- ERO evaluates and reports on the education and care of children and young people in early childhood services and schools.
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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.
Koputai Early Childhood Centre is in Port Chalmers and provides full-day care and education for up to 30 children aged from birth-to-five years. It is one of five centres under the Dunedin Community Childcare Association (DCCA). This review was part of a cluster of five reviews in the DCCA.
The children who attend live in Port Chalmers and the surrounding areas. They come from diverse family backgrounds.
The centre’s philosophy states that teachers value the importance of strong relationships with families. It also expects teachers to encourage children to take risks, be confident to care for one another and to make choices about their learning. These are strongly evident in practice. Teachers have developed a culture in the centre where the community and its values and identity are reflected.
The centre has continued to make improvements to self-review processes since the December 2011 review.
Children and their families benefit from the caring and supportive relationships they have with the teachers. Children play well with one another. The teachers welcome family and the wider community involvement in the programme.
All children have many opportunities to learn about the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori children’s language, culture and identity are regarded as taonga (treasures).
Māori concepts are very evident in the centre practices. These include:
Children’s learning is enhanced by rich and interesting programmes based on the principles and strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers work well together to plan and implement a wide variety of experiences that build on both teachers’ and children’s strengths and interests. For example, a teacher’s enthusiasm for sustainability has led to the creation of vegetable gardens and has involved children, parents and the local community.
Teachers deliberately build children’s social competence and sense of identity. Through the way they relate to children they encourage them to take risks, be independent and develop their creativity and thinking skills.
Four-year-old children join in a daily programme that extends their early literacy and mathematics learning through games and projects. They are actively involved in planning for this.
Infants and toddlers benefit from the relaxed approach to managing their care routines. Two knowledgeable teachers plan individual programmes for this age group and support infants and toddlers as they play and learn in the mixed-age environment.
As part of this review, ERO considered how well children are being supported to become confident mathematical learners. ERO found there are many opportunities in the daily programme for children to learn mathematics, for example, learning concepts of measurement, weight and volume when baking. Teachers have had some professional learning to enhance their own knowledge of mathematics. Teachers acknowledge that they need to be more deliberate in how they support all children to become capable mathematics learners.
A strength in this centre is the way teachers plan for groups of children’s learning. The teachers have identified that their next step is to improve the way they plan for individual children and respond to parent' wishes for this. They need to show how planned next learning steps lead to progress over time.
The head teacher has developed shared leadership in the team. Teachers know, value and use each other’s strengths to ensure the smooth running of the centre. They have a commitment to ongoing improvement for better outcomes for children. They have a useful process of self review to make these improvements. The teachers have identified that some aspects of the review process still need development. This includes:
They should also document better some centre expectations to guide teachers’ practice to maintain consistency and help to sustain and build on the established good practices.
The teachers and ERO agree that the key next steps are to continue to develop and strengthen:
The DCCA is governed by an executive committee and managed by a newly appointed director. The experienced and supportive executive:
Head teachers appreciate the regular meetings they have as a group with the director.
Since the 2011 ERO review, the association has developed a useful framework for self review. The association management need to ensure its practices and those of the centres are following the guidelines. Better implementation of the guidelines should lead to more effective identification of what is going well and what needs further development. Findings from self review should be an integral part of planning.
The executive committee has developed four aspirational strategic goals. The associated annual plan could be improved by setting out how each goal is to be specifically achieved. The association recognises the need for each centre to develop annual plans that align with the association’s priorities. More detailed plans would provide a useful basis for head teachers and the director to write their reports against and for the executive committee to monitor progress against.
The board needs to clarify the roles of association management and leadership, including the director's responsibilities. This should help the achievement of the strategic plan.
Before the review, the staff and management of Koputai Early Childhood 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:
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 the early childhood leaders should:
The next ERO review of Koputai Early Childhood Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
5 February 2015
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Location |
Port Chalmers, Dunedin |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
80016 |
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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 |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
37 |
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Gender composition |
Boys: 22 Girls: 15 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Other |
5 30 2 |
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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 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
October 2014 |
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Date of this report |
5 February 2015 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 2011 |
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Education Review |
August 2009 |
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Education Review |
July 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:
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.