32 Annex Road, Hillmorton, Christchurch
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kiwi Kids Preschool Limited is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kiwi Kids Limited is a privately owned and operated service. It provides all day care and education for 98 children, including up to 25 children aged under two years. Children learn and play in three separate areas, each with its own outdoor space.
The philosophy refers to the importance of fun, family and freedom. Three valued outcomes for children underpin planning and practice. These are that children are confident, competent learners, have strong social and emotional identities, and are empowered. Three head teachers are responsible for the curriculum and most staff are qualified and registered teachers.
Management and ownership have been consistent since the last review. They have worked systematically to address the next steps identified in the February 2017 ERO report. These included: strategic planning; assessment, planning and evaluation; bicultural practices; staff appraisal and internal evaluation.
The service is a member of the Te Mana Raupo Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.
The service's curriculum is responsive to children's interests, needs and strengths. Children are engaged in a wide range of meaningful and interesting learning experiences. Leaders and teachers make explicit connections between home learning and opportunities to play and learn within the service.
Well-designed and spacious outdoor areas provide physical challenge, freedom of movement, sensory development and multiple opportunities for imaginative play. Garden areas provide opportunities for children to learn about and care for the natural environment (kaitiakitanga).
Teachers support children's sense of belonging and identity. They foster self-managing skills, care for others and the language development associated with building positive relationships. Emphasis is placed on children's social and emotional wellbeing and valued outcomes for children.
Leaders and teachers value positive, professional relationships and respectful partnerships with parents and children to support learning. Whānau are well informed about children's learning and the operation of the service. Bicultural practices are effectively incorporated in the curriculum to promote te reo Māori and aspects of te ao Māori. The learning environment is positive and inclusive. Children's languages, cultures and identities are valued.
Learning is child paced and led. Children up to two years of age learn and play in a calm and unhurried environment. There is a culture of care and respect for infants and toddlers which emphasises primary caregiving and the alignment of home and centre routines.
Transitions into, within the service and on to school are thoughtfully managed and responsive to children's needs and whānau aspirations. The needs of diverse learners are well planned and managed. Leaders and teachers work alongside families, sourcing external support, as appropriate, to meet children's learning, social, emotional and physical needs.
Staff members are valued as leaders of learning. A useful appraisal process and appropriate learning opportunities effectively build teacher and leader knowledge and skill. Collaborative conversations about teaching and learning, within the centre and beyond, form a regular part of connections with the wider, local learning community.
The service has identified, and ERO agrees, that bicultural aspects of learning and practice need to be more visible in planning and documentation. Leaders and teachers should continue to develop bicultural practice, giving prominence to this in service documentation, including when reporting on assessment and learning to whānau.
Internal evaluation is in the early stages of development. To continue building evaluative thinking and practice across the teaching teams, leaders should:
use an evaluative question which provides a focus for internal evaluation and drives the investigation and research phases
develop action plans, that clearly identify specific and measurable outcomes/indicators for practice, to guide the implementation of planned changes
monitor and report on improvement in relation to the outcomes identified in action planning.
Strategic planning is not yet sufficiently robust to guide change and improvement. It needs to be strengthened to:
align with valued outcomes and service priorities
identify specific outcomes for children and teachers
include an evaluation of how well the planned outcomes have been achieved.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kiwi Kids Preschool Limited 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 June 2020
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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70479 |
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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 |
98 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
96 |
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Gender composition |
Female 50, Male 46 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
18 |
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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 |
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Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
January 2020 |
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Date of this report |
10 June 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
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Education Review |
May 2013 |
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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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
While well placed, the centre owner and manager are in the early stages of making changes to key centre systems and practices with help from external professional support. When these systems are successfully implemented the centre will be better placed to promote positive outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kiwi Kids Preschool is a large centre catering for up to 98 children from birth to school age. The centre is arranged in three areas. This includes a nursery for children up to the age of two, a junior preschool for 2 to 3 year olds, and a preschool for children aged from 3 to 5 years old. Each area has its own spacious outdoor playground. Children who attend the centre come from both the local community and the wider Christchurch area. Many parents work nearby.
The centre ownership remains constant, however there have been significant staff changes. This includes some very recent changes of leadership with a new manager and new head teachers appointed in the latter part of 2016. There is a wide range of experience and qualifications amongst staff.
The new manager and teaching team have recently reviewed the centre philosophy and vision. This has affirmed the centre's focus on promoting the importance of family involvement, freedom for children to move and explore, and for learning to be fun. It has also supported a shared approach among staff and greater team collaboration across the centre.
Teachers interact with children in positive, affirming and encouraging ways. Key familiar adults are readily available to infants for attention and comfort. Teachers place a strong emphasis on building strong trusting relationships with children, especially the very young children.
Teachers regularly notice and record children’s interests and approaches to learning. They use this information to help them respond to children and extend their ideas and play. Teachers are responsive to the languages children know and use at home and make good efforts to include these in the programme.
The centre has spacious outdoor areas that provide children with many opportunities to explore and discover, learn about the natural world, and extend and challenge their physical skills.
There are effective systems in place to support children and their families as they transition through the centre from the nursery to junior preschool and preschool areas.
Teachers are building meaningful relationships with parents and are providing increasing opportunities for them to contribute to children’s assessment.
The centre owner and manager have proactively sought external professional support to promote centre improvement in leadership, planning and appraisal. As a result, teachers are undertaking a useful and well-considered review of the ways they plan for children's learning.
Teachers regularly reflect on and have discussions about aspects of practice, especially the environment, to make changes to better support children’s learning and engagement.
Children have opportunities to hear some te reo Māori used across the centre. Teachers are aware of and incorporate aspects of tikanga Māori into daily programmes. A useful review in the preschool room has increased the bicultural practices occurring in this room. The owner and centre manager have identified a need to extend this review focus more widely across the centre.
The centre owner and manager have identified that they are in the early stages of implementing some new systems and practices. They have been proactive in working with an external professional support provider to make changes in the areas referred to below.
The key next steps are to:
extend the manager's and owner's understanding and planning to support improvement, including developing strategic planning and clearer systems for monitoring and reporting so they can be assured quality practices are sustained when the external support ends
implement new planning practices and strengthen the consistency of children's assessment
strengthen appraisal and procedures around Education Council requirements
continue to develop centre-wide leadership and support new leaders in their responsibilities
establish guidelines to support more robust internal evaluation and develop a schedule for planned review
develop and implement clearer centre-wide understandings of what effective bicultural practice and what success for Māori learners look like, and work towards implementing these.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kiwi Kids Preschool Limited 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.
The next ERO review of Kiwi Kids Preschool Limited will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer- Southern/Te Waipounamu
9 February 2017
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 |
Christchurch |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
70479 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
98 children, including up to 25 aged under two |
||
|
Service roll |
126 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 59%; Girls 41% |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Pacific British Chinese Other Ethnicities |
17 91 5 5 3 5 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
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 |
November 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
9 February 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
May 2013 |
|
|
Supplementary Review |
January 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
April 2009 |
||
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.