50 Strong Street, St Johns, 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 |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Steps to Strides Early Learning Centre changed ownership in September 2021. The owner/centre manager is a qualified teacher and manages the daily operations of the centre. This is the first ERO review of the service. Children enrolled at the centre are from diverse cultures.
Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The service curriculum provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development. Teachers support children’s developing social competence and understanding of appropriate behaviour.
Service leaders must ensure systems and practices are monitored and implemented to maintain regulatory standards.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
having evidence of parental permission and approval of the adult:child ratio for regular excursions
having a procedure people should follow if they wish to complain about non-compliance with the regulations or criteria. The procedure includes the option to contact the local Ministry of Education office and provides contact details
ensuring suitable human resource management practices are implemented that include a system of regular teacher appraisal
ensuring all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked and a risk assessment is completed for each worker.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS17, GMA1, GMA7, GMA7A.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following
non-compliance:
Having a process for human resource management practices that includes a procedure for the selection and appointment of staff (GMA7).
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence issued to this service provider. ERO will not undertake a further review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets regulatory standards.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
20 June 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Steps to Strides Early Learning Centre |
|
Profile Number |
20545 |
|
Location |
St Johns, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
26 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
11 |
|
Review team on site |
March 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
20 June 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Previously reviewed as Kids HQ St Johns: Education Review, February 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 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 |
Kids HQ St Johns is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kids HQ St Johns, also known as St Johns Early Childcare, is licensed to offer education and care for 26 children, including up to 16 aged under two years. Children are catered for in two rooms but spend the majority of their time in mixed-age play together.
The Parnell Community Trust purchased the licence during 2016 and renamed the centre. It provides governance and management support for its three Parnell services. Children's lunches for the three centres are provided from the Parnell kitchen.
The centre's philosophy has an emphasis on developing and maintaining positive relationships and partnerships with families. It refers to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, with a focus on the values of respect and empowerment through children having time to explore, investigate and discover the world.
The majority of staff are new. The head teacher has recently joined a team of mainly qualified or in-training teachers. They are supported professionally with administration and programme development by the centre manager, who also supports the Trust's two other centres. Teachers have participated in whole-centre professional learning and development based on the Healthy Heart programme.
This is the centre's first ERO report under the new owners.
Children are happy and engaged in play. They are respected and cared for sensitively within the inclusive environment. Teachers know the children and their families well and together build positive and supportive relationships. They value children's home languages and backgrounds.
The head teacher successfully encourages open communication between staff and families. Parents who spoke to ERO appreciate the many opportunities they have to be involved in their children's learning and the approachability of staff.
The programme is child-led. Children choose their play and request assistance from teachers or independently access resources to extend their interest. Teachers could review the quality, variety and usefulness of the many resources offered in relation to children's interests, and consider creating and resourcing discrete learning areas. Children have access to a large, well-resourced outdoor space and a covered veranda. The outdoor area encourages physical development. Mixed-age play offers many opportunities for children to participate in tuakana/teina relationships.
Children's learning is individually planned for, and focuses on their learning dispositions and developing skills. Teachers assess and analyse children's learning and share outcomes with parents and children in portfolios of learning stories. The progress that children under two years make is very evident in these stories. Teachers should consider ways to make older children's learning progress over time more evident in their learning stories and to include children and parents in planning decisions.
At present teachers participate in professional learning and development (PLD) offered by the Trust. The centre manager, along with the head teacher, oversees teachers' practice and supports them individually with ongoing improvement. The appraisal system should be fully implemented and aligned to PLD decisions. Teachers would benefit from a deeper understanding of the principles and strands of the 2017 revision of Te Whāriki.
The Trust provides strategic direction for the three centres. It could be useful for Kids HQ St Johns to make the Trust's objectives more relevant for each centre, and create long-term and yearly action plans for the centre to achieve its goals. These plans could also help to identify useful centre-wide PLD for teachers. Targeted PLD for the new head teacher would help to enhance her leadership role.
Teachers are increasingly understanding, and developing useful processes to undertake, internal evaluation for ongoing improvement in centre operations. There are recent good examples of spontaneous, and evidence of planned, internal evaluation. The evaluation process would be enhanced by identifying indicators of good practice, gathering multiple perspectives and reviewing the impact of any changes in relation to outcomes for children.
