Lancaster Learning Centre

Education institution number:
20016
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
36
Telephone:
Address:

1 Lancaster Road, Beach Haven, Auckland

View on map

Lancaster Learning Centre

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Lancaster Learning Centre are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whakaū Embedding

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Lancaster Learning Centre is a family-owned service that has been under the same ownership for 30 years. Children are well supported by longstanding teachers within a mixed age setting. A small number of Māori and Pacific children and their families attend. The service is a member of Te Ara Whetū Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience a responsive curriculum that is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early child curriculum. Their independence and mana are enhanced as they are encouraged to care for themselves, others, and their place. A supportive team of teachers work well with children to promote their wellbeing. As a result, children demonstrate growing confidence and competence.

Teachers who work with infants and toddlers are responsive to their needs. The mixed-age setting supports culturally responsive practices, such as communal caregiving between younger and older children in care and learning relationships. Transitions into the service are well supported and responsive to individual children’s needs. Te ao Māori practices are evident, although not yet consistently implemented.

Well-developed planning and assessment practices make children’s learning visible. These practices provide children with feedback about their learning, recognising their efforts, challenges, and successes. Further embedding is required of intentional curriculum practices to provide for, and document, continuity of children’s learning over time.

Leaders and teachers have developed responsive, reciprocal, learning-focused partnerships with children’s parents and the wider education community. Parents’ perspectives and aspirations are collected and responded to. Teachers work well with parents to support children’s social competence. Children’s cultural connectedness is evident.

Leaders have embedded evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building into quality improvement systems, processes, and practices. These provide a means for taking action to improve outcomes for learners. Aligning inquiry practices, such as evaluation and teachers’ professional growth cycles, to the service’s strategic direction would enable leaders to determine how well the service is achieving its vision and values.

Those responsible for governance and management provide a work environment that promotes collaboration and relational trust. This positive staff culture has resulted in a low turnover of teachers and supported the development of quality adult: child relationships.

4 Improvement actions

Lancaster Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • Continue to strengthen te ao Māori practices so they become consistently implemented.

  • Strengthen and embed planning and assessment practices that make continuity of learning over time more visible.

  • Align evaluation and inquiry practices to the service’s strategic vision and goals to ensure these support the achievement of its vision and values to sustain quality improvement.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lancaster 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.

6 Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • Equipment, premises, and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children (HS12).

  • A procedure for monitoring children's sleep ensures that children are checked for warmth, breathing, and general wellbeing at least every 5 to 10 minutes, or more frequently according to individual needs (HS9).

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

1 September 2022 

7 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Lancaster Learning Centre

Profile Number

20016

Location

Beach Haven, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

35 children, including up to 8 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

50-79%

Service roll

40

Review team on site

June 2022

Date of this report

1 September 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, November 2018
Education Review, May 2015

Lancaster Learning Centre - 15/11/2018

1 Evaluation of Lancaster Learning Centre

How well placed is Lancaster Learning Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

Lancaster Learning Centre, situated on Auckland's North Shore, provides full-day education and care for up to 35 children in a mixed age setting. The centre is privately owned and has been under the ownership of the same family for over 25 years. It is well respected within the local community and has a number of long-standing staff members.

The head teacher leads a team of three other qualified teachers, one teacher in training and three unqualified teachers. Their teaching philosophy is based on children leading their learning in a play based programme. Teachers value the provision of a learning environment strongly linked to the natural world. A strong belief in the value of positive and collaborative relationships with children, whānau and the wider community underpins their work.

The 2015 ERO report highlighted the relaxed pace of play that supported children's sustained engagement in the programme. Respectful, positive relationships with children enable teachers to deliver a responsive programme and extend their learning. These positive aspects of practice have been maintained.

Areas for continued development in the 2015 report included strategic, annual and programme planning, internal evaluation and bicultural practice. There has been good progress in these areas.

The Review Findings

Children are very well settled in a spacious environment that encourages exploration. A widely varied and easily accessible range of learning resources supports sustained imaginative and creative play. Children are well supported in the context of their play to develop social competence.

Centre routines provide long periods of uninterrupted play. This allows children to explore and learn at their own pace. They play cooperatively with friends in small groups or comfortably explore on their own. The mixed age setting encourages tuakana/teina relationships.

Teachers enact the centre philosophy well. They build positive and collaborative relationships with children and their whānau. Effective teaching strategies include:

  • the provision of a well-resourced, interesting learning environment linked to children's interests that encourages them to explore

  • supporting children's engagement in a range of challenging physical activities

  • encouraging children to be independent and to care for each other

  • effective modelling of language that promotes children's vocabulary, stimulates their imagination and promotes critical thinking

  • the provision of meaningful literacy learning opportunities.

Consistent staffing and caregiving for infants and toddlers supports the development of deeper relationships. Teachers know children's preferences and needs, and are responsive to their individual ways of communicating. Children of all ages are well supported to explore.

The environment is reflective of te ao Māori. Teachers use te reo Māori incidentally in conversations with children and include karakia and waiata in the programme. These opportunities support children's developing knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori. Leaders plan to continue to strengthen the centre's bicultural practices through whole team, in-house professional development.

Children's portfolios are a very good record of their individual learning journeys. Teachers are inclusive of parent aspirations in planning programmes for children. Learning stories show connectivity and the developing complexity of children's play and learning. Programme planning and evaluation could include more reflection on the role and effectiveness of teaching practices on learning outcomes for children.

