Gate B, Alexandra Park Greenlane Road, Greenlane, Auckland
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Lollipops Greenlane is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Lollipops Greenlane is located on the grounds of Alexandra Park in Greenlane and provides for children up to school age. Infants' and toddlers' rooms are located on the lower level of the building and older children occupy the upper level.
The centre's philosophy states that they aim to provide children with a "quintessential Kiwi experience" of "wonder, exploration and learning". Teachers aim to provide a holistic curriculum that promotes children's interests and social competence.
Good progress has been made with the next steps outlined in the service's 2015 ERO report. New staff appointments and strategic planning have promoted ongoing centre improvement.
The centre is part of the Evolve Education Group’s Upper North Island region. Evolve provides an overarching governance and management framework. The intent of a recent re-branding of Evolve services has been to build a greater sense of unity across the organisation. It has allowed each centre to identify a preferred philosophical approach.
Recent Evolve initiatives are intended to improve staff retention, promote effective internal evaluation and lift the quality of teaching practices. A new general manager and area managers provide professional support for centre leaders and teachers. Further recruitment is underway for managers to lead a focus on continuing quality improvement across the organisation. There continues to be a period of transition for staff as they adapt to changes in Evolve operational practices.
This review was part of a cluster of six reviews in the Evolve Education Group, Upper North Island region.
Families and children are warmly welcomed on arrival. Children settle quickly, reflecting the centre's ethos of being "where inclusion, culture and tolerance support learning to thrive". Children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and ownership in their environment.
Infants and toddlers up to two years of age are cared for in a nurturing and caring environment. They have very good access to equipment and environments that encourage their learning. Teachers' practice reflects a "pedagogy of care" and provides infants with learning opportunities within care routines. Children make choices about their learning and demonstrate a secure sense of self.
Older children are keen inquirers and have meaningful conversations with each other and with adults. They play for sustained periods of time, respectfully and confidently playing alongside each other.
Teachers interact well with children. They listen, ask and respond to questions in ways that help to develop children's language and problem solving skills. Supporting children to develop more complex play would benefit their learning.
Teachers provide good opportunities for children to learn and develop physical competencies and resilience. Outdoor environments have recently been renovated to resemble natural bush settings. Children enjoy the challenge and intrigue that this setting provides. They confidently explore elements that promote sensory, creative and imaginative play in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Teachers know the children well, and respond to the needs of individual children with sensitivity. Responsive, child-centred planning drives the curriculum. Teachers are increasingly using a cycle of programme planning, assessment, and evaluation that is responsive to children's interests and makes learning visible. Teachers have good partnerships with families, whose contributions are evident in children's individual development plans (IDP). Photographs of children and their families are displayed on the whakapapa wall.
The centre is well led and managed. Policies are robust and regularly reviewed. Regular appraisal supports teachers to build their professional practice. The centre manager initiates relevant professional learning and is a positive influence on teachers' practice. Purposeful internal evaluation includes multiple sources of relevant information and contributes to identifying actions for improvement.
Next steps for centre development include:
continuing to distribute leadership across the centre
further developing teachers' bicultural practice
developing greater consistency across planning and assessment.
During ERO’s August 2018 cluster, Evolve Education Group Managers agreed that next steps included:
increased integration of the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the alignment of strategic goals and annual plans with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum
monitoring the roles and responsibilities of leaders at organisation and centre levels
the effective implementation of appraisal practices.
This current cluster review also identified the need for:
a coherent change management strategy, and monitoring the effectiveness of the new structure
support for centres through changes of key leaders, including area and centre managers
the evaluation of teaching and learning across the organisation, to inform the next steps in PLD and the development of the teaching and learning teams
high quality PLD for area managers to help them to evaluate and promote quality provision for children, and to identify priorities for supporting centre managers.
