20 Huia Road, Point Chevalier, Auckland
View on mapLearning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten
Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten
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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Learning At The Point Community Kindergarten are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
2 Context of the Service
Learning at the Point Community Kindergarten is a well-established centre governed by parent volunteers. It is well supported by the community, and most staff are long serving, including the head teacher. The centre offers all-day care for up to 22 children from three years of age to five years of age.
3 Summary of findings
Children’s mana and identity as successful learners are valued. Children develop responsive and respectful relationships with peers and teachers. The child-led programme supports learning through meaningful play-based experiences. The spacious environments provide many opportunities for children to lead their own learning.
The curriculum framework is individualised for each child. Children’s interests and strengths inform planning, and the teaching team uses a range of useful strategies to facilitate and support children’s learning. Children are articulate, and teachers are skilled in supporting them to negotiate, problem solve and express themselves. Children with additional needs are well cared for. They are included in all aspects of the centre, and their individual strengths and needs are responded to.
Parents who spoke with ERO, appreciate the trusting relationships they have with teachers. They can access and respond online to their child’s learning and feel well informed about their children’s progress. Relational trust with parents and the local community continues to be a strength of the service. Teachers have meaningful relationships with community networks and external agencies to provide support for children and their families.
The transition to school programme offers children individual teacher time focused on developing early literacy and numeracy skills. Children have regular visits to the local school with their parents.
High relational trust is evident between the board and head teacher to support ongoing growth and staff development. The board prioritises professional development to grow teaching capability. The head teacher and staff work collaboratively to ensure that the shared vision, goals and philosophy guide teaching practice and decision-making.
Evaluation systems and procedures are improvement focused. Teachers use appropriate resources and templates to support a more consistent approach to evaluation. This is contributing to a shared understanding of how evaluation supports ongoing centre improvement.
4 Improvement actions
Learning At The Point Community Kindergarten will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
- Evaluating the effectiveness of professional learning on improving teacher practice, and the impact of the current curriculum framework on improving outcomes for children.
- Strengthening the team’s use of bicultural perspectives and practices to provide a more bicultural curriculum.
5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Learning At The Point Community Kindergarten 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.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
29 November 2021
6 About the Early Childhood Service
Early Childhood Service Name |
Learning At The Point Community Kindergarten |
Profile Number |
20264 |
Location |
Point Chevalier, Auckland |
Service type |
Education and care service |
Number licensed for |
22 children over 2 years of age. |
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
Service roll |
49 |
Ethnic composition |
Māori 2, NZ European/Pākehā 34, Asian 7, |
Review team on site |
June 2021 |
Date of this report |
29 November 2021 |
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, December 2017. |
Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten - 15/12/2017
1 Evaluation of Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten
How well placed is Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten 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
The kindergarten, located in Point Chevalier, Auckland is a well-established community-based centre governed by parent volunteers. The centre is licensed for 22 children over the age of two years. Most children are Pākehā, with a small number of Māori children and children from other cultural backgrounds. The centre continues to have stable staffing.
The centre's vision and philosophy promote respectful and reciprocal partnerships with families and whānau and the wider community. They also support a learning environment that is nurturing and flexible so that children develop as competent and confident learners.
ERO's 2014 report noted happy and confident children supported by teachers who were increasingly incorporating te reo Māori and waiata into the programme. These positive aspects are still evident. ERO also identified areas for development to do with improving planning, assessment and evaluation of children's learning, staff appraisal processes, and making diverse cultures more visible in the learning environment. The head teacher and teachers have made good progress in relation to all of these.
The Review Findings
Children, parents and whānau are warmly welcomed into the centre. Teachers know their centre community well and are responsive to parents' aspirations for their children.
Children are content and settled in the centre environment. They choose from a variety of activities in the indoor and outdoor learning areas, and engage in sustained, collaborative and individual play. They converse with each other and adults to make sense of their world.
The learning programme provides a mix of teacher-led and child-initiated play. Teachers explore and interweave local contexts into the programme. Routines during the day provide opportunities for children to listen to stories, join in musical experiences, explore healthy eating habits and learn about environmental sustainability. Teachers could now consider providing further opportunities for children to plan their own play.
Teaching practices enhance children's sense of themselves as successful learners. Teachers regularly discuss children's learning, and collaboratively plan for individual and group interests. They use the 'notice, recognise and respond' approach to support children's emerging interests. Teachers engage in respectful and responsive interactions with children, and now need to strengthen the extent to which their interactions extend and challenge children's thinking.
The head teacher provides good professional development and leadership opportunities for teachers. Teachers' reflective practice continues to be strengthened. A recent internal evaluation around transitions to school was undertaken. It would be useful now for teachers to use the new Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum document, to refine their thinking about transition to school programmes.
The centre is well governed and managed. Appropriate strategic and annual plans have been implemented to align with teachers' appraisals and professional learning. The centre has planned for a complete new outdoor learning environment to be opened in 2018. As part of a culture of ongoing improvement being realised across the centre, it would now be timely for the governance committee to formally evaluate their effectiveness as a governing body.
Key Next Steps
The governance committee and head teacher agree that the key next steps for the centre include:
-
teachers continuing to develop the quality of teaching and learning through professional development that strengthens their understanding of best practice
-
further development of te reo and tikanga Māori programmes, and more specific reference to bicultural partnership in the centre philosophy statement
-
continuing to develop a responsive curriculum.
Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten 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 Learning at the Point Comm. Kindergarten will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
15 December 2017
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 |
Point Chevalier, Auckland |
||
Ministry of Education profile number |
20264 |
||
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
Number licensed for |
22 children over 2 years of age |
||
Service roll |
49 |
||
Gender composition |
Boys 27 Girls 22 |
||
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
Review team on site |
November 2017 |
||
Date of this report |
15 December 2017 |
||
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2014 |
|
Education Review |
February 2011 |
||
Education Review |
November 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.