318 Rosamond Terrace, Kawhia
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 |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
During 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.
Kawhia Early Childhood Centre Kura Tiaki is governed by a charitable community trust. There have been significant changes in the trust, leadership and staffing. The majority of tamariki whakapapa to Māori and there are some of Pacific heritages. The service philosophy is based on Kawhia moana, Kawhia kai and Kawhia tāngata.
The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Tamariki have opportunities to learn the knowledge and understand the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Kaiako providing education and care engage in meaningful positive interactions, enhancing the learning of tamariki within reciprocal relationships. There is inclusivity and responsiveness in the curriculum that supports tamariki to be confident and competent learners. Their preferences are respected, and tamariki are involved in decisions about their learning experiences. The service curriculum supports tamariki in developing their social competence and the understanding of appropriate behaviour.
Next steps include:
increasing the intentional use of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, in assessment and planning, to inform and support teaching
taking a more consistent and systematic approach to seeking and responding to whānau aspirations for tamariki learning.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
Ensuring parents/caregivers have given prior written approval to their child’s participation in, and of the proposed ratio for, regular excursions at the time of enrolment (HS17).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
3 July 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Kawhia Early Childhood Centre Kura Tiaki |
|
Profile Number |
30169 |
|
Location |
Kawhia |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
24 children, including up to 4 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
|
Service roll |
19 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
3 July 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review June 2018; Education Review, February 2017 |
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kawhia Early Childhood Centre Kura Tiaki is licensed to provide care and education for 24 children including four up to two years of age in a mixed-age setting. The centre is governed by a community trust. A long-serving board chair uses her professional skills and experiences to improve outcomes for teachers, children and whānau. The ERO report in 2017 identified issues that needed to be addressed urgently in the areas of leadership, curriculum and teaching practice. Since then the centre has received significant support from the Ministry of Education and has been relicensed. There have been major improvements in all the areas identified in the 2017 ERO review.
The centre philosophy aims to develop confident, happy, successful children through the whakatāukī 'Kawhia Moana, Kawhia Kai, Kawhia Tangata' where mokopuna experience aroha, manaaki and whanaungatanga.
Children benefit from relationships and interactions with teachers that are consistently warm and positive. Teachers know children well including their whakapapa, whānau links, family circumstances and learning needs. They use this knowledge to support children's learning and development. Strong, responsive and reciprocal relationships are formed with each whānau, supporting children’s sense of belonging. Teachers are well engaged in children’s learning and play to facilitate problem-solving, investigating and extending thinking. Teachers are very sensitive to the emotional climate and to children who are becoming stressed. They role model social and emotional competencies and are effective in promoting social and self-management skills for children. Opportunities to learn foundation skills in literacy and mathematics are meaningfully integrated into children’s play.
Children up to the age of two benefit from a mixed-age group approach where they play alongside their older whanaunga and peers. There are safe spaces for them to explore and learn. Teachers take an individual approach to ensure children’s developmental needs are met. Teachers work closely with parents and whānau to respond sensitively to children’s changing care needs and preferences. The centre works closely with parents and external groups to support children with additional needs in an accepting, inclusive environment.
The curriculum affirms and develops children’s cultural identity as Waikato Tainui. The curriculum is designed to promote the knowledge and traditions sitting behind the centre's whakataukī . Teachers are highly intentional in the way they set up indoor and outdoor environments that engage children in their learning and play. The centre is well resourced. Parents, whānau and the wider community are actively involved in the centre in ways that enrich the curriculum for children. A range of assessment information gathered by teachers informs the programme. Teachers plan well to respond to children’s individual needs and extend their knowledge and experiences about the world around them.
The centre manager is effectively building capability within the service to promote positive outcomes for children and their whānau. Self review is well understood and follow a systematic process. Outcomes include a clear and shared vision, philosophy and strategic direction, a strong policy framework that guides centre practice and a well-articulated local curriculum. Effective performance management, along with regular and relevant professional development has led to the building of teachers' capability. Leadership has effectively created opportunities for parents and whānau to have a voice in the strategic direction of the centre. The centre manager has accessed local expertise well to ensure that children’s identity, language and culture as Waikato Tainui is maintained and enriched. The significant improvement in teaching and learning and all other aspects of centre operation has led to better outcomes for children.
Leaders and teachers now need to:
continue to strengthen assessment processes in collaboration with parents in order to clarify how learning is identified and how progress is shown over time
continue to implement and make more visible in planning and the centre environment Kawhia pūrākau, tradition and history.
develop more informed and intentional approaches to the teaching of oral language in both te reo Māori and English.
ERO recommends that the centre amends it current strategic plan to include the key next steps from this report and provide a copy to ERO.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kawhia Early Childhood Centre Kura Tiaki 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 Kawhia Early Childhood Centre Kura Tiaki will be in three years.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato
Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region
19 June 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 |
Kawhia |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
30169 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
24 children, including up to 4 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
17 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 11 Girls 6 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
15 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
19 June 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
|
|
Education Review |
November 2013 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 2012 |
||
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.