Li'l Champs Early Learning Centre

1 Evaluation of Little Feet Pre-School

How well placed is Little Feet Pre-School to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

This the fourth ERO review of the centre in five years. While the owner endeavours to respond to ERO recommendations the centre leadership and management systems are not sufficiently robust to sustain improvements.

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

Background

Little Feet Pre-School is a privately owned centre that provides full day education and care for up to 40 children including up to 8 under two years old. Both age groups are often mixed but the younger children also have separate indoor and outdoor spaces. Almost all the children on the roll have Māori or Pacific heritage and staff reflect the centre’s cultural diversity.

The owner employs a centre manager to administer the centre, implement management systems and oversee the performance of staff. She has also recently appointed a head teacher to lead the curriculum and organise the programme for children. This leadership team has documented management plans, policies and systems but has yet to develop a cohesive approach to their roles, responsibilities and expectations for achieving their goals.

The owner, centre manager and two of four staff members are registered teachers. The centre manager mentors the two teachers who are working towards full practising certificates and appraises all staff. Teachers have also participated in professional development to further improve the quality of teaching and learning in the centre. The new head teacher has not yet been involved in ongoingwhole centre professional development with the team.

In 2013 ERO undertook a supplementary review of the service to follow up a range of concerns identified during the 2012 supplementary ERO review. The leaders and teachers had made some progress in most areas, but needed to further improve programmes for children under two, planning and assessment and self review. ERO also recommended centre leaders evaluate the centre philosophy. Work has continued in all these areas.

The centre philosophy expresses the aim to provide 'a high quality programme' to 'support children to become competent and confident learners'. These aspirational goals continue to be a challenge for centre leaders and teachers.

The Review Findings

Children show a sense of belonging in the centre, settling happily at activities on their arrival. They share positive relationships with teachers and show interest when adults engage them in conversation about their play. In particular, the small group of toddlers is encouraged to investigate resources and they are supported well by a gentle, nurturing teacher. Children enjoy the redeveloped outdoor environment where they engage in social play and often participate in gardening activities. They would benefit from more opportunities for complex play that encourage them to think and explore their own ideas.

Teachers support children to engage with activities and resources. They plan themes that reflect children's interests or topical events and organise small group times to provide related activities. Some teachers capably involve children in cooperative play and use questions well to encourage learning. However, there are several steps teachers could take to improve the quality of children's learning experiences. These include:

• reviewing the environment to refresh resources, cull old items and make learning areas inviting
• considering meaningful ways to integrate early literacy, numeracy and science in children’s play
• developing a shared approach to supporting children's oral language development
• more deliberately extending children's individual strengths and interests
• implementing a focus on respect - for people, places and things.

Teachers incorporate aspects of bicultural practice and use a little te reo Māori in their interactions with children. They acknowledge this is an area for ongoing growth and development.

For two years the centre has had a digital tool for assessing children's learning, monitoring links with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, engaging parents and whānau in children's learning and encouraging shared reflection between teachers. This tool is not being well used. While most teachers are recording learning stories, they are not yet reflecting together and monitoring systems are not being used to enhance the quality of teachers' work or to ensure assessments are up to date. Not all parents access the digital tool and because the centre no longer routinely provides hard-copy portfolios, whānau have limited engagement in their child's learning.

The owner and centre manager have worked collaboratively for many years. They should now seek external support, including mentoring and appraisals for themselves, to develop their understanding of high quality centre leadership, management and personnel practices. They could also strengthen the management of the centre by establishing tangible links between the long-term strategic plan, the annual action plan, teacher appraisals and professional development.

Centre leaders have involved teachers in self review and consulted parents about their aspirations. These processes have resulted in some changes, but in order for self review to effect significant, sustainable change it must become more rigorous and improvement focused.

Key Next Steps

Centre leaders agree that they need to enhance centre leadership and develop a clear direction for improvement. Their next steps include:

• establishing alignment between management planning, personnel systems and self review
• effectively implementing the teacher appraisal process to ensure that teachers reflect on their practices and that there is ongoing monitoring of their progress
• ensuring that policies are up to date with current legislation and that they guide centre practices
• implementing systems to effectively monitor the quality of programme planning and evaluation and the assessment of children's learning
• strengthening learning partnerships with parents and whānau.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Little Feet Pre-School 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

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to curriculum and management. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

• plan, implement and evaluate a curriculum that effectively responds to the learning interests, strengths and capabilities of enrolled children
• ensure that the service is effectively governed and is managed in accordance with good management practices.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, Reg 43 1(a,i), Reg 47 1(a).

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service consult with the Ministry of Education and plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Little Feet Pre-School will be within two years. 

Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

28 September 2016 

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 

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.