Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool

Education institution number:
70389
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
48
Telephone:
Address:

79 Ellesmere Junction Road, Lincoln

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Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool - 07/03/2019

1 Evaluation of Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool

How well placed is Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool is a full-day education and care service for children from three months to school age. The service is one of two managed by Lincoln University and on the campus. Children of staff, students and local families attend. Children come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Some are English language learners.

All of the teachers are experienced, fully qualified early childhood educators. Over time there has been little change in the teaching team. A very experienced teacher returned to become the centre supervisor early in 2018.

The Review Findings

Responsive and respectful relationships between adults and with children, including infants and toddlers, strongly contribute to children's wellbeing and learning. The Māori concept of manaakitanga is very evident in the caring interactions and welcoming culture. Teachers know each child very well as an individual and as a learner. They are alert and responsive to children's physical and emotional wellbeing.

Children show a strong sense of belonging, and of being confident and capable learners. They frequently initiate and lead their play, and show sustained interest and engagement in this and their learning. The children play well with and alongside each other and have developed good friendships.

The children's and their families' language, culture and identity are genuinely valued and celebrated in the daily programme. The different cultures are highly visible in centre resources and displays. Teachers value parents' cultural expertise and world views. This means that parents often share aspects of their culture at the service, enriching children's and teachers' learning.

Children benefit from a rich, well-planned and authentic curriculum. Their ideas about their learning are valued. Connections between centre learning and home-life are made. Children have meaningful opportunities to learn about and experience Māori and Pacific cultures. Curriculum strengths are particularly evident in:

  • early literacy and mathematics
  • environmental learning
  • physical exploration
  • social competence.

Children with additional needs are very well supported.

Children's learning is supported by useful assessment and planning practices. Parents' voice and views about this are regularly sought and responded to. Individual learning stories carefully describe significant learning, and how teachers have supported this. The stories also show children's progress over time. Group planning results in thoughtful resourcing and experiences to support the planned learning. Aspects of planning for children's learning could be further strengthened by greater clarity about the service's learning priorities and teachers' strategies to support the intended learning.

Teachers are very well supported professionally. This has helped build a reflective and improvement focused teaching team. Factors contributing to this are: relevant professional learning (especially about culturally-responsive practice); a meaningful appraisal process; and effective use of internal evaluation to know what is going well and what could be better.

Sound governance and management practices have resulted in smooth centre operations and enable the leader and teachers to focus on supporting children's learning. Parent and staff views are valued and children are at the heart of decision making. The manager, service leader and ERO have identified that a next step is to review and improve aspects of strategic and annual planning and reporting.

Key Next Steps

Next steps for this centre build on existing good practices. These are to:

  • clarify the service's desired outcomes for children's learning -'what learning matters here'
  • sharpen group planning by focusing on fewer learning outcomes and more detail about the strategies teachers intend to use to support the desired learning
  • review and refine the service's strategic and annual planning and reporting processes.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool 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.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

7 March 2019

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

Lincoln

Ministry of Education profile number

70389

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

42 children, including up to 15 aged under 2

Service roll

54

Gender composition

Girls: 19

Boys: 35

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Pacific
Other ethnicities

3
29
4
18

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

January 2019

Date of this report

7 March 2019

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review

December 2014

Supplementary Review

December 2011

Education Review

July 2010

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

The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

  • Very well placed

  • Well placed

  • Requires further development

  • Not well placed

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.

Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool - 08/12/2014

1 Evaluation of Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool

How well placed is Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

This childcare and preschool service now operates as part of Lincoln University rather than being run by a Trust. It provides education and care for children of university staff and students, as well as other children from the local community.

The centre is open from 8.00 am to 5.30 pm. It has two separate programmes, one for children under two years old and the other for children over two.

The children at the centre come from a variety of cultures. This cultural diversity enriches children’s learning as aspects of biculturalism and multiculturalism are integrated into the centre’s programme and practices.

Since the centre’s December 2011 ERO review, the manager and teachers have successfully retained and built on the areas of progress noted at that time. They have made good progress towards addressing areas for improvement, in particular with assessment and planning and the quality of interactions.

The Review Findings

The centre provides children with a positive, supportive and inclusive learning environment that successfully fosters their sense of belonging and wellbeing.

This positive environment is promoted through:

  • staff being observant and responsive to children’s needs, strengths and interests
  • warm, caring and respectful relationships between staff and children
  • positive relationships among children that promote cooperative play
  • teachers’ good relationships with children’s parents and whānau.

Teachers consistently use many practices that successfully promote children’s learning and development. These practices include:

  • interactions that support and extend children’s thinking and their active involvement in exploratory play for sustained periods
  • the effective use of the centre’s facilities and extensive resources to extend and enrich children’s learning
  • good-quality individual assessment and planning that helps teachers respond to and build on children’s interest and strengths.

Ongoing improvements to the centre programmes are providing children with a rich and varied range of activities and learning opportunities. Features of these programmes include the:

  • extent to which they are based on children’s emerging interests
  • way literacy and mathematics are an integrated part of children’s learning
  • range of learning opportunities provided within and beyond the centre
  • emphasis placed on learning about the environment and sustainable practices.

For children under two years of age the centre provides a calm environment, unhurried routines and staff who are sensitive and responsive to children’s immediate needs. The centre gives good support to children with special needs. Staff acknowledge and actively affirm children’s cultural identity.

The service provider, manager and staff are successfully promoting ongoing improvements to the quality of care and education for children. These improvements are being fostered through:

  • a shared and well-understood centre philosophy and priorities
  • the way the manager uses teacher strengths and interests to benefit children and other staff
  • professional development and increasing contact with other early childhood leaders and professionals
  • well-established processes for undertaking regular self reviews.

Key Next Steps

The manager and teachers should:

  • explore further ways of involving parents in their child’s assessments and individual plans
  • improve the planning and evaluation of group programmes
  • give higher priority to evaluating the quality of teaching practices and programmes in their planned cycle of self review.

The service provider and manager should extend provisions for building sustainable management practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool 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 Lincoln University Childcare and Preschool will be in three years.

Graham Randell National Manager Review Services Southern Region

8 December 2014

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

Lincoln, Canterbury

Ministry of Education profile number

70389

Licence type

Education and Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

42 children, including up to 15 aged under two

Service roll

57

Gender composition

Girls 30 Boys 27

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Pacific

Asian

Latin American/Spanish

Other Ethnicities

3

41

3

6

3

1

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%

Based on funding rates

80%

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:4

Better than minimum requirements

 

Over 2

1:8

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

October 2014

Date of this report

8 December 2014

Most recent ERO reports

Supplementary Review

December 2011

 

Education Review

July 2010

 

Education Review

February 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.