1 Maude Street, Riverhead
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Nature’s Explorers Kindergarten are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding |
Nature’s Explorers Kindergarten is a well-established service offering care and education for 30 children over the age of two years. Located in the old Riverhead post office, the service is privately owned and is one of four services in the same organisation. The owner employs a centre manager, three qualified teachers and one unqualified staff member.
Children are provided with a range of learning opportunities in a well-resourced environment. Their learning is extended through forest and nature walks, and trips in the local community. Through these experiences children’s independence, social competence, and respect for the world around them is supported.
Children experience a curriculum that enables them to engage in literacy, mathematical and scientific learning. Children’s interests, play and experimentation are valued and supported by teachers. Children are confident and engage in play for sustained periods of time. As a result, children’s knowledge is extended.
Children’s languages, cultures and identity are celebrated. Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are reflected in the environment and in the service’s planning and assessment documentation. Leaders and teachers are working on integrating wider perspectives of te ao Māori across the curriculum.
Leaders and teachers maintain responsive relationships with children, families, and the wider community, including the local school and external support agencies. Children’s transitions into and from the service are well supported.
Good assessment practices make children’s learning visible, and enable teachers to identify children’s progress and continuity of learning. Assessment provides children with feedback that acknowledges their learning and recognises their efforts, and successes. Children’s oral language development is prioritised by teachers, and as a result, children are empowered to contribute to their learning and curriculum planning.
Leaders and teachers use evaluation processes to improve their practice and the curriculum. They have access to professional learning opportunities, and an external mentor is extending teachers’ knowledge and improving teaching practice. Embedding the practices of critical reflection, coaching and mentoring will support leaders to build the team’s collective capacity.
Nature’s Explorers Kindergarten will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Embed the implementation of te ao Māori in daily practices.
Continue to foster and embed organisational conditions using coaching and mentoring skills to support staff debate, negotiation, problem solving and critical reflection on leaders’ and teachers’ practice.
Do and use internal evaluation practices to determine how effectively the service is meeting its values, vision and goals for children’s learning, and use the evaluation findings to inform strategic priorities.
Before the review, the staff and management of Nature’s Explorers 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.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
A record for regular excursions that includes evidence of parental permission and approval for adult:child ratios at the time of enrolment (HS17).
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
16 August 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Nature’s Explorers Kindergarten |
|
Profile Number |
45541 |
|
Location |
Riverhead, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
30 children over two years of age |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
27 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 4, NZ European/Pākehā 15, other ethnic groups 8 |
|
Review team on site |
May 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
16 August 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2019; Education Review, September 2015 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Nature's Explorers Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Nature's Explorers Kindergarten is located in a semi-rural community in Riverhead, north of Auckland. The kindergarten is privately owned and is licensed for 30 children from two years of age. Most children enrolled are Pākehā and the roll includes a small number of Māori children. The director/owner is the operations manager and oversees two other centres. The kindergarten team comprises of a head teacher, three registered teachers, a teaching assistant and an administrator.
The centre's philosophy outlines a commitment to promoting children’s positive image of themselves as learners, with an emphasis on creating natural learning environments. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is promoted through partnership with parents and whānau and through Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
ERO's 2015 report identified some positive features of the centre that have been sustained. These include respectful relationships, and children being supported well to develop skills for literacy and numeracy. Teachers have made some progress in responding to ERO's recommendations about engaging in relevant and meaningful professional learning, and are developing critical reflection to improving teaching and learning.
Teachers know the children and their families well. These strong partnerships support children's sense of belonging at the centre. Teachers demonstrate positive, respectful relationships with children.
The programme is inclusive and celebrates diversity. The environment is attractive and features the use of natural resources to support children's play. There is a good indoor and outdoor flow to further encourage children's play choices. Children are keen to engage in activities and conversations with teachers. They work well together to develop their play ideas. Their sustained engagement in learning and play is strengthened through a meaningful focus on technology, science and literacy.
Teachers provide children with a selection of resources and spaces to explore. They offer good support for children’s play and learning, and respond well to children's interests. They could now consider ways to provide a more challenging programme, and increase the complexity of children's learning.
The process for children to transition into the centre is well established. As a result, children settle quickly. Children and their families are supported well to transition to primary school. Children have regular visits to the local school.
Teachers have a strong commitment to bicultural practices. They are building their capacity to include te reo and tikanga Māori in the programme by engaging with whānau Māori. Leaders and teachers could now develop a bicultural plan to outline how they might build their knowledge, understanding and confidence in promoting te ao Māori.
