TnT Kidscare

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.

ERO’s Judgement

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Kids Time Early Learning Centre is one of two privately owned services on adjacent sites in Ngaruawahia. The service caters to infants, toddlers, and young children up to the age of three and a half. In 2020 the centre was relicensed under the new ownership of Grow ECE Ltd.

Summary of Review Findings

Infants, toddlers, and young children experience a curriculum that is inclusive and responsive. Teachers engage in meaningful, positive interactions with children.   Regular opportunities are provided for parents to communicate with kaiako. Children are given the opportunity to develop an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The new owners have implemented suitable human resource management practices. All reasonable steps are taken to promote children’s health and safety. The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences appropriate to the ages and abilities of children attending.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• further developing planning, assessment, and evaluation to reflect parent and whānau aspirations
• increasing teacher capability around integrating the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, into curriculum decisions.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

28 May 2021 

Information About the Service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

• 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 regulated 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; police vetting; teacher certification; ratios)
• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

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.

1 Evaluation of Kids Time Early Learning Centre

How well placed is Kids Time Early Learning Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Kids Time Early Learning Centre requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

A number of areas of compliance and practice to improve need to be addressed, to ensure compliance with all licensing requirements as outlined in the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008.

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance, management and administration, and health and safety.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Kids Time Early Learning Centre is a privately-owned service located in Ngāruawāhia. It offers full-day education and care. Two aged-based settings cater for infants aged from three months to two years and toddlers aged up to three and a half years. It is licenced for 44 children including 20 up to two years of age. The service is one of two licensed Kids Time services, with the Kindergarten located next to it. Most children transition to the kindergarten, which caters for children up to school age. At the time of this ERO review 56 children were enrolled, including 30 who identify as Māori.

Since the last ERO review in 2016 there have been some changes in the teaching team. The centre manager stepped into the role of general manager for both services in 2019. The centre owners delegate the day-to-day running of the service to the general manager, who is also responsible for teacher support and guidance. The owners and administration manager are responsible for administrative duties and financial management.

The centre's vision aims to provide quality care and education underpinned by children’s wellbeing, curiosity and a life-long love of learning. The philosophy prioritises children as valued individuals and is based on respect and aroha. It also values meaningful relationships with parents, whānau and community through respectful communication.

While the centre has responded to the key next steps in the previous ERO review report, these remain an ongoing focus.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from access to a range of resources and opportunities for meaningful learning. Play-based learning experiences encourage children's exploration and participation in the programme. Leaders acknowledge the need to ensure consistency of practice in the supervision of children across the centre. Child-led learning alongside teachers supports children's oral language development and social competence. A shared outdoor environment provides a variety of age appropriate physical challenges and learning experiences for all children. The provision of targeted resourcing contributes to equitable opportunities for children and whānau.

Māori children experience aspects of te ao Māori through waiata, resources and respectful routine tikanga practices. Teachers are continuing to strengthen their confidence and use of te reo Māori. Children demonstrate a sense of belonging.

Affirming relationships between teachers, children and whānau through personalised communication supports children's learning and wellbeing. Teachers deliberately develop children's confidence and skills for self-management. Children's learning portfolios capture their engagement in the programme. Group planning acknowledges children's emerging interests. Leaders acknowledge the need to continue to strengthen assessment and planning to support consistency of teacher practice across the centre. Teachers respond well to the needs of the children in a calm and caring environment. Children up to the age of two benefit from respectful and nurturing interactions.

Leadership is maintaining a positive team culture with high levels of trust and co-operation. Professional development is prioritised to support continuous centre improvement. Respectful relationships are enhanced through open communication and an environment where children are valued, celebrated and affirmed.

Owners and managers work collaboratively to uphold the vision for the centre. Regular consultation with parents informs planning and direction. Priority has been placed on reviewing the philosophy with staff input to enable shared understanding and consistent implementation. Detailed strategic planning has been developed and now needs to be fully implemented and evaluated. The plan has clear goals and actions for improvement, which include a focus on strengthening bicultural practices, supporting diverse learners and improving the quality of teaching and learning. Establishing a clear policy review cycle is needed to support improved compliance practice.

Key Next Steps

There is a need to develop a sustainable approach to ongoing centre improvement. Priority should be given to:

• ensuring regular policy review is undertaken to inform centre practices

• developing a systematic approach to internal evaluation that monitors and evaluates the impact of strategies on learning outcomes for children

• continuing to develop a distributed model of leadership to support shared quality assurance practices.

Continuing to build teacher confidence, knowledge and use of Te Whāriki is an agreed focus for the centre. This should support leaders and teachers to:

• strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation to reflect the language, culture and identity of all children

• continue to add complexity to children’s learning over time and ensure that is well aligned to learning outcomes.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Kids Time Early Learning Centre 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance, management and administration (GMA), and health and safety(HS).

To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance by:

• undertaking an ongoing process of self-review that helps to maintain and improve the quality of education and care, especially in relation to health and safety policies and practices

• ensuring earthquake drills are regularly reviewed

• consistently implementing the procedure for monitoring children’s sleep

• ensuring children are supervised consistently while eating.

[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA6, HS8, HS9, HS22].

In order to improve practice, governance and management need to review and update policies/procedures on:

• monitoring children’s sleep

• consistency of supervision of children during independent play

• managing children who are unwell or infectious

• nappy changing

• laundry

• food safety

• kitchen handwashing

• excursions.

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services

Central Region - Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

1 July 2020

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.