Nōku Te Ao Ki Te Pā

ERO’s judgement

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

This is the first review of Nōku Te Ao Ki Te Pā. It is a bilingual Māori immersion early childhood service that operates on the site of the Years 1 to 13 bilingual school, Te Pā o Rākaihautū. The centre operates under its own tikanga and kaupapa. It is one of two governed by a charitable trust.

Summary of review findings

Children experience a curriculum that supports them to be Māori and learn as Māori. This includes hearing and using te reo Māori, and learning about te ao Māori world views. There are suitable resources and experiences indoors and outside to promote children’s learning and development. Policies, procedures and practices are in place to ensure children’s health and wellbeing needs are met. Suitable systems are in place for governing and managing the service. This includes a system for reviewing policies, procedures and aspects of practice. The appraisal process meets the requirements of the Teaching Council.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Education Review.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

21 June 2019

Information about the service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include:

• the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008

• the Licensing Criteria for Home-based Education and Care Services 2008

• the Licensing Criteria for Hospital-based Education and Care Services 2008.

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Assurance Review process in any service:

• having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation

• previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’

• that has moved from a provisional to a full licence

• that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership

• where an Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.

As part of an Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)

• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

• discussions with those involved in the service

• consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems

• observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.