Magicland Childcare

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 Magicland Childcare are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Magicland Childcare is privately owned by a qualified early childhood teacher. The owner maintains the daily teaching, operational leadership, and management responsibilities. The service philosophy is inspired by Reggio Emilia where children are viewed as full of potential. Most of the children and families attending are of Chinese heritage. The teaching team reflects the cultural diversity of children and their families.

3 Summary of findings

Children have opportunities to play cooperatively and independently as they prefer. Teachers work closely with them to support their play, using caring interactions that promote trusting and respectful relationships. Children up to two years of age experience a calm and nurturing environment.

Centre environments are carefully prepared to invite children’s involvement. Separate rooms provide
age-appropriate care and learning activities. Children have access to a variety of activities and resources. The curriculum provides opportunities for children to learn early numeracy and literacy skills. Teachers are continuing to build their understanding of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to extend children’s learning.

Teachers continue to develop their planning and assessment processes. There is not yet a shared understanding of assessment for learning practices. Current practices do not yet reliably:

• consider how well the curriculum is supporting children to lead their own learning

• challenge older children through complex play

• align with the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, and the service’s learning priorities.

Children’s cultures and home languages are valued and celebrated in their learning portfolios using individual pepeha and wall displays. Teachers have made a commitment to embed te reo Māori into daily practice. They use te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in natural and inclusive ways with children.

Teachers have positive relationships with parents, whānau and the wider community. Children’s and families’ sense of inclusion and belonging is nurtured through transitions into and within the centre. Children who require extra learning assistance are well supported.

The centre is well managed. Centre operations are guided by a framework of policies and procedures. The leader promotes a culture of reflection and ongoing improvement.

Review processes are in place that support teachers to reflect on and revisit their practices. These are also beginning to contribute to positive changes for children. Teachers’ shared understanding of internal evaluation for ongoing improvement, and use of evaluation findings to determine how well teaching practices and the curriculum supports improved learning outcomes for children, are at an early stage.

4 Improvement actions

Magicland Childcare will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Strengthen the team’s understanding of Te Whāriki to follow children’s interests and extend their learning.

• Embed curriculum planning, evaluation and assessment for learning practices to better guide teaching practice.

• Build leaders’ and teachers’ internal evaluation capacity and capability to undertake evaluations that focus on the effectiveness of practices. Evaluation to focus on identifying what is and is not working, and for whom, and the impact of practices on children’s learning outcomes. Use the evaluation findings to determine strategic planning priorities.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Magicland Childcare 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.

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

8 August 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service