88 Brightside Road, Stanmore Bay
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Montessori at Home requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Montessori at Home needs to improve health and safety and governance practices to meet licensing requirements.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Montessori at Home is a standard funded homebased network. Most of the children enrolled have Pacific heritage. It is one of three networks owned by the service provider, Wee Wisdom Education Group.
The service providers have appointed business and education managers to lead governance processes. The education manager and a visiting teacher provide educators with support and guidance. Educators, who all have an early childhood qualification, provide for up to four children at a time in an educator's home. The service philosophy guides staff to build "trusting partnerships with families, whānau, educators and the community".
The 2017 ERO report noted children's involvement in experiences in the home and community. This positive aspect remains evident. ERO recommended that visiting teachers monitor the implementation of health and safety practices in homes. ERO also identified that visiting teachers could support educators to improve bicultural practices and record children's learning progress over time. These remain areas for ongoing improvement.
This review was part of a review of two networks in the Wee Wisdom Education Group.
Documents show children are settled and engage with resources provided by their educators and visiting teachers. Leaders continue to support educators to encourage children's independence and self-help skills.
Managers and visiting teachers are committed to including bicultural practices in meaningful ways. They should continue to grow their knowledge and confidence to incorporate te reo Māori me ngā tikanga into their practice and model this with educators and children.
Visiting teachers and educators know children and families well. They regularly communicate with parents. A next step is for visiting teachers and educators to consistently gather and respond to parents' aspirations for their children's learning.
Visiting teacher and educator records show that they notice children's interests and dispositions and plan termly topics, such as nature play. Children's learning is recognised and documented. Programme planning includes input from visiting teachers and educators. Visiting teachers help educators to extend children's interests and to support children's developing social skills.
A well-established internal evaluation system guides improvement. Managers and visiting teachers could now evaluate the progress made towards meeting identified strategic goals. Processes to monitor compliance with regulatory requirements require improvement. Managers could report more clearly to the service providers about curriculum provision and the monitoring of regulatory requirements.
Key next steps for managers and visiting teachers are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Montessori at Home completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance and health and safety. To meet requirements the service needs to:
Licensing Criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services 2008, GMA6A, HS4, HS8, HS11, HS14, HS34.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region - Te Tai Raki
25 November 2020
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 |
Panmure, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45807 |
||
|
Institution type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 60 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
15 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
||
|
Gender composition |
Male 9 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Niue |
6 |
|
|
Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
||
|
Required ratios of educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:4 |
||
|
Review team on site |
September 2020 |
||
|
Date of this report |
25 November 2020 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2017 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2014 |
||
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2008
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes 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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The service has been under new management for a relatively short time. Documented systems for management and governance are in the early stages of development. Service managers are aware there is an urgent need to improve management and governance practices, including context specific processes.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Montessori at Home, provides for children up to six years of age in Auckland. It is at the early stages of being established as a Montessori home-based service and there are currently just three children enrolled, all with Māori or Pacific heritage.
Montessori at Home is part of The Pasifika Homebased ECE service, which was purchased by Love of Learning Limited in January 2017. The service now has two Pasifika networks and this Montessori network. The management team includes two owners/directors and an operations manager, who is a registered teacher. Developing relationships with children, educators and parents/whānau has been a priority for the coordinators during this time of transition.
The coordinator, appointed in March 2017, is a registered teacher with Montessori experience and training. She regularly visits the two educators to promote the Montessori educational programmes for children.
The Montessori at Home coordinator is guided in her practice by a belief in the importance of children's belonging, wellbeing, language and identity. This belief is evident in the coordinator's responsive practices and focus on warm reciprocal relationships with educators, children and whānau.
Children's learning and involvement in a variety of experiences in the home and community are recorded in attractive portfolios. Documentation shows that children are developing a strong sense of cultural identity and support to use their first language.
The coordinator is committed to working collaboratively with educators to promote play and Montessori based approaches to learning. There are regular coordinator meetings to plan programmes that will increasingly respond to children's interests.
The coordinator demonstrates a commitment to her role. Her records clearly show how she mentors and supports educators to grow their capacity. New educators keep good records that focus on children's learning in home and community environments.
The new management team is in the early stages of implementing the service's governance and management practices. The team is committed to meeting the requirements for operating a home-based service. Clear communication and open discussions between managers and coordinators have helped ease the transition to new ownership.
The vision and philosophy of the service are currently being reviewed. The management team and coordinators have a good understanding about, and a genuine commitment to, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the place of tangata whenua in Aotearoa. Aligning this commitment with an understanding of Pacific cultural identity will help managers to strengthen capacity in this culturally diverse service, to respond to its community.
There is a focus on continual improvement and building coordinator and educator skills and knowledge. New internal evaluation and performance management systems have recently been implemented. A standardised framework and better use of individual coordinator strengths across the networks will help to support effective induction and performance management systems.
Work is also underway to update the policy and procedural framework and to promote consistency across the owners' four home-based care and education networks. Systems for monitoring and following up health and safety concerns have been established but are not yet consistently implemented. A new strategic plan identifies very appropriate goals for ongoing improvement.
Key next steps for coordinators include:
working with educators to document planning and assessment records that show individual children's progress and development over time.
considering how they could increase parent's written contribution to their child's learning programme.
Key next steps for managers include:
implementing systems to ensure that personnel and health and safety requirements are being consistently monitored
strengthening bicultural practices across all levels of the organisation
working with coordinators to establish internal evaluation and performance management systems
improving the range of equipment available to children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Montessori at Home completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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 Montessori at Home will be in three years.
Violet Tu'uga Stevenson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
26 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.
|
Location |
Panmure, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45807 |
||
|
Institution type |
Homebased Network |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
3 |
||
|
Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 2 Girls 1 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
|
|
Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
1 |
||
|
Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
|
|
Over 2 |
1:4 |
||
|
Review team on site |
May 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
26 June 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
May 2014 |
|
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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.