Little Wings Early Childhood Education & Care Centre

Education institution number:
47370
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
27
Telephone:
Address:

88 Main Highway, Ellerslie, Auckland

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Little Wings Early Childhood Education and Care Centre

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

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Little Wings Early Childhood Education and Care Centre is a privately owned service located in Ellerslie, Auckland. It provides education and care for children from birth to five years in two age-defined learning spaces. The qualified owner manages the service and acts as curriculum leader. This is the service’s second Akanuku | Assurance Review.

Summary of Review Findings

The service’s curriculum is informed by assessment planning and evaluation that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests and life contexts. It supports each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures.

Adults providing care and education engage in positive interactions with children to enhance their learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. They also provide opportunities for parents to share and be involved in decisions about their child’s learning.

Ongoing monitoring is required to ensure that the service maintains compliance with the regulatory standards.

Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • Ensuring an annual plan guides the service’s operation and identifies the ‘who’ in relation to key tasks undertaken each year (GMA8).

  • Ensuring daily hazard checks include consideration of all hazards required for this criterion (HS12).

  • Ensuring that whenever children leave the premises on an excursion the required documentation is completed and includes a signature by the person responsible giving approval for the excursion to take place (HS17).

  • Gaining written permission from a parent to allow children to travel in a motor vehicle while in the care of the service (HS18).

  • Ensuring children are supervised at all times while eating (HS22).

  • Ensuring that medication records are completed with all the information required, including the date and time the medication was administered and evidence of parental acknowledgement (HS28).

Next ERO Review

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

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

5 September 2022

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Little Wings Early Childhood Education and Care Centre

Profile Number

47370

Location

Ellerslie, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

32

Review team on site

July 2022

Date of this report

5 September 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, June 2020

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.

Little Wings Early Childhood Education & Care Centre - 12/06/2020

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards
ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Not 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, that have since been addressed.

Background

This is the first review of Little Wings Early Childhood Education & Care Centre. It is a privately-owned service. The owner is the centre manager and curriculum leader. Staff and families are from culturally diverse backgrounds. Most of the staff are qualified teachers.

Summary of Review Findings

Children experience a curriculum based on the principles and strands of Te Whāriki. Teachers provide a range of experiences, indoors and out, to meet the interests and abilities of the ages of children attending. They recognise children’s diverse cultures. However, the service was not meeting regulatory standards in a number of areas relating to the premises and facilities, health and safety and governance and management. Some of these areas posed a significant risk to children. The owner had not maintained centre systems to be assured of meeting requirements. Ongoing review that supports improvement is in the very early stages of development. Most of the non-compliances, including all those related to premises and facilities, identified at the time of the review have since been addressed.

Actions for Compliance

ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:

  • the annual review of the emergency plan informed by evaluation of the emergency drills
  • ensuring parents are advised how to access the ERO report.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008; HS7, GMA2,

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • safe and secure storage of equipment and materials, including cleaning products
  • systems for monitoring and ensuring there is full and accurate completion of accident, medication, and sleep records
  • carrying out emergency drills on at least a three-monthly basis
  • ensuring that there is a suitable risk management system including identifying, minimising, isolating or eliminating hazards
  • ensuring that parents are advised about how to complain regarding non-compliance with the regulations or criteria.
  • ensuring parents are advised of how the Ministry of Education funding received by the service has been spent
  • ensuring parents have opportunities to contribute to the development and review of operational documents and there is a schedule showing timelines for planned reviews of the different areas of operation
  • ensuring all staff are police vetted in accordance with the requirements of the Children’s Act (2014).

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF8,PF25,PF27,PF28,PF30,PF33, HS6, HS8, HS9,HS10,HS11,HS12,HS28, GMA1, GMA3, GMA4, GMA6, GMA7A.

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review of Little Wings Early Childhood Education and Care Centre will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

12 June 2020

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Little Wings Early Childhood Education & Care Centre

Profile Number

47370

Location

Ellerslie, Auckland 

Service type

Education and Care service

Number licensed for

30 children, including up to 10 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Reported ratio of staff to children under 2

1:4 - Better than regulatory standards

Reported ratio of staff to children over 2

1:7 - Better than regulatory standards

Service roll

24

Gender composition

Male 9 Female 15

Ethnic composition

Māori 4
NZ European/Pākehā 7
Chinese 4
Other Ethnicities 9

Review team on site

4 February 2020

Date of this report

12 June 2020

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 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 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 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 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.