Lollipops Vickery Street - 26/06/2015

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Lollipops Educare Vickery Street
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

1 Evaluation of Lollipops Educare Vickery Street

How well placed is Lollipops Educare Vickery Street to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Lollipops Educare Vickery Street is a full-day, licensed education and care service located in Te Rapa, Hamilton. It is licensed to cater for 75 children, including 25 children up to the age of 2 in four age-based areas. At the time of this ERO review there were 75 children on the roll, including 9 children who identified as Māori. The centre is providing education and care for families in the industrial area from several different ethnicities.

Since the 2012 Education Review the centre has experienced two changes of ownership and is now owned by Evolve. The centre operates under the governance and management of the Lollipops organisation who place priority on the provision of high-quality services and positive learning outcomes for children and their families. The centre continues to be managed under the same leadership.

The centre has sustained its areas of strengths identified in the previous ERO report and has responded positively to the identified areas for development related to reporting and clarifying leadership roles and responsibilities.

The centre exceeds Ministry of Education requirements teacher qualification and adult to children ratios.

The service places priority on respectful and nurturing relationships with children and their family/whānau. They aim to foster wonder and curiosity for life-long learning.

The Review Findings

The centre is well placed to promote positive learning and care outcomes for children and their family/whānau because of:

• effective governance and management, which provide policy direction and professional development for the centre
• experienced leadership
• a positive and well-qualified teaching team who work well together
• a child-centred curriculum guided by a clear philosophy.

Children enjoy and participate in a programme that identifies and responds to their interests and strengths. The learning environment is well designed to promote active learning and enables children to make choices, explore, take risks and experiment from a wide range of high-quality, opened-ended equipment and materials.

The curriculum places priority on the provision of natural resources, flexible routines that respond to children’s needs, and the integration of literacy and mathematics. Teachers are increasingly including te reo and tikanga Māori in meaningful contexts of children’s play.

Children’s learning and development is recorded in individual profile books and attractive centre displays. Families are encouraged to share their views and aspirations for their children. There are some good models of assessment and planning. This information is being effectively used to inform teacher planning for the environment, and identify opportunities teachers provide for children.

Children up to the age of two experience calm, peaceful and unhurried nurture and care, which is influenced by the Pikler philosophy. This approach places importance on a primary care teacher who has particular oversight and responsibility for identified infants and toddlers and their families. Babies and toddlers are confident and are encouraged to grow and develop at their own pace.

Teachers consistently involve themselves in children's play in well-planned and prepared environments. They have established positive, respectful relationships with families/whānau and children. Teachers have many conversations with children that promote their oral language development, problem solving and social skills.

Effective leadership for this centre is evidenced by:

• experienced personnel providing support for business, human resource management and curriculum advice
• highly professional and reflective leadership from the centre manager who fosters emergent leadership amongst teachers, and provides relevant feedback to teachers to build their practice
• sound leadership from team leaders for the age-based areas.

Key Next Steps

While self review is leading to improvement at all levels of centre operations, it would be more effective by setting clear and specific expectations for practice and making greater use of Ministry of Education resources and guidelines.

ERO have identified the need to further review and refine assessment, planning and evaluation practice. Development should include:

• clearer analysis of children’s learning
• more specific planning of teaching practice or strategies that build and extend on children's learning
• documenting the outcomes for children and their families of the planned transition process
• more formal opportunities for families to be involved in the learning partnership
• clear acknowledgement of and inclusion of the language, culture and identity of every child.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Lollipops Educare Vickery Street 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Lollipops Educare Vickery Street will be in three years.

Dale Bailey

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

26 June 2015

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.