BestStart Montessori The Gardens

1 Evaluation of Montessori The Gardens

How well placed is Montessori The Gardens to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Montessori The Gardens provides education and care for children aged 14 months to six years on one site. The site comprises of three buildings with children grouped according to age. When ERO visited in 2013, the three classrooms were licensed separately. They are now all on one licence. The service is a member of the BestStart group of early childhood services. The education programme is based on Montessori principles.

A head teacher in each classroom has responsibility for the day-to-day programme. The on-site manager has support from a BestStart professional services manager (PSM) and business manager. The service has a mix of new and long-serving staff. Two of the three head teachers and the PSM have been in their roles for less than one year.

The centre welcomes children from a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities.

The 2010 and 2013 ERO reports identified internal evaluation as an area for development. The centre has identified, and ERO agrees, that this continues to be an area for development.

The Review Findings

Children in all three classrooms benefit from warm, caring, respectful relationships with each other and the teachers. Children's sense of belonging and wellbeing is supported by well-established routines and the teachers' clear expectations for behaviour.

Children engage well in both structured and informal learning. They have a range of opportunities to exercise choice, learn at their own pace and work uninterrupted on activities of interest, either alone or in groups. A key feature of the programme is the focus on children learning self-care, real-life skills, literacy and mathematics. The teachers plan for groups and individuals and regularly record children’s successes and achievements, and identify next steps for learning.

Infants and toddlers learn and play in a calm, child-focused environment that supports their growing independence.

Children with English as a second language are nurtured in a community atmosphere where language and culture are valued and celebrated.

Teachers seek and value input from parents and whānau about children’s interests and learning. Families enjoy excursions and other social events together which is helping to establish a sense of community within the service.

The learning environment reflects New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. Children have opportunities to become familiar with Māori culture through the use of te reo Māori, saying karakia and singing waiata. Teachers acknowledge the need for ongoing development of their confidence, knowledge and abilities in this area.

The centre managers have worked well together to settle new staff and establish a positive team culture. The focus for the past year has been for new staff to become familiar with the Montessori approach to learning and become familiar with BestStart’s compliance and audit requirements.

Leaders have been involved with BestStart professional learning recently regarding changes in health and safety and Education Council requirements.

Key Next Steps

The centre managers and leaders have identified the need to continue to build their knowledge and understanding of effective internal evaluation processes and practices.

The centre manager and leaders have identified the need to continue to develop:

• their knowledge and understanding of effective internal evaluation processes and practices
• the links between the centre philosophy, the centre’s learning priorities and the strategic plan
• the strategic plan and how the goals will be met, monitored and evaluated over time
• internal evaluation processes and practice
• planning, assessment and evaluation guidelines and practices
• bicultural practice and the integration of Māori perspectives.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Montessori The Gardens 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 Montessori The Gardens will be in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

24 February 2017 

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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. 

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.

1 Evaluation of the Service

How well placed is the service to promote positive outcomes for children?

The service is well placed to promote positive outcomes for children.

Context

The Montessori Infants’ House is one of three Kidicorp centres known as Montessori @ the Gardens. They are based on adjacent sites. The on-site manager has responsibility for all three licences. In the last 12 months a new teaching team has been working in the Infants’ House. The head teacher is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the centre.

The Infants’ House provides all-day education and care for toddlers under three years. They come from many parts of Dunedin and from diverse backgrounds. Teachers use effective processes to create a sense of belonging for the children and their whānau.

Since the last ERO review in 2010, teachers have maintained their focus on providing an education based soundly on the Montessori principles. The teachers are committed to teaching through this philosophy. Significant improvements have been made to the outdoor environment and the children’s learning stories. In 2010, ERO identified the need for the centre to extend its self-review processes. This continues to be an area for development.

This review was conducted as part of a cluster approach to reviews in three early childhood education services within the Kidicorp Ltd umbrella organisation.

Review Findings

The toddlers work and learn in a calm and settled classroom. They show a strong sense of purpose and ownership. They make very good use of the resources.

The centre’s philosophy is soundly based on the principles of Montessori and is well linked to Te Whaariki (the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum). The principles of independence, social skill development and respect are very visible throughout the programme and in how the toddlers interact with each other and their environment.

Teachers establish and maintain meaningful relationships with the toddlers and their whānau. Teachers often seek ideas from parents and ask them about their aspirations for their children. As a teaching team, they consider these, along with the Montessori learning sequences, when deciding the learning and teaching directions for individual children.

Throughout their day at Infants’ House, the toddlers hear and use te reo Māori in waiata, stories, rhymes and instructions. The learning environment and many of the teachers’ practices are building children’s awareness of te ao Māori.

Teachers reflect on their practices as individuals and as a team. They work collaboratively to plan for children’s learning and the overall organisation of the classroom’s programme. Over the past months, teachers across the three classrooms have been sharing ideas and resources more.

Key Next Steps

Managers and teachers could improve their self review by:

• developing a shared understanding of sound self-review
• establishing consistent processes that clearly set out what is to be reviewed, who is involved and how information will be gathered and analysed, recorded, used and evaluated to bring about further improvements for children
• establishing a review cycle to ensure all aspects of the operations of the service are effectively reviewed over time.

The centre manager, with the head teachers, should clarify, document and implement their expectations for effective planning, assessment and evaluation. Consistent centre-wide expectations would provide better support for:

• teachers to know what they have to do
• managers to monitor the quality of planning across the three classrooms
• teachers and managers when reviewing aspects of their work.

Managers need to establish procedures to ensure the Kidicorp systems are better implemented. These should include:

• the centre manager and head teachers making more effective use of the comprehensive and regular external reports and audits provided by the business and professional services managers
• teachers having an annual robust appraisal, with links to ongoing and relevant professional support that assists them to continue to develop their teaching practices.

Centre managers need to ensure all staff have regular opportunities to share their ideas and views, for example, about the effectiveness of management practices including performance management.

2 Legal Requirements

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Montessori Infants' House 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.

To improve current practice, managers and teachers should be more rigorous when carrying out and recording evacuation drills.

3 Next Review

When is ERO likely to review the early childhood service again?

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services Southern Region

20 June 2013

Information about the Early Childhood Service

General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

About ERO Reviews

The Education Review Office (ERO) is the New Zealand government department that reviews schools and early childhood services throughout New Zealand.

Review focus

ERO's education reviews in early childhood services focus on the factors that contribute to positive learning outcomes for children. ERO evaluates how well placed the service is to make and sustain improvements for the benefit of all children at the service. To reach these findings ERO considers:

• 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 self review and partnerships with parents and whānau.

Review Coverage

ERO reviews do not cover every aspect of service performance and each ERO report may cover different issues. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.