Teachers have many opportunities to improve their practice. An external provider supports leaders and teachers to strengthen programme planning and assessment, and improve centre operations. Teachers can now build on these improvements by documenting children language and cultural identity, their progress and development over time, and the ways in which they respond to parents' aspirations for their children.
The director is improvement focused and values professional development. Leaders could consult with teachers, parents and whānau to identify centre priorities and increase rigour in their evaluation. This could help leaders to establish systematic processes for ongoing centre improvement.
Key next steps for teachers include:
strengthening planning, assessment and evaluation processes
continuing to improve children's records to show their cultural identity, parents' contributions, and learning and development over time
deepening teacher inquiry into areas of the curriculum, and teaching and learning.
Key next steps for leaders include:
clarifying the roles and responsibilities of identified centre leaders
further developing internal evaluation by refining strategic goals to guide centre improvements.
Before the review, the staff and management of Nature's Explorers 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:
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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
28 February 2019
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 |
Riverhead, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45541 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children aged over 2 years |
||
|
Service roll |
42 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 24 Boys 18 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
January 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
28 February 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2012 |
||
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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
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 |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Nature’s Explorers Kindergarten, is privately owned and is situated in Riverhead, north of Auckland. It is licensed to provide education and care for 30 children over two years of age. Children attending the kindergarten are predominately NZ European/Pākehā, with a small number of children from other ethnic backgrounds.
Children receive quality care and education. The kindergarten has a respectful learning culture that sustains and promotes positive outcomes for children.
A range of personnel, including the owner, provide good quality governance and effective leadership. This supports the operation of the kindergarten. Regular professional development opportunities are provided for staff from a range of external and internal facilitators. A mentor provides professional support for the head teacher.
The kindergarten’s philosophy provides a sound foundation for the programme and practices. The philosophy aims are for children to make connections, research, experiment, dream, explore, and create at their own pace.
The 2012 ERO report recommended that teachers strengthen bicultural practices and this included making greater use of te reo Māori. The report also recommended that staff report to parents, whānau and aiga about how the kindergarten had responded to ideas that emerged out of consultation.
The centre’s philosophy and vision is well reflected in practice. It is underpinned by responsive and caring relationships. Children, parents and whānau are warmly received and welcomed into the centre. Respectful relationships help provide a nurturing, settled environment that supports children’s sense of wellbeing and belonging. In keeping with the centre’s philosophy, the programme focuses on the interests of children, and the aspirations of parents.
The centre’s curriculum is well designed to support and extend the development and learning of children. It provides appropriate opportunities for them to explore and initiate their own learning and be imaginative, creative and physically active.
Children are well supported to have opportunities to develop meaningful and appropriate skills for reading, writing and maths. These opportunities are appropriately integrated into their play. The local community is strongly reflected in the curriculum. Children have good opportunities to visit Riverhead forest, the local library and Riverhead school.
Teachers demonstrate a commitment to bi-cultural practices through their use of te reo Māori and waiata. They have noted their interest in establishing a Māori policy and practice group. The aim is for this group to identify priorities to support a bi-cultural curriculum and strengthen engagement with whānau. This could help teachers develop more in-depth knowledge of tikanga and te reo Māori and enhance their teaching practice.
Programmes develop appropriately from what teachers and parents notice about the interests and strengths of children. Children also share their ideas about what to include in the centre programme. These ideas are documented in the planning alongside the aspirations of parents and whānau.
A greater focus on what children’s interests mean for their learning could deepen programme planning and further support children’s engagement in extending their learning. Centre leaders have already prioritised taking a closer look at the complexity of children’s learning and dispositions. This is being done through planned professional learning scheduled for later in the year.
Children’s learning is visible through learning journals and displays, parent evenings and weekly newsletters. Comfortable seating arrangements in the centre allow parents and whānau to sit alongside their children sharing their learning journals and talking with them about their learning.
Children’s strengths and interests are identified and parents are encouraged to contribute to their child’s learning stories. This helps create a more meaningful partnership with parents and whānau, increasing their contribution to their child’s learning.
The centre benefits from teachers’ collaborative team work. They use each other’s strengths and work well together. Leaders and teachers could make more effective use of updated information and research to reflect on and evaluate their individual practices. Better documentation of their teacher review and more in-depth thinking about the effectiveness of their practice would help promote high quality care and education for children.
The owner and head teacher agree that useful next steps for the centre include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Nature's Explorers 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Nature's Explorers Kindergarten will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
2 September 2015
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 |
Riverhead, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45541 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
47 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 27 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
June 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
2 September 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2012 |
|
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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
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.