307 Wai-iti Road, Glenwood, Timaru
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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 Wonders Aoraki is owned by Evolve Education Group, which is responsible for governance. A centre manager, supported by an area manager, leads a team of teachers across five learning areas. This is the first ERO review for this service under the new management. The Ministry of Education issued a full license in March 2021.
The service curriculum is inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children have opportunities to make decisions about their learning and participate in a range of learning experiences. Teachers providing education and care engage in positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and promote reciprocal relationships. Children are viewed as confident and competent learners.
The premises and facilities are resourced to support the learning and abilities of the children attending. Health and safety procedures are monitored, and changes made when required. Governance and management systems support the ongoing monitoring of health and safety processes to ensure requirements are met.
Next steps include:
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
2 March 2022
| Early Childhood Service Name |
Little Wonders Aoraki |
| Profile Number | 46275 |
| Location | Timaru |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
80 children, including 40 up to aged under 2. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
|
Service roll |
85 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 9, NZ European/Pākehā 48, , Indian 8, Chinese 5, Nepalese 5, Other ethnic groups 10 |
|
Review team on site |
February 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
2 March 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2017; Education Review, August 2015. |
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.
Children at Little Wonders Childcare, Aoraki are cared for and learn in five separate areas that respond to the needs of infants, toddlers and young children. The service is licensed for 100 children, including up to 40 children under two years of age. The service provides meals for the children.
This service is one of several owned privately by the Little Wonders Childcare group. A director, centre manager, and two head teachers guide the operation of this service. Most of the staff are registered teachers.
The service's first ERO evaluation in 2015 reported that systems and practices were not effective and centre leadership needed greater support from the owner. The director and centre leadership responded well to ERO's report. The director and Ministry of Education provided significant resourcing to support leaders and teachers to develop and strengthen teaching and learning, and build sustainable practices.
The service is now well placed to sustain what is going well and continue to make improvements.
The new centre manager and leaders have high expectations for teaching and learning in support of the philosophy and core values. Leaders and teachers, in 'collaboration' with families, support the 'growth' of each child, to show 'respect' and have 'fun' in their learning.
The service priorities are evident in teachers' planning and children's learning experiences. Teachers engage in respectful and responsive interactions with children to build a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging. Children under two years of age benefit from close, nurturing relationships with teachers who are responsive to the verbal and non-verbal cues of very young children.
Children benefit from the way teachers foster the qualities of friendship, kindness and resilience when new learning occurs. Teachers have clear expectations for behaviour. Children engage confidently in activities as individuals or in groups. Children take part in a wide range of interesting learning experiences that include a focus on exploration and building their independence. Their transitions into, through and beyond this service are well supported by leaders and staff.
Teachers gather and respond effectively to the aspirations families and whānau have for their children. Leaders and teachers ensure there is effective, regular, two-way communication with families and whānau.
Teachers plan a 'learning pathway' for each child. They identify each child's interests, needs and next steps, then deliberately build on this knowledge to extend children's learning. They make effective use of a range of well-resourced, indoor and outdoor learning environments for children to have varied, interesting and enjoyable experiences.
Māori children are well supported to be confident and experience success. Manaakitanga is particularly evident in the centre. Tamariki and their whānau have their identity acknowledged by the inclusion of Māori language and culture in children's learning programmes. All children learn about aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand's unique bicultural heritage.
Pacific children, children from other ethnicities and children with additional needs are well supported.
Leaders are building a collaborative teaching team. There is a centre-wide culture of improvement for the benefit of children. Leaders and teachers reflect thoughtfully about their practices. Leaders expect teachers to know what children could learn, plan how to respond, and record the difference teachers make as a result. The next step to improve practice is for teachers to more consistently evaluate the impact of their teaching on outcomes for children.
Effective induction, mentoring and appraisal systems support teachers in building their own professional practice. The service benefits from ongoing and well-planned professional learning and development. The director is very supportive of the service's leadership and provides significant resourcing to continue to build leadership capability.
The director has strengthened governance practices. He provides clear strategic direction for this service's operation and vision for the future. Annual planning shows clearly what is to be done to achieve the service's goals. The director's planned improvements to processes for monitoring and reporting against the annual and strategic plans should provide better evaluation of impact. A key next step is to ensure the commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand is evident in strategic planning.
The key next steps are for leaders and teachers to:
continue to strengthen the consistency of teachers' planning, assessment and evaluation
ensure a commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand is evident in the service's long-term planning and increasingly evident in the philosophy in action
continue to strengthen and embed internal evaluation at all levels of service operation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Wonders Childcare (Aoraki) 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 Wonders Childcare (Aoraki) will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
6 June 2017
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 |
Timaru |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46275 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
123 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys: 58% Girls: 42% |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Asian Pacific Other |
7% 79% 9% 2% 3% |
|
|
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 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
April 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 June 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
August 2015 |
|
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.