Before the review, the staff and management of Lollipops Greenlane 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
3 May 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 |
Greenlane, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10329 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 25 Boys 22 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2018 |
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Date of this report |
3 May 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2015 |
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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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Lollipops Educare Greenlane is located on the grounds of Alexandra Park Show grounds in Greenlane and provides all day education and care for children from babies to school age. The service has previously operated as two separate centres, which were reviewed by ERO in 2012 and 2014. Since 2014, the centres have merged and now operate under one licence. Older children, mostly aged over three-and-a-half years, occupy the upper level of the building, while the infant and toddler rooms are downstairs.
The centre is under new ownership and management. The Lollipops Educare franchise is now owned by Evolve Education Group, which provides management and administrative support to the newly appointed centre director.
The centre director has been appointed to oversee operational and administration aspects of the centre. She is supported by a management team that includes three team leaders who provide curriculum support for teachers. Most staff are qualified early childhood teachers and have been with the centre for some time.
The 2013 ERO report recommended that teachers increase the challenge that the programme offered children. This remains a focus for the centre to continue to strengthen.
Children are settled and generally busy. They enjoy the freedom they have to explore the centre and the activities provided by teachers. Children have formed friendships and play well in groups. The atmosphere of the centre is happy and inclusive.
The infants’ room is welcoming and warm. There is an unhurried pace and tone to the programme. Teachers’ responsive caregiving supports infants’ need for strong and secure attachments. Teachers provide a curriculum that supports children’s engagement and learning.
Toddlers have their own separate spaces for uninterrupted play. A range of activities promotes children’s independence and exploration. It would now be timely for teachers to review the effectiveness and quality of the programme provided for these children. Continued professional learning about programmes for infants and particularly for toddlers, should help teachers to continue improving provision for these young children.
Children enjoy some meaningful and creative learning experiences. They are highly capable and would benefit from more complex and challenging learning opportunities, some of which should link to their interests and evolve over time as their ideas extend and diversify. Teachers’ participation in ongoing professional learning and development to improve how they assess children’s learning should be of benefit in this area. It should help teachers to enrich learning experiences for children as part of their regular curriculum planning and delivery.
Improvements in the physical environment have made a positive difference, further promoting children’s active engagement in the programme. The environment is clean and spacious. Parents interviewed by ERO commented that the centre looks different and has a very welcoming tone.
The centre’s philosophy underpins inclusive and respectful partnerships between families and staff that value children’s uniqueness and cultural diversity. The bicultural heritage of Aotearoa/New Zealand is affirmed, with some teachers confidently using te reo Māori and including aspects of tikanga Māori in the programme. Parents appreciate the care and learning that their children experience and report that their children enjoy being at the centre.
The centre director is experienced and capable and has made significant improvements. She has established some useful systems that support staff and managers to review aspects of centre operations. In addition to reviews of policies and other matters that arise from time to time, teachers have started to undertake more meaningful self review. This more in-depth review should help them to better gauge the effectiveness of their practices. The centre’s recent philosophy review has helped staff to articulate what learning they value. This useful step should help them to measure the extent to which they are meeting their stated aims.
The centre director is working with staff to strengthen the centre’s teacher performance appraisal process. This work includes linking the appraisal process to the Ministry of Education strategies for promoting the continued success in education for Māori and Pacific children. The new process encourages teachers to use evidence to reflect on and inquire into their practice. This should help strengthen their professional knowledge about effective practice in early childhood education.
In order to further strengthen management, leadership and teaching practices, centre leaders agree that they should:
In order to achieve these improvements, curriculum leadership needs to be strengthened to help teachers update their practices. Ongoing external professional support would be beneficial to assist with this task.
Before the review, the staff and management of Lollipops Educare Greenlane 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:
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 Lollipops Educare Greenlane will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
9 October 2015
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 |
Greenlane, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10329 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
81 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 42 Girls 39 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Indian Fijian Niue Samoan Tongan other |
4 25 16 15 2 2 2 2 13 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
9 October 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
First review under merged licence and new ownership |
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 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.