Mornington Kindergarten

1 Evaluation of Mornington Kindergarten

How well placed is Mornington Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Mornington Kindergarten provides education and care for children aged from two years to school age. The kindergarten is open for school-day hours. Some of the younger children go home at lunchtime so forty children attend in the morning and thirty in the afternoon. A recent initiative has been for younger siblings to attend along with their older brothers and sisters. The kindergarten community includes families from a wide diversity of cultures.

All the teachers are qualified. A parent committee supports the kindergarten with fundraising and improvements. The teachers are continuing to make progress on the recommendations of the 2012 ERO report.

The kindergarten operates under the Dunedin Kindergartens (DK) umbrella. DK provides management and professional support for the teachers. This review was part of a cluster of 24 kindergarten reviews in the DK.

The Review Findings

Children from many cultures attend Mornington Kindergarten. The teachers make all parents feel welcome and get to know their families. They organise occasions for families to get together and help them make connections with each other. This makes the kindergarten a valuable meeting place for families who have come from other countries. The teachers are also sensitive to families who may need additional support and help them in their dealings with other agencies. The teachers maintain close links with local schools to support children’s transitions.

Children have a sense of belonging in the kindergarten. Their diverse cultures are recognised and celebrated. For example, children are greeted in their home languages and they mark events like Matariki and Chinese New Year. Parents are encouraged to contribute their knowledge to the kindergarten programme.

Children develop friendships and are encouraged to help each other. They play together in small groups and have many opportunities to make decisions for themselves. Resources are set out so children have easy access to them.

Since the last ERO report, the teachers have reviewed the routines and structure of the day and have made changes to be more responsive to children. They should include this area in their review schedule in the future to ensure routines are the positive and interactive learning experiences that teachers intend them to be.

Children benefit from a range of worthwhile learning experiences. These include:

• dramatic play that supports children’s oral language learning
• outside play to develop physical skills and confidence
• real-life experiences like gardening and cooking
• enjoying waiata and using te reo Māori every day
• routines that support early literacy.

The teachers have a system to ensure that all children are planned for and they regularly gather parents’ wishes for their children’s learning. They have recently worked with Māori whānau to develop a better way to gather the aspirations of Māori families. Group plans stem from children’s interests and cover a wide range of topics. The teachers have further work to do to strengthen their systems for assessment, planning and evaluation. This will help them focus more strongly on children’s learning and show how children’s language and culture are valued.

The teachers work well as a team, sharing responsibilities and bringing their own enthusiasms. They are committed to attending professional learning together. They have identified some priorities for the kindergarten’s future development aligned to the DK strategic intent. These would be strengthened by more detailed planning to show how they will be achieved. The DK provides a useful model for self review and teachers continue to work with the senior teacher from DK in order to make self review effective.

The vision of the DK is to provide excellence in early childhood education for all children. The DK is governed by a board and managed by a long-serving general manager. The kindergarten teachers told ERO they appreciated the support they receive from the association and the advice and guidance of the senior teachers.

The board, general manager and senior teachers:

• provide appropriate opportunities for parents and staff to contribute their ideas about matters in the association
• are responsive to the identified needs of children and families within the association and provide funding and support to enable these to be met
• have developed a useful framework to guide their work
• take all reasonable steps to ensure safe environments for children, teachers and other staff
• maintain their professional learning and provide ongoing professional learning for teachers in the association.

Key Next Steps

Teachers and the senior teacher have identified, and ERO agrees, that assessment, planning and evaluation need further development. This includes:

• bringing together parent aspirations and teachers’ professional knowledge to identify challenging next steps for children’s learning
• clearly recording the strategies and learning experiences to promote the identified next steps
• ensuring evaluations show the learning that has occurred and the difference teachers have made
• showing in records how children’s language, culture and identity are valued and affirmed.

The teachers have identified that another next step is to update the philosophy statement so it expresses their commitment to New Zealand’s bicultural heritage and to valuing the diverse cultures within the kindergarten.

The senior teacher should work closely with the kindergarten teachers to make a plan to achieve the steps above.

The teachers should also work with the senior teacher to:

• make sure they implement their long-term plan
• build their understanding and use of effective self review
• after further development, review the effectiveness and consistency of assessment, planning and evaluation.

Next steps for the board, with the support of the general manager and senior teachers, are to:

• continue to define what excellence in education looks like in the DK
• further develop strategic planning to better show future goals and priorities and how these will be achieved in the association and in the kindergartens
• ensure that the reports they receive show how well the association’s vision and goals are met, are evaluative and inform future planning
• continue to strengthen the appraisal process and be assured that appraisals are rigorous and consistent throughout the kindergartens.

With the appointment of a new senior teacher, it is timely for the board and general manager to review the role of the senior teachers and strengthen systems to ensure consistent, high quality practices across all kindergartens within the association.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Mornington Kindergarten 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.

ERO noted that a boundary fence could potentially be climbed by children. The DK should ensure that all fencing is secure.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Mornington Kindergarten will be in three years.

Chris Rowe

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

22 December 2015

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.