Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) - 29/01/2021

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards	ERO’s judgement
Curriculum	Meeting
Premises and facilities	Meeting
Health and safety	Meeting
Governance, management and administration	Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd) opened in 2018, and this is the first ERO review of the service. The centre owners lead a team of eight qualified teachers. The community is ethnically diverse with many families attending from the local area. This is the first ERO review of the service.

Summary of Review Findings

Teachers respect the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children. The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.

The design and layout of the premises support effective adult supervision. Comprehensive policies and procedures are in place to promote the good health and safety of children. A philosophy statement guides the service’s operation and the ongoing process of self review helps the service maintain and improve the quality of its education and care.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include continuing to:

improve the quality of assessment information to show children’s progress and learning over time
widen the range of methods teachers use for gathering information to help them extend children’s learning
strengthen teachers’ understanding of Te Whāriki (2017), the early childhood curriculum, by providing more targeted professional learning opportunities.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)

Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

29 January 2021

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name	Little Feet Childcare Centre (Yates Rd)
Profile Number	47536
Location	Mangere East, Auckland
Service type	Education and care service
Number licensed for	110 children, including up to 60 aged under 2.
Percentage of qualified teachers	80%
Service roll	44
Ethnic composition	Māori 2 Samoan 12 Filipino 8 Tongan 8 Cook Island Māori 4 Fijian Indian 4 Indian 4 other ethnic groups 2
Review team on site	November 2020
Date of this report	29 January 2021
Most recent ERO report(s)	First ERO review of the service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

discussions with those involved in the service
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.