103 Shakespeare Road, Milford, Auckland
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) is owned and administered by Kindercare Learning Centres Limited. All centres operate under the Kindercare vision, values, philosophy and strategic goals. Together these form the philosophy on which each centre and the organisation base their practices.
Infants, toddlers and young children are grouped according to age in three separate areas. The youngest children have their own indoor and outdoor play spaces. When aged about two years, children transition to a room that shares the outdoor play space with children who are around three years old. Children and their families come from increasingly diverse cultural backgrounds. Many speak more than one language.
A centre director has day-to-day responsibility for both this centre and the adjacent preschool. The leadership team works across both centres. Most teachers are qualified early childhood teachers and many reflect the diverse cultures of families attending the centre.
Leaders have continued to build on the many strengths identified in the 2015 ERO report. They have effectively addressed the key next step of including more child and parent views in self review.
This review was part of a cluster of eight Kindercare Learning Centre reviews in the Auckland area.
Children have many opportunities for uninterrupted play in the calm, unhurried learning environments. They:
Teachers work very effectively as a team. They have a shared understanding of high quality practice. They are inclusive and welcoming to children and parents. Daily journals for the younger children share important information between home and centre, supporting each child's learning and wellbeing. Teachers:
Parents who spoke with ERO are appreciative of the many and varied opportunities leaders and teachers provide for children's learning and development. They spoke very positively about teaching practices, strong communications between centre and families, and the approachability of centre leaders.
Teachers plan programmes that are responsive to the interests and dispositions of individual children. They continue to engage with, and learn more about, the revised early childhood curriculum. Teachers are using their knowledge to support the development of a rich curriculum for each child. Children's portfolios of learning could be more reflective of their language and cultural identity.
Leadership and management of the centre are efficient and highly effective. The collaborative leadership team have high expectations of themselves and teachers. Leaders model quality practices and support teachers effectively to enhance teaching practices.
Internal evaluation is well established and an integral part of centre practices. Leaders continue to build a reflective, improvement focused team culture. They see value in having a more evaluative focus in internal evaluation and appraisal-related 'teaching as inquiry'.
The Kindercare organisation provides a broad range of support for centres and families. Comprehensive management and accountability systems across the company include:
Centre leaders agree that their key next steps are:
Key next steps for the Kindercare organisation include continuing to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) 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.
When is ERO likely to review the service again?
The next ERO review of Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) will be in four years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
22 November 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.
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Location |
Milford, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
20085 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
60 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 38 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
September 2018 |
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Date of this report |
22 November 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2015 |
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Education Review |
March 2012 |
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Education Review |
March 2009 |
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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 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.
How well placed is Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford is one of two adjacent centres that serve local North Shore families. The centre provides full day education and care for children up to three years of age. It is organised into three rooms to cater for the different age groups. Children have ready access to separate outdoor areas and opportunities to play with mixed ages throughout the day. Most children transition to the nearby centre that caters for children over two years of age.
The service is part of the Kindercare umbrella organisation that provides administrative and professional support. A centre manager supervises and takes responsibility for day-to-day centre operations. Centre leaders work closely together to contribute to curriculum development across the two centres. Since the 2012 ERO review professional learning and development has focused on the teacher’s role in extending children’s learning. The centre benefits from having mostly qualified teachers and low staff turnover.
Centre leaders have responded positively to improvements suggested in the 2012 ERO report. These areas focused on developing teachers’ understanding about their engagement with Māori learners and their whānau, and giving greater prominence to science in the curriculum. Collaborative self-review processes noted in the 2012 report have helped address these and other areas for development identified by centre management.
Kindercare Learning Centres Milford provides high quality education and care for children. Kindercare’s key priority of keeping children 'Save, Loved, and Learning' is evident in the centre’s programme and interactions between people.
Children are confident communicators and curious learners. They enjoy rich learning opportunities to use their imagination, solve problems and extend their thinking. Teachers provide nurturing care for infants and toddlers and build trusting relationships with them. They skilfully respond to infants’ early attempts at verbalisation and use language to soothe and comfort. Teachers model new words for toddlers and give them time to respond and converse.
Highly effective leadership contributes to the very good quality education and care for children. Centre leaders use well researched early childhood theory and methodology to focus on what is best for children. They are confident in their role as enablers of learning for teachers and children.
Teachers have high expectations of themselves in their role of extending children’s learning. They are committed to their professional learning and take a collective responsibility for ongoing centre improvements. Adults learn from each other within an environment of high trust. Centre leaders and teachers actively contribute their ideas and talents to provide children with an innovative curriculum.
Teacher planning and assessment is highly responsive to individual children’s interests and strengths. Teachers use children’s preferences and ways of learning as a basis for shaping the programme. Children experience literacy, mathematics and the sciences in the context of play. They express their ideas in the knowledge that their teachers will value and build on their contributions.
Parents have ready access to informative records of their child’s learning over time. Teachers use daily journals to engage parents in their children’s learning. Parents have opportunities to contribute to the planning for their child, and the learning is made apparent and clear.
Māori children’s culture and identity are well catered for. Teachers reinforce the bicultural principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, by taking time to get to know Māori children and their whānau. Te ao Māori is integrated into daily centre practice. Māori children hear and see their language and culture in the programme. Centre leaders have appropriately identified that to sustain these very good practices, biculturalism could be more visible and celebrated in key centre documents.
Centre staff acknowledge Pacific children’s different island heritages. They share their understanding of the culture and language of different Pacific nations. As a result, Pacific children benefit from programmes that reflect and recognise their own culture.
Centre leaders and teachers have a very good shared understanding of self review. They use it well to promote positive outcomes for children. High quality evaluative practice is evident in the way they consider implications for their teaching and leadership roles.
Governance and management of the centre is efficient and effective. Operational systems and processes are well aligned. ERO is confident that the centre has the capability, through its high quality leadership and effective long-term planning and review, to sustain its successful development.
The centre’s very good self-review processes could be used to evaluate:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) 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.
The next ERO review of Kindercare Learning Centres (Milford) will be in four years.
Dale Bailey Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
27 March 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 |
Milford, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20085 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
65 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 34 Girls 31 |
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|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese Pacific Filipino Irish other |
3 34 16 3 2 2 5 |
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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 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
February 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
27 March 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
March 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.