61 Prospect Terrace, Newfield, Invercargill
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Learning Days Childcare Ltd provides a home-based childcare service for 34 children from birth-to-school age. The owner/manager is a fully qualified early childhood teacher, and is also one of two visiting teachers supporting nine in-home educators. Each educator has up to four pre-school children in their care.
The philosophy shows that respectful relationships are the key to children developing their own understandings of how the world works. Home-based care understands and values the home setting where everyday life experiences provide opportunities for play and learning.
Since the 2015 ERO review, the manager has developed an action plan to show what she needed to improve and how she would go about this. Evidence shows that ERO's recommendations have been worked on and that some aspects are still work in progress.
This service is well placed to promote positive outcomes for the children. The owner and visiting teacher effectively support educators to provide interesting programmes for children in partnership with parents and whānau.
Children play and learn in homes where they bond with and are cared for by a primary carer. This provides them with continuity, stability and security, especially for those under two years. Careful placement of children with the educator ensures siblings are kept together. This process also supports children's successful transition to school by providing continuity with after-school care.
Educators and visiting teachers know children and their families very well. There are strong connections with the child's home life. This family-like environment enables children's rhythms and routines to be followed, such as sleep and meal times. Educators form close connections with children's families and work in partnership to ensure the development of the whole child. Children's learning and developmental milestones are shared and celebrated.
Children take part in a wide range of learning experiences. They regularly meet with other children in other educators' homes (House hops), attend music groups, gym and go on frequent excursions within the community. Educators support children's learning through play and planned activities informed by Te Whāriki - the early childhood curriculum. They identify and follow children's strengths, interests and parents' wishes for their child's development.
Educators and visiting teachers are placing an increased focus on systematically including Māori perspectives (language, culture, identity) in their everyday programmes, so that Māori children feel proud of their identity.
Visiting teachers regularly and sensitively coach educators to grow their professional knowledge and practices. Their visits contribute to a useful appraisal process which supports the ongoing growth and development of the educators. They also keep consistent oversight on the wellbeing of educators and children, and requirements to ensure health and safety.
Visiting teachers model a range of different strategies and approaches to enhance learning and support educators to show children's progress through planning and assessment. They help educators to identify and understand children's capabilities and where they may need additional support. As part of this process external expertise is accessed.
ERO has identified the key next steps for the owner/manager and visiting teachers are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Learning Days Childcare Ltd 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 Learning Days Childcare Ltd will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
18 May 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 |
Invercargill |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45350 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 60 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
34 |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 17 Boys: 17 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
7 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 1:4 |
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Over 2 |
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Review team on site |
April 2018 |
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Date of this report |
18 May 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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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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Learning Days Childcare is a home-based early childhood service. The owner is the manager and a visiting teacher. As visiting teacher she visits the homes of nine educators who each provide care and education for up to four preschool children. Children attending range in age from birth to school age.
The service has been open for five years. This is its second review. Since its first review in 2012 the manager has continued to maintain her expectations for quality. There has been some progress with
the areas for improvement identified in the last review. These were to increase the focus on learning within the educators’ programmes and to develop self-review and bicultural practices.
The manager says she has made good progress establishing the organisational culture by building team relationships. She now recognises the need to focus on refining management practices. She has appointed a second visiting teacher and an administration person.
The visiting teachers know the children and the educators well. They provide regular support to the educators and are aware of their strengths and challenges. They work with the individual educators to develop their skills and knowledge of early childhood education and programme planning and delivery. Children’s profile books show that they have a wide range of opportunities for learning through a variety of activities and experiences.
The visiting teachers have been responsible for writing many of the children’s learning stories. The stories show that visiting teachers are focused on children’s learning. These stories provide a good model for the educators. A self review of educators’ learning stories took place over three years and shows good progress over that time, particularly in building their confidence in writing these. The visiting teachers are now beginning some work to build the focus on learning in educators' planning and assessment.
The visiting teachers informally share much of the advice and guidance given to the educators. Some is noted on visiting records which helps to ensure certain aspects are always discussed and other matters followed up on. This reporting format has been regularly revised and includes prompts for health and safety, programme planning and individual learning. There is potential to further develop this tool to include:
The manager has a good understanding of early childhood education and regulatory requirements in home-based care. She is working with her administration staff to improve and streamline many of the current management systems. The information gathered has the potential to be useful in identifying trends and patterns across the service. Other areas the manager is working to improve include:
Appraisal systems have been evolving but still need observer feedback and better links to the service's priorities. The manager, who is also a visiting teacher, has not had a formal external appraisal. She acknowledges the need for external support for her dual role and has accessed support from various places informally. This needs to be formalised.
It is timely for the manager to develop a strategic and annual plan to support her vision and ensure processes are in place to achieve her goals. A clear vision and key priorities that align with the service’s philosophy will provide direction for future development and improvement. There is a need to make her expectations more visible and ensure her team have a shared understanding of these.
The manager has conducted two very useful self reviews. The process and practices need further development. She needs to have a schedule for reviews to ensure practices that impact most on children are regularly reviewed. Reviews also need to evaluate how well policies and procedures are being implemented.
Over the past three years educators have attended one internal learning session on Māori language. The manager says some educators integrate bicultural practices and use tikanga Māori and waiata regularly. She acknowledges that there is a need to take a more systematic approach to professional learning and the inclusion of Māori language and culture.
The manager has agreed to develop an action plan to guide the implementation of systems to support:
Before the review, the staff and management of Learning Days Childcare Ltd 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 Learning Days Childcare Ltd will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
17 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 |
Invercargill |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45350 |
||
|
Licence type |
Home- based Networks |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
60 children |
||
|
Service roll |
30 |
||
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Gender composition |
19 Boys 11 Girls |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Cook Island |
9 20 1 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
February 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
17 March 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report |
Education Review |
March 2012 |
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.