1056 Brighton Road, Brighton
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Little Rock Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing |
Little Rock Preschool is a mixed-aged, privately owned, faith-based early childhood service. The owner together with a head teacher leads a team of fully certificated teachers and support staff. There have been a number of staff changes since ERO’s 2021 Akanuku | Assurance review. A small number of enrolled children identify as Māori and approximately a quarter represent diverse ethnicities.
The centre philosophy is underpinned by Christian faith-based values, Māori values, a commitment to intentional teaching and being kaitiakitanga – guardians of the local beach environment. Aspects of the philosophy are evident in practice. A feature of the curriculum is the regular opportunities for children to extend their learning by exploring the local beach environment.
Children learn in a play-based context. Those under two years of age have choice to explore within a mixed-age environment or a designated play space. Teachers respond to children’s care and routines appropriately. There is some inconsistent practice in the way teachers engage all children in language-rich and reciprocal interactions.
Teachers acknowledge children’s languages and cultures. There is some use of te reo Māori and other languages evident within assessment documentation. However, there is very little integration of te reo Māori evident in teacher practice. Tikanga Māori concepts within the philosophy are not deeply embedded in practice.
The team is exploring the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, however these have not been explored with parents and whānau and are not consistently evident in assessment documentation or well understood by the new teaching team. Teachers and leaders use assessment information to make children’s learning visible. They identify children’s interest and at times show progress of their learning over time. Assessment for learning practices involve parents and whānau and consider their aspirations for their child’s learning.
Governance and management provide resourcing to support professional learning opportunities and build teachers professional knowledge. A continued focus on monitoring compliance with the regulatory standards is required.
Little Rock Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
continue to explore the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki and use these to inform assessment documentation
teachers to take more intentional approach so that conversations with children are language-rich and learning focussed
increase teachers’ understanding and capability in te reo Māori and tikanga Māori and ensure this is an integrated part of day-to-day teaching
develop a shared understanding and build team capability to effectively do and use internal evaluation for sustained improvement.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Rock 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.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
list of consideration of hazards that has been updated and aligns with the licensing criteria [HS12].
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
medicine documentation includes evidence of parental acknowledgement that medication has been administered.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care centres 2008 [HS28].
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
5 October 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Little Rock Preschool |
|
Profile Number |
46788 |
|
Location |
Brighton, Dunedin |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
37 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
5 October 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Akanuku | Assurance Review, April 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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Little Rock Preschool is a privately owned and operated education and care service with a Christian special character. It has been relicensed under new ownership in April 2019. The owner together with the centre manager leads a team of qualified teachers and support staff.
The curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and promotes children’s developing social competence. The premises support the provision of different kinds of indoor and outdoor play and includes quiet space and physically active play. Useful policies and procedures guide the operation of the centre. Safety checking of staff and volunteers is occurring however, the risk assessment of these checks needs to be consistently completed and documented.
ERO found an area of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
15 April 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Little Rock Preschool |
| Profile Number | 46788 |
| Location | Brighton, Dunedin |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
|
Service roll |
31 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 3, NZ European/Pākehā 26, Other ethnic groups 2. |
|
Review team on site |
March 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
15 April 2021 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2018 |
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. 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:
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Little Rock Preschool is a new privately-owned early learning service with a Christian special character. The service opened in 2015 in a building on the site of Big Rock Primary School. It is licensed to provide education and care for 30 children, including up to 10 under the age of two. All children learn in a mixed-age environment. Sessions are all-day.
The preschool's philosophy states that it aims to support children to develop positive, reciprocal relationships and a sense of wellbeing and belonging, as well as becoming confident, competent learners. It aims to do this through modelling and promoting the service's Christian values of peace, love, kindness, respect and helping others.
The service is led by a centre manager with support from the service owners and an assistant head teacher. The service is staffed by a mix of experienced and beginning teachers.
The owners and manager acknowledge that their focus in the last few years has been on setting up systems and practices, establishing stable staffing and viable enrolment levels, and developing the preschool learning environment. They are now ready to build on these foundations through clearer strategic planning and ongoing evaluation and improvement.
Children's interests, dispositions and learning needs are effectively identified and responded to. Teachers communicate closely with children's families and whānau about children's needs and preferences. They plan purposefully to meet children's needs and assess and monitor their progress and learning. Specific strategies to support those children with additional needs are carefully constructed and regularly reviewed with relevant specialists and children's families.
Children and their families' culture, identity and language are valued and incorporated in children's learning and care. New Zealand's bicultural heritage is evident in the programme and practices. Children regularly hear and use te reo Māori. The service's Christian character and values are also evident in practice.
Children are well supported to develop confidence in communicating and relating to others. Teachers have supported these outcomes through the development of shared understandings of positive guidance for children's behaviour, and explicit modelling of children's social skills. Early literacy and creative expression are promoted through a strong focus on sharing stories and performing arts.
Children have regular opportunities to interact with children and teachers from the neighbouring school. Teachers from the school and service work closely together to support children's transitions to school.
Teachers are collaborating effectively to evaluate aspects of the service's operation and curriculum. They are actively inquiring into effective teaching practice and developing the ability to critically reflect on the impact of their teaching practices.
Service leadership is effective in developing the conditions that support quality care and education. Over the past two years the centre manager has been strongly focused on putting in place systems and processes to support the sustainability of the service. These have included:
developing a strategic framework to identify priorities for development
leading and modelling effective internal evaluation
strengthening teacher appraisal processes and supporting teacher development
promoting culturally responsive practices
building a collaborative culture focused on professional practice and positive outcomes for children.
Owners, leaders and ERO agree that the next steps to develop and sustain this service's capability to promote positive outcomes for children are to:
use the recently developed strategic framework (plan, vision and philosophy) to guide planned internal evaluation
continue to provide high quality pedagogical leadership for teachers
improve reporting to the owners on how well the service is meeting its requirements and enacting its vision and philosophy.
To continue to improve the quality of teaching and learning, the next steps are to:
build teachers' curriculum/subject knowledge to support a broad and rich curriculum that provides meaningful opportunities for children to extend their thinking and learning
ensure the learning environment is well resourced and used purposefully to support a broad curriculum
ensure internal evaluation identifies how well programmes and the learning environment are meeting the needs of children of different ages.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Rock 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Little Rock Preschool will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
21 February 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.
|
Location |
Brighton, Otago |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46788 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
31 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 17 Boys: 14 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
December 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
21 February 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
No previous 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:
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.