391 Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland
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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Nurture Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
|
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
Nurture Early Learning Centre is one of three privately owned services providing care and education for children from infancy to school age. The owner leads operations for the group of centres. A centre manager looks after the daily operations and is supported by a curriculum leader. The centre philosophy draws on Reggio Emilia and Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE). Children from diverse cultural backgrounds attend the centre.
Children are settled, confident and engaged in learning. They demonstrate a strong sense of belonging. They freely choose and sustain their play, developing genuine connections with teachers and peers. Teachers view children as successful learners. The learning environment is well resourced. Teachers plan for and provide a variety of learning opportunities to support children to explore and discover.
Infants and toddlers form secure attachments with teachers, developing a positive sense of self. Teachers take a calm and unhurried approach with infants. Tuakana/teina relationships between older and younger learners are evident. Teachers build relationships with whānau that are based on acceptance and respect. Transition into, within and beyond the centre is well supported for children and their whānau.
A special feature of the centre is a focus on food, nutrition and mealtimes that follows through children’s daily rhythm. The dining hall where all children gather, helps to create a sense of community and nurtures children’s interactions and friendships.
Teachers integrate some te reo Māori in their teaching practice. Children’s home cultures and heritage is acknowledged and celebrated. An inclusive curriculum provides for children with additional learning needs.
Leaders and teachers have the knowledge and skills to respond meaningfully to children’s interests and strengths. This is supported by their ongoing commitment to professional learning. A range of relevant professional development opportunities enables teachers to share and extend their understanding of effective curriculum and assessment practices.
The governance and management team are responsive to, and collaborate with, whānau, relevant agencies and the community to support children’s broader educational outcomes. Relational trust at every level promotes collaboration and openness. Internal evaluation processes guide leaders’ and teachers’ focus on continuous improvement.
Nurture Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Nurture Early Learning 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:
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.
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
6 July 2021
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Nurture Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
45568 |
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Location |
Avondale, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 36 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
97 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 7, NZ European/Pākehā 43, Chinese 21, European 10, |
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Review team on site |
April 2020 |
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Date of this report |
6 July 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2016 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Nurture Early Learning Centre in Avondale, Auckland provides very good quality education and care for children from three months to school age. It has operated from the same purpose built facility since opening in 2010 and continues to be run by the same owners, manager and many of the staff.
The centre is divided into four age-related rooms. The Tiny Tui room caters for the youngest children until they are about 18 months old and move on to the Cheeky Kea room. Children aged from around 2½ to 3½ years are in the Playful Pukeko room and the Mighty Morepork room caters for the oldest children, from about 3½ years until school age. The Playful Pukeko and Mighty Morepork rooms have their own outdoor play areas, with the younger children sharing an outside play space. The centre also has a separate kitchen and dining area where toddlers and older children are served healthy and nutritious meals.
The centre environment and teaching and learning programmes are inspired by the principles promoted by Reggio Emilia, where children are encouraged to be leaders of their own learning. The centre’s philosophy supports this child-centred approach and promotes meaningful partnerships with parents that enhance children’s learning.
When the service opened in 2010, the owners employed a specialist early childhood consultancy to provide governance and management support for the centre. This consultancy team also provided professional learning for teachers and staff. In 2015, the owners and specialist consultancy team agreed that the centre was capable of governing and managing without specialist support. Also in 2015, the owners opened a second Nurture centre in Onehunga. The existing supervisor from the Avondale centre has been made director of both centres.
The 2012 ERO report identified many good practices in the centre, with notable strengths in the way teachers interacted with children and their parents. Centre management and staff have responded well to the next steps identified in that report and have improved in all aspects of planning, assessment and evaluation.
Children are settled and highly engaged in their learning. They play well with and alongside each other. True to the centre’s philosophy, children are the focus of learning programmes and strategic decision making. Centre managers and staff work collaboratively together and with parents so that the vision for children to be respected as capable and competent learners is shared.
Teachers are skilled professionals. They plan learning programmes around children’s individual strengths, talents, interests and needs. They are increasingly strengthening their bicultural learning focus and promoting te reo Māori and tikanga. Teachers are also strengthening the way they plan for, and respond culturally to, children with varied Pacific heritage. Teachers are gentle with children and are aware of their learning and care needs. They treat children and each other with dignity and respect.
Babies and toddlers experience calm environments, and warm and affectionate interactions with their teachers. Teachers respond very well to the individual personalities and preferences of each child. They follow children’s home routines and communicate daily with parents about their children’s learning and care needs.
Indoor and outside environments are carefully and deliberately designed to inspire children’s learning and encourage their exploration. Learning spaces are uncluttered and children have free access to high quality resources and equipment, and natural materials. Teachers plan for and encourage children’s interests, thinking and curiosity about the world. They are continuing to promote the teachers’ role in provoking, extending and recording children’s thinking, especially in relation to children’s emerging interests.
Teachers manage children’s transitions into and through the centre effectively. As children attend many different primary schools throughout Auckland, the centre has forged partnerships with two primary schools. Visits to these schools and participation in school events gives children good opportunities to experience school with their preschool friends and teachers.
Parents are valued as partners in their children’s learning and as members of the centre community. They are supported to understand the early learning theories and practices used in the centre, especially those inspired by Reggio Emilia. They are invited to contribute to centre self-review.
The centre is very well led and managed at all levels of the operation. All staff are valued equally for their work, and have access to a comfortable staff room and separate work space. The owners invest generously in the professionalism of teachers and support staff. Teachers are supported as lifelong learners and have meaningful professional learning opportunities. Self-review, including the development and use of a very good staff appraisal system, is very well used by managers and teachers as a tool for ongoing improvement.
Managers are future focused and align their strategic planning to all aspects of centre operations. As part of their own future thinking and inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, they are now looking to develop an atelier: a studio where older children could experiment and work on long-term projects that extend their learning and thinking.
Before the review, the staff and management of Nurture Early Learning 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:
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 Nurture Early Learning Centre will be in four years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
22 February 2016
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.
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Location |
Avondale, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45568 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
132 |
||
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Gender composition |
Boys 55% Girls 45% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Indian Samoan South African other Pacific other |
5% 77% 6% 4% 2% 2% 2% 2% |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
December 2015 |
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Date of this report |
22 February 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
October 2012 |
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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.
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.