4 Trent Avenue, Dunedin North, Dunedin
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten provides early childhood education for children aged two years to school age. It is licensed for up to 45 children. Sessions operate from 8.30am to 2.30pm. The kindergarten is located close to the University of Otago and most children have family members who work or study at the university. Children and their families come from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Teachers aim to support children to develop the learning dispositions of curiosity, confidence, perseverance and a positive approach to problem solving. They also aim to promote children's confidence in their own cultural identity, social competence and leadership of their learning. Teachers plan to achieve these outcomes through manaakitanga (responsive, caring relationships), whānaungatanga (valuing diversity and reciprocal relationships with families); mātauranga (a broad, responsive curriculum) and rangatiratanga (encouraging children to practice leadership skills and to care for themselves, others and the environment).
Kelsey-Yaralla is one of 24 kindergartens governed by Dunedin Kindergartens (DK). Day-to-day operations are led by a head teacher with the support of four experienced, qualified teachers. A senior teacher from DK provides support for professional and operational practice.
This review was one of a cluster of 11 ERO reviews in Dunedin Kindergartens.
Children's wellbeing, pride in their identity and sense of belonging are effectively promoted and nurtured. Teachers take time to get to know children and their families well. They pay careful attention to what is important to children and find ways to include and celebrate their family cultures in the learning programme. Adults and children know and demonstrate the shared values of 'be nice, be kind, be a good friend'.
Children's learning dispositions are fostered through intentional teaching and purposeful design of the learning environment. Teachers plan meaningful ways to extend and challenge children's developing capabilities. All children have rich opportunities to develop their skills and understandings of literacy, mathematics, oral language, science, art, music and physical development. Teachers encourage children to ask questions, experiment, explore and share their thinking and ideas.
Children, including two-year-olds, are viewed as capable and confident and as leaders of their own learning. Teachers encourage children's independence and self-care skills. Children have opportunities to share their knowledge and lead learning for others. Older children know to include and care for younger children.
All children have meaningful opportunities to experience and learn about New Zealand's indigenous Māori culture, language and knowledge. Māori children's sense of identity and pride in their culture is affirmed and nurtured.
Teachers communicate and collaborate effectively with families and whānau to support positive outcomes for children. They regularly seek parents' aspirations for their children's learning and feedback on the impact of teaching and on other aspects of kindergarten operations.
Teachers are highly reflective and committed to ongoing improvement. They are well engaged with ongoing professional learning. They use their individual teaching strengths thoughtfully to support one another and children's learning. They use a range of evaluation, review and inquiry practices to develop shared understandings of effective teaching practice, know about the impact of teaching on children's learning outcomes and identify areas for improvement.
The board of DK has made good progress in addressing the governance recommendations from ERO's 2015-2016 reviews. DK's mission and strategic priorities are well known and reflected in each kindergarten's strategic and annual plans. It has a sound policy and procedure framework that provides guidance for kindergartens and sound systems to monitor health and safety. Leaders and teachers benefit from relevant professional development and leadership support. DK actively supports equity of outcomes for all children by funding additional teaching resources to support children with additional needs.
To improve the robustness of internal evaluation, leaders and teachers should strengthen the analysis of current practice to know how well it reflects agreed indicators of quality. This should help teachers identify areas of strength and areas for development.
The board has clearly identified, and ERO agrees, that the key next steps for DK to further improve outcomes for children are to ensure that:
reporting and monitoring at all levels are evaluative, to clearly show how desired outcomes for children have been improved in relation to DK's and kindergartens' priorities for learning and other strategic priorities
a robust and systematic quality assurance framework is implemented to inform and monitor ongoing improvements in each kindergarten.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kelsey-Yaralla 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
10 December 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 |
Dunedin |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5500 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
45 children aged two to five years |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Gender composition |
Female 26 Male 21 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
N/A |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2019 |
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Date of this report |
10 December 2019 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
November 2015 |
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Education Review |
July 2012 |
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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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten is one of 24 kindergartens under the Dunedin Kindergarten Association (DK). It is one of the oldest kindergartens in the DK and is located in central Dunedin near the University of Otago. It provides programmes for up to 45 children aged two-to-five years. Most days 40 children attend in the mornings and 30 stay for the afternoon session. Children come from diverse cultural backgrounds from the wider Dunedin area.
