5 Hall Road, RD3, Alexandra
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Kids Pace Education is a home-based education and care service. There are seven educators providing in-home education and care for children in Central Otago and Southland. The owner and a visiting teacher are responsible for day-to-day operations and compliance. During the review, the selection of educator homes was limited by educator availability and illness.
The curriculum is aligned to the service philosophy and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Educators engage in meaningful and positive interactions that follow children’s interests to enhance their learning. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences.
The design and layout support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. There is a range of equipment and materials provided that is appropriate for children’s learning and abilities.
Parents are provided with opportunities to contribute to the development and review of the service’s operational documents and are informed about the running of the service.
Next steps include increasing visiting teachers’ capability to:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
20 December 2023
| Early Childhood Service Name | Kids Pace Education |
| Profile Number | 45951 |
| Location | Alexandra |
| Service type | Home-based service |
| Number licensed for | 80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
| Service roll | 56 |
| Review team on site | December 2023 |
| Date of this report | 20 December 2023 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Akanuku | Assurance Review, August 2022; Education Review, June 2018 |
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 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
ERO’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 | Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Kids Pace Education is a home-based education and care service. There are eighteen educators providing in-home education and care for children throughout Central Otago and Southland. The owner and a visiting teacher are responsible for day-to-day operations and compliance. Since ERO’s June 2018 review the service has made progress with developing the educator appraisal system and supporting educators to develop their bicultural practice.
The curriculum is informed by parents’ aspirations and children’s interests and is aligned with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Visiting teachers work closely with educators to implement learning programmes for children in their homes.
Educators' homes are resourced to reflect the service’s philosophy and support different kinds of indoor and outdoor play. A range of learning experiences are provided that are suitable for children with a wide range of abilities. Educators are coached and mentored by visiting teachers to use te reo Māori with children.
Visiting teachers need to consistently monitor the implementation of health and safety standards in homes to ensure that all aspects of regulatory compliance are maintained.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Visiting teachers ensuring that in educators homes:
[Licensing criteria for Home- based Education and Care Services 2008, HS6, HS11, HS14].
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
12 August 2022
| Early Childhood Service Name | Kids Pace Education |
| Profile Number | 45951 |
| Location | Alexandra |
| Service type | Home-based service |
| Number licensed for | 80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
| Service roll | 139 |
| Review team on site | June 2022 |
| Date of this report | 12 August 2022 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, June 2018; Education Review, March 2015 |
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 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:
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.
Kids Pace Education is a home-based education and care service. There are sixteen educators providing an in-home education and care service for children across Southland and Central Otago.
The owner, who is also a visiting teacher, is based in Alexandra. She regularly visits the educators and provides support for them. Another visiting teacher is employed, and is currently on maternity leave. Some children and educators have regular opportunities to attend playgroups.
The 2015 ERO report identified many areas that required further development, including areas of governance, leadership, teaching and learning. Some progress has been made in addressing these key areas. Most of these remain as areas for further development.
Children benefit from close and responsive relationships with their educators. Educators respond well to children's interests, routines and wellbeing. They plan a range of interesting learning experiences to extend children's learning, including visits into their local communities. These factors are contributing to positive outcomes for all children.
Children with particular learning needs are well supported through access to specific support services. Educators, teachers and parents work collaboratively to develop specific strategies and goals to support them to progress in their learning. Children are well supported to develop their communication skills. Educators support children to learn concepts about science, early literacy and mathematics. Infants and toddlers benefit from time to build relationships and develop their physical skills. Educators deliberately plan experiences to support children, in knowing about and understanding aspects of their bicultural heritage. Visiting teachers should continue to support educators to develop their understanding and use of te reo and tikanga Māori.
A clearly-developed vision and philosophy guides the service's practices. Visiting teachers and educators could more clearly show their valued outcomes for children's learning in the service's philosophy. They could then use these priorities for children's learning to guide both individual and group planning.
The visiting teacher has developed useful systems to build educator capabilities and to strengthen the focus on children's learning. These include:
The owner/visiting teacher has developed useful strategic planning in consultation with her community, to set key priorities for the service. A short-term plan guides the service operations, however this needs significant development to clearly align to the long-term planned priorities, goals and actions. Progress towards achieving these should be regularly monitored, evaluated and reported on by the owner.
The owner/visiting teacher makes good use of networks to support and build professional connections. She ensures there are regular professional development opportunities and networks to share practices between educators. There are clear expectations and guidelines in place to support the induction of new educators to the service. To further build the capability of both visiting teachers and educators, the owner needs to develop a rigorous appraisal system. This needs to include:
The owner/visiting teacher uses internal evaluation to make useful improvements to practices. She needs to continue to develop her understanding and use of evaluative practices, and develop a schedule to ensure all aspects of practice are reviewed over time.
The next steps for the service owner, visiting teacher and educators are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kids Pace Education completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
The next ERO review of Kids Pace Education will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
21 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 | Alexandra | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 45951 | ||
| Institution type | Homebased Network | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 81 | ||
| Standard or Quality Funded | Standard | ||
| Gender composition | Girls: 43 Boys: 38 | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori: Pākehā: Pacific: Other: | 9 68 2 2 | |
| Number of qualified coordinators in the network | 1 | ||
| Required ratios of staff educators to children | Under 2 | 1:2 | |
| Over 2 | 1:4 | ||
| Review team on site | May 2018 | ||
| Date of this report | 21 June 2018 | ||
Most recent ERO reports
| Education Review: | March 2015 | |
| Education Review: | March 2014 | ||
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.