Pakuranga Kindergarten - 14/02/2019

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Pakuranga Kindergarten
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service 
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

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

Pakuranga Kindergarten is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Pakuranga Kindergarten in East Auckland provides for up to 40 children over two years of age. It offers a six-hour day, with the majority of children staying until 2.30pm. The kindergarten has three full-time qualified teachers, and two teachers who are trialling a shared position. The roll includes small numbers of Māori and children from other cultures.

The 2014 ERO report noted high quality practices. Next steps for teachers were to strengthen the evaluative aspects of self review and to enhance bicultural practices. Teachers have taken appropriate actions to build these aspects of their practice.

The kindergarten operates as part of the Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA). The association provides a framework of policies and operational guidelines, support personnel and programmes of professional learning and development. The AKA is establishing new roles and responsibilities at management and governance levels. Recruitment of appropriate personnel to fill identified roles is underway.

This review was part of a cluster of nine reviews in the AKA.

The Review Findings

Children and their families are warmly welcomed at the start of the day. They settle easily, making choices about their play and engaging friends and teachers in conversations about what they intend to make or do. The wide range of attractive and interesting resources and play spaces provide scope for children's interest and imagination.

Children have a strong sense of themselves as capable and competent learners. Teachers' focus on supporting mana is resulting in children's confidence that they are valued members of this kindergarten family. They demonstrate their pleasure in being in the kindergarten and in playing with others. The programme provided for children reflects teachers' knowledge of individuals and their interests.

The teaching team benefits from staffing stability and the variety of experience and knowledge that teachers bring to their work with children. Teachers have purposefully built effective teaching practices to provide high quality opportunities for children's learning. Teachers' reflections, internal evaluation and discussions have strengthened the consistency of their approaches and continuity of their thinking about positive learning outcomes for children.

Children are beginning to understand and use te reo Māori, and greetings in the variety of languages spoken by families attending the centre. Teachers use words and phrases in te reo and have the determination to continue with their journey with learning the language. It would be appropriate for teachers to evaluate the extent to which they incorporate and provide learning for children about the tikanga Māori that supports te reo Māori.

Teachers have embarked on a journey to learn about, and strengthen partnerships with, the whānau and community they serve. Part of this process has been to develop the kindergarten's philosophy. This document reflects Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and teachers' goals for a local curriculum that includes whānau and children in a meaningful journey. The philosophy is clearly evident in the programme in action.

Children's transitions into the kindergarten and on to school are growing in effectiveness. Contact with local primary schools has enabled teachers to build relationships that support families to understand expectations about enrolling and moving their children into school.

Teachers find the professional development offered by the AKA useful and informative. This support has helped them to develop a vision and to contribute to the priorities for the kindergarten.

Key Next Steps

Teachers' next steps are to continue:

• working on ways to elaborate and extend internal evaluation, particularly as part of their planning cycle
• building understanding and inclusion of tikanga Māori that supports and explains te reo Māori.

It would be useful for AKA to:

• monitor that all part-time or relieving teachers are well informed about AKA policies and procedures
• increase support to improve assessment practices, planning and evaluation across the association
• continue to support teachers to fully implement Te Whāriki 2017.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Pakuranga 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Pakuranga Kindergarten will be in four years.

Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region

14 February 2019 

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.