303 Karamu Road, Hastings
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Little Red Fox ECE is one of two networks in this home-based education and care service. The owner and the leadership team manage the day-to-day operation of the service. Educators in this network are based in Blenheim. Two qualified early childhood teachers and a regional manager, support educators to provide for the learning and wellbeing of children in their homes. ERO visited a selection of educator homes as part of this review.
The curriculum provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development, in the home settings, and within the local community. Visiting teachers oversee the education and care arrangements, provide leadership and support to educators and implement the requirements of the service provider. Annual and strategic planning guide the operation of the service. A range of strategies are implemented to assure the service provider that health and safety, and regulatory requirements are met. Suitable human-resource management practices support the selection and induction of educators into their role and responsibilites as home-based educators.
Next steps are for visiting teachers to further develop educator knowledge and practices including:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
8 April 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Little Red Fox ECE |
| Profile Number | 47312 |
| Location | Nelson |
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Service type |
Home-based service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 children aged under two years old. |
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Service roll |
67 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 16, NZ European/Pākehā 51 |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
8 April 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, November 2019 |
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.
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 (PDF 1MB). In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet their legal obligations related to:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Little Red Fox ECE is not well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
The new owner has focused on establishing and growing this network. However key aspects of practice relating to the quality of educator and teacher outcomes, and operational management, require strengthening.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Little Red Fox ECE is a newly established, privately owned, home-based service providing care and education in Nelson and Blenheim. The network is licensed for 80 children, including up to 80 aged up to two years. Of the 79 children enrolled, 16 are Māori.
The owner/manager takes responsibility for business aspect and administration, staffing and compliance matters. Along with the manager there are two ECE qualified and registered area coordinators to support in-home educators and nannies to provide suitable care and learning programmes for children. The two coordinators have recently joined the service.
The owner is working with external organisations to organise Level 4 training for educators needing this in 2020.
The service's philosophy, recently reviewed in consultation with families, emphasises the importance of the provision of a learning environment promotes reciprocal and respectful relationships within the home-based context.
This is the first ERO review for this service.
Children’s enrolment into the network is carefully considered in collaboration with families. They benefit from ongoing opportunities for one-to-one interaction with their educators and learning alongside small groups of children in each setting.
A wide range of experiences are offered in educators' homes and the community. Documentation shows children are regularly provided with opportunities to engage in a broad curriculum. Local excursions provide an extension to the curriculum and enrich children’s learning. Leaders provide opportunities for children and educators to regularly meet and learn in a variety of settings.
Educators focus on children's emerging interests. Infants and toddlers and children with additional learning needs are well supported with responsive and attentive caregiving to help them participate in the programme. Parent relationships are valued.
Assessment documentation shows children’s engagement and participation in a home-based setting and celebration of their developmental milestones. Next steps include:
establishing clear expectations of the purpose and use of assessment
coordinators providing targeted guidance to educators to further their understanding of the assessment for learning.
Planning for learning processes have recently been revised to better reflect a strengthened focus on individual children’s interests. The next step is to measure the impact of these activities on children’s learning to support decisions about further development of the programme.
Educators receive a monthly report of the coordinator's visit. These need to better show:
a specific focus on each child
evidence that parent aspirations are reflected in the assessment documentation
how the coordinator is supporting the educator to develop their practice.
Sharing these reports with parents and gaining their perspectives would also be useful.
Leaders support educators to build their knowledge of a bicultural curriculum through the provision of resources and excursions. Coordinators modelling the use of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori through practice and documentation should better support educators to grow their confidence and use of these practices.
The owner has established a relationship with the local kohanga reo and marae. Drawing on this expertise should assist in developing and documenting a curriculum reflective of places of significance to Māori.
A useful framework guides the review of network operation. A consultative approach is evident. Deepening the level of analysis of data and forming stronger judgements about the effectiveness of practices should enhance the process.
Health and safety requirements need to be better monitored through consistent documentation of service requirements. ERO's evaluation identified some examples of processes not fully completed. Leaders should have a stronger emphasis on verifying that all aspects for compliance are completed on their visits to educator homes. At this time the service provider cannot be assured that these are well implemented in all educator homes.
An appropriate process is in place to appraise the owner/manager in her role. The manager has an external appraiser. An annual collaborative appraisal has occurred. This shows a meaningful process to support her development as she moves into a leadership role to support the recently appointed coordinators
Educator appraisals are completed annually. The process appropriately incudes parent comment, some self-reflection by the educator on aspects of their practice and manager comment. Next steps include:
a deliberate focus on developing practice to make the process more meaningful
professional development aligned to educator goals and the strategic direction of the service.
Communication systems are well developed between parents and educators. A range of guidelines are in place to support practice. A useful annual plan outlines the priorities and direction for the service.
Priorities for improvement are to:
support educators to implement effective planning and assessment practices
continue to work on building partnerships with parents and whānau
strengthen educators' understanding of te ao Māori and Treaty of Waitangi-based practice
further develop aspects of the appraisal process for educators
deepen understanding and use of internal evaluation
ensure suitable quality assurance systems are in place to support effective practice.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Red Fox ECE completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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:
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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance and management and health and safety. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
Licensing Criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services 2008, GMA6, HS4, HS7, HS8, HS14, HS15, HS16.
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence of Little Red Fox ECE. ERO will not undertake a further education review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets licensing requirements.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini
Southern Region
20 November 2019
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 |
Nelson |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47312 |
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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 |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
79 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Gender composition |
Male 42, Female 37 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
16 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
3 |
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Required ratios of educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
September 2019 |
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Date of this report |
20 November 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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:
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes 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.