Leaders have established a system for teacher appraisal and will continue to develop this in line with the expectations of the Education Council. Internal evaluation would be strengthened through the use of an evaluative question to lead the process. The strategic plan would be better utilised by aligning it to annual planning, internal evaluation and appraisal.

Key Next Steps

Centre leaders have agreed their key next steps for centre development include:

  • deepening teachers' knowledge of Te Whāriki 2017 to support a review of current programme planning and evaluation systems

  • ensuring all required policies and procedures are in place.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lancaster 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Lancaster Learning Centre will be in three years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

15 November 2018

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

Location

Beach Haven, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

20016

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

35 children, including up to 8 aged under 2

Service roll

47

Gender composition

Girls 27 Boys 20

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
other ethnic groups

1
34
12

Percentage of qualified teachers

50-79%

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:6

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

October 2018

Date of this report

15 November 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education Review

May 2015

Education Review

March 2012

Education Review

October 2008

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 and Next Review

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:

  • Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
  • Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
  • Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
  • Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.

Lancaster Learning Centre - 15/05/2015

1 Evaluation of Lancaster Learning Centre

How well placed is Lancaster Learning Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

Lancaster Learning Centre is located in Beach Haven, on Auckland’s North Shore. It provides full day care and education for up to 35 children from six months to school age. Children of all ages play together across the centre. The centre philosophy expresses a commitment to supporting children to become confident and curious, to promoting partnerships with parents, and to acknowledging the Treaty of Waitangi.

The family owned centre has appointed a family member to manage the centre and lead the staff of nine teachers and a full time cook. Teachers have regular professional development and are encouraged to attend externally facilitated courses through the provision of release time. The recently appointed centre manager oversees the daily operations, works collaboratively with teachers and delegates various leadership roles within the teaching team.

The owners’ vision for the centre has been entrusted to the management team for implementation. A programme of self review identifies areas for further development and improvement. The management team and owners continue to work collaboratively to refine this review process.

The centre has a small number of children with Māori, Pacific or Asian backgrounds. The owner and teachers continue to encourage centre families to share their aspirations and cultural heritage as part of ongoing efforts to meet the diverse learning interests of all children.

In 2012 ERO commented on the positive atmosphere and warm relationships in the centre. The report affirmed the centre’s flexible routines, teachers’ support for children's play, the programme for infants and toddlers, assessment and planning systems, and staff interactions with families and whānau. Teachers were considering ways to strengthen learning programmes and to establish self-review processes. This 2015 ERO report finds that positive features of the programme have been sustained. Work continues on self review, biculturalism and strategies to extend children's learning

The Review Findings

Children are confident, happy and friendly. They are warmly welcomed by adults and settle quickly to activities of interest on arrival. Children interact enthusiastically with adults and work well with each other on ongoing projects. They have good opportunities to develop self-help skills. Children engage in sustained social play and have many opportunities for imaginative and creative play. Teachers continue to develop tikanga and te reo Māori practices. Children are likely to benefit from further learning about their dual cultural heritage of Aotearoa.

Teachers consistently support children's relaxed pace of play. They engage children in conversations about their interests and encourage them to share ideas and work cooperatively. Teachers know children well and skilfully respond to their individual personalities and strengths. They use strategies to develop children’s learning through play. They make good use of information about children’s individual and group interests to monitor and extend children’s learning and progress over time.

Centre owners have built strong connections with parents and whānau. They use several good strategies to keep families well informed and to enable parents to contribute to children's learning. Parents enjoy the family-like atmosphere at the centre. They report confidence in the centre and value communication about their children’s learning. They approach teachers with ease, and often enjoy participating in activities with their children when they visit the centre.

The centre manager works with teachers to consistently reflect on the quality of programme planning, assessment and evaluation. They have some useful self-review processes, including those for evaluating each child’s progress every six months and sharing these evaluations with parents.

The owners have yet to formalise a vision statement to guide the direction of the centre. They also need to develop a strategic plan and an effective annual plan that identifies goals and strategies for ongoing improvement. Centre owners and the management team have further identified the need to review and improve their teacher appraisal process, so that it includes provision for teachers to demonstrate how they are meeting the Registered Teacher Criteria.

Key Next Steps

Centre owners and managers should now focus on embedding effective management and leadership practices. They agree that key next steps should include:

  • strengthening the centre’s strategic direction through an effective strategic and annual plan
  • implementing a robust performance management and appraisal system
  • continuing to develop self-review processes and strategies
  • continuing to refine programme planning to better extend children’s learning and promote a more bicultural curriculum
  • developing a comprehensive policy and procedures for the collection, storage, use, sharing and disclosure of personal information about children, in accordance with requirements of the Privacy Act 1993.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lancaster 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Lancaster Learning Centre will be in three years.

Dale Bailey

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

15 May 2015

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

Location

Beach Haven, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

20016

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

35 children, including up to 8 aged under 2

Service roll

45

Gender composition

Boys 25

Girls 20

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

African

Niue

Chinese

Samoan

other

7

23

2

2

1

1

9

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%

Based on funding rates

80%

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:3

Better than minimum requirements

 

Over 2

1:6

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

February 2015

Date of this report

15 May 2015

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

March 2012

 

Education Review

October 2008

 

Education Review

December 2007

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 and Next Review

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:

  • Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
  • Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
  • Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
  • Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.