
Staff have been involved in professional development to establish internal evaluation processes. Further development and leadership is needed to utilise the good model of internal evaluation, which they now have, across a wider range of teaching, programmes and resources.
Good staff appraisal systems are in place. Teachers use an inquiry approach to reflect on their teaching and identify individual professional development areas. Centre leaders could now consider implementing more centre-wide professional development to build consistent teaching and learning practices.
A strategic plan is in place to guide centre direction and improvements. There is a need to better align this with the annual plan and with identified measurable indicators that show progress over time in relation to the service's goals and priorities.
The owner and centre manager agree that key next steps for the centre are to:
continue to develop consistent teaching practices to extend children's thinking and encourage complex problem solving
review learning environments to promote children’s access to resources that support complex play and critical thinking
strengthen documented evaluation to show how changes to teaching practice and internal evaluation positively impact on learning outcomes for children.
To improve practice the owner agrees that continuing to increase the rigour and consistency of the implementation and monitoring of Health and Safety is a priority.
Before the review, the staff and management of Junior Junction Massey 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 Junior Junction Massey will be within three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
3 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.
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Location |
Massey, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45122 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
75 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
75 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 41 Girls 34 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
17 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2018 |
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Date of this report |
3 August 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
August 2011 |
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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.