Murrays Bay Childcare Centre - 27/09/2018

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Murrays Bay Childcare Centre
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

How well placed is Murrays Bay Childcare Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Murrays Bay Childcare Centre on Auckland's North Shore is family owned and operated. It is licensed to provide full-day education and care for up to 40 children, including one child under two years of age. The owners have long-standing relationships with many families in the community. The centre has well established links with local educational services and organisations.

Children are cared for in a large converted house that has been purposefully refurbished to provide for children's needs. The indoor and extensive outdoor learning spaces are linked by a covered area.

The centre's philosophy has recently been reviewed and states that the centre fosters 'Family Unity and Nurturing' (F.U.N) in an environment where families, values and aspirations are respected. The centre participates in a local Kāhui Ako l Community of Learning to support children's educational pathways.

The leaders of Murrays Bay Childcare Centre have made good progress with the suggested next steps in the service's 2014 ERO report. New staff appointments and delegations of expertise have promoted ongoing centre improvement.

The Review Findings

Children settle quickly on arrival. They demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and ownership in their environment. Families and children are warmly welcomed on arrival, reflecting the centre's mission statement, 'He whare maioha- a place of welcome and caring'.

Children are provided with good opportunities to learn and develop physical competencies using the outdoors for exploration. They are encouraged to be critical thinkers and engage confidently with the well-resourced environment. Teachers know the children well, and respond to the needs of individual children with sensitivity.

The centre aims to provide a holistic curriculum that promotes children as socially competent and drivers of their own interests. This encourages a love of learning. These features are evident in the programme in action. Children are keen inquirers who are provided with good learning and play opportunities.

A responsive curriculum reflects children's interests. Older children participate in more challenging project-based learning that encourages them to inquire and problem solve. Teachers interact well with children. They listen, ask and respond to questions in ways that help develop children's language and problem solving skills.

Indoor environments give children easy access to quality resources that are creative and promote imaginative play. Children have meaningful conversations with each other and with adults. They play for sustained periods of time, respectfully and confidently playing alongside each other.

Leaders recognise that it is timely to make children's valued learning more visible in learning stories so their development is recorded over time. More deliberate programme planning and evaluation of this learning will support teachers' and parents' knowledge of children as learners. It would also inform possible next learning steps for individual children.

Teachers are well placed to continue enhancing the bicultural aspects of the programme for all children. This includes considering how well the programme supports Māori children to become strong in their identity, language and culture in the centre.

Leaders are interested in ongoing improvement. They initiate professional learning involvement in local networks. Purposeful internal evaluation is clear and includes multiple sources of information. Professional learning positively influences teachers' practice.

The centre is well managed. Centre policies are robust and regularly reviewed. Regular appraisal supports teachers to build their professional practice and meet the requirements of the Education Council. Centre leaders have recently worked with teachers to develop an appraisal process that reflects the professional standards as well as the standards required of a teacher at Murrays Bay Childcare Centre.

Key Next Steps

Next steps for centre development include:

• continuing to enhance internal evaluation processes

• making teaching strategies and learning outcomes more explicit in planning

• capturing children's learning and development over time, in portfolios.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Murrays Bay Childcare Centre 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 Murrays Bay Childcare Centre will be in four years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

27 September 2018

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.