Teachers at Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten aim for children to be literate, independent and confident learners. They do this by providing an enjoyable and exciting learning environment. They value respectful relationships and partnerships with parents and families.
The qualified teaching team is experienced and has worked together for many years. Since the July 2012 review, there has been extensive fundraising by a dedicated parent committee to upgrade the outdoor play area. This project was nearly complete at the time of this review. Teachers have sustained the good practices identified in the last ERO report.
This review was part of a cluster of 24 reviews in the DK.
Children benefit from the warm and trusting relationships they have with their teachers. Parents are made very welcome and teachers take time to get to know them and their children well. Some parents contribute their skills and cultural knowledge within the kindergarten for the benefit of all children, for example sharing music talents and supporting the kindergarten entry in the recent Polyfest.
Children are settled and engaged in their learning. They know the kindergarten’s routines and expectations.
Children develop friendships with one another and are independent in their play. This allows teachers to spend lengthy periods of uninterrupted time with small groups of children and have meaningful conversations about what the children are doing.
Children play and learn in well-resourced and thoughtfully presented surroundings. The physical environment shows valuing of the diverse cultures of the children and their families with resources, pictures and words of the different nationalities.
Each term a group focus is planned to extend children’s subject and content knowledge. Recently children have learned about space, native birds, and dinosaurs. The programme offers a wide variety of choice for children. It allows them to:
Teachers regularly plan for all children. They have frequent discussions about children’s learning.
The children’s profile books are attractive records for children and families to enjoy.
The head teacher and team work well together, share responsibilities and work to each other’s strengths. They have a useful process and model for self review. They agree they should continue to refine the way they use indicators to guide their reviews and further develop a long-term self-review schedule.
Through ongoing discussion and reflection they continue to make improvements to their programme and practices. A current focus is seeking the views of Māori families and teachers learning more about cultural competencies and the local Māori history and geography. The team has developed relevant strategic priorities for the kindergarten.
The vision of the DK is to provide excellence in early childhood education for all children. The DK is governed by a board and managed by a long-serving general manager. The kindergarten teachers told ERO they appreciated the support they receive from the association and the advice and guidance of the senior teachers.
The board, general manager and senior teachers:
provide opportunities for parents and staff to contribute their ideas about matters in the association
are responsive to identified needs of children and families within the association and provide funding and support to enable these to be met
have developed a framework to guide their work
take all reasonable steps to ensure safe environments for children, teachers and other staff
maintain their professional learning and provide ongoing professional learning for teachers in the association.
A next step for the teachers, with the support of the senior teacher, is to deepen the philosophy and records of individual and group planning. This includes:
more clearly recording the specific strategies to support children’s learning
more consistently showing continuity of learning in each child’s records
more consistently showing in the records how they value and celebrate children’s language, culture and identity
strengthening the way they work together with parents to develop challenging next steps for children’s learning
focusing the intended learning outcomes in group planning on deep and important learning.
Next steps for the board, with the support of the general manager and senior teachers, are to:
continue to define what excellence in education looks like in the DK
further develop strategic planning to better show future goals and priorities and how these will be achieved in the association and in the kindergartens
ensure that the reports they receive show how well the DK’s vision and goals are met, are evaluative and inform future planning
continue to strengthen the appraisal process and be assured that appraisals are rigorous and consistent throughout the kindergartens.
With the appointment of a new senior teacher it is timely for the board and general manager to review the role of the senior teachers and strengthen systems to ensure consistent, high-quality practice across all kindergartens within the association.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kelsey-Yaralla 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:
curriculum
premises and facilities
health and safety practices
governance, management and administration.
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 Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
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 |
Dunedin |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
5500 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
45 children aged two-to-five years |
||
|
Service roll |
52 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys: 30 Girls: 22 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific Peoples Other |
10 23 7 12 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
N/A |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
October 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
24 November 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
July 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2006 |
||
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 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.