The Trust's chief executive officer and the centre manager agree that the key next steps include:
strengthening internal evaluation in relation to outcomes for children
continuing to build teacher capability with implementing the principles and strands of Te Whāriki and with ensuring that there is sufficient challenge in the programme
strengthening strategic planning in the centre.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kids HQ St Johns 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.
To improve current practice, the early childhood service management should ensure that:
all policies are signed and dated
barked areas meet requirements for safe fall
children are unable to climb the back fence
the cot for transporting infants in case of an evacuation is safely located
regular evacuation, earthquake and lockdown drills are undertaken
risk and analysis management plans are strengthened.
ERO identified an area of non-compliance. To address this, the service provider must ensure that:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA7A.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
27 February 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.
|
Location |
St Johns, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20545 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
26 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
16 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 8 Boys 8 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
January 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
27 February 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
When previously operating as Bright Minds Childcare: |
||
|
Education Review |
September 2015 |
||
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Bright Minds Childcare is a privately owned service that provides education and care for up to 26 children with up to 16 under two years of age. Children attending the centre come from diverse cultures and several speak languages other than English. Some of the staff reflect the diverse backgrounds of children and families, and can communicate with them in their home languages.
Since the 2013 ERO review staffing at the centre has remained stable and this has helped to establish positive relationships between centre staff and families. The centre’s philosophy promotes learning in a caring and family-like environment. The centre caters for children in a mixed age setting. Managers and staff value working with parents to promote their children’s learning and development. They have a good knowledge of families and the local community.
The 2013 ERO report noted an increased emphasis on child-focused programmes and an improvement in teachers’ planning for children’s learning. The report recommended that further work was needed to extend children’s ongoing learning, teachers’ appraisals and self review. Centre managers and staff have responded positively to these recommendations and have worked with external advisers to develop good quality teaching practices.
The centre’s philosophy is very evident in teaching practice and children’s play. There is a calm, settled tone in the centre and children enjoy inclusive relationships with adults and each other. Children benefit from staff who care about their wellbeing and encourage them to become socially confident. Children with special education needs are nurtured by responsive relationships with adults. Teachers provide individualised care for infants and toddlers and build trusting relationships with them.
Teachers foster children’s language, culture and identity in the centre. Children hear multiple languages and are accepting of and learn about other cultures. Teachers continue to develop bicultural aspects in the curriculum to support children to develop an awareness of Aotearoa New Zealand's bicultural heritage.
Teachers plan and provide a curriculum programme that has been increasingly responsive to children’s interests and strengths. Children experience opportunities for long periods of uninterrupted play. They regularly visit the local library where they enjoy books and can learn about their interests and other cultures. Children’s readiness for school is supported through their development of self management skills and meaningful integration of literacy and mathematics knowledge in the context of their play.
Teachers have responded well to professional learning to guide their programme planning and evaluation. Planning is now well documented and evaluated and is displayed for children and parents. Assessment portfolios include observations of children’s participation and learning in their preferred activities and interests.
The licensee and manager have worked collaboratively with staff to review the centre’s philosophy and build a shared understanding about expectations for their professional practice. They are growing staff leadership capacity by delegating responsibilities in curriculum and self review. Teachers’ appraisals are appropriately linked to the Practising Teacher Criteria.
Planned and spontaneous self review is positively influencing teaching practices and children’s learning. Teachers have benefitted from professional learning, with external advisers, focused on self review. They are also learning together as they reflect on the effectiveness of their programmes and practices.
Centre managers have identified relevant priorities for development that include:
Centre managers acknowledge that next steps could also include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Bright Minds Childcare 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
To improve current practice managers should attend to the following health and safety matters in the outdoor environment:
The next ERO review of Bright Minds Childcare will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
11 September 2015
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 |
St Johns, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20545 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
26 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
23 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 15 Girls 8 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Pākehā Indian Chinese Samoan Sri Lankan African British Filipino |
10 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
11 September 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Supplementary Review |
June 2013 |
|
|
Supplementary Review |
June 2012 |
||
|
Supplementary Review |
March 2011 |
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.