203 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland
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Akarangi | 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 Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Peacocks Early Learning Centre is a privately owned service for children up to five years of age. It is one of four services owned by the service provider. A manager oversees daily operations, and a mentor supports the teaching team with professional development. The service philosophy reflects a Reggio Emilia approach, which values children’s self-directed learning.
Children experience environments that help them to explore and make sense of the world around them. They show curiosity and are creative when expressing and testing out their ideas. Teachers involve children in planning for their own learning through gathering materials, excursions, and collecting resources.
Children’s sense of belonging and wellbeing are nurtured. Teachers respond sensitively and positively to infants’ and toddlers’ non-verbal cues. Children’s oral language is extended through stories, teacher questioning and small group discussions. Children are confident to initiate conversations with their peers and adults.
Teachers have a good understanding of the learning priorities in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and confidently integrate a Reggio Emilia approach. There are many opportunities for children to self-direct their learning through provision of a wide range of stimulating and open-ended resources. Teachers integrate te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in the daily curriculum. Parents/whānau have opportunities to share with teachers their diverse cultural heritages and aspirations for their children’s learning.
Teachers closely observe children’s interests, skills, and dispositions. They use this information well to inform the curriculum, document assessment of children’s learning and guide teaching practice. Assessment records could be enhanced by documenting how teachers respond to children’s cultural identities and ways of learning.
Service operations are guided by well-established systems and processes. A mentor helps to build teaching and leadership capability. The internal evaluation process focuses on improvement priorities and includes evaluation of progress made. Teachers could now evaluate how well their practice contributes to children’s learning. Service leaders have identified they could review the strategic plan to identify goals that promote equitable learning outcomes for children.
Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
strengthen the visibility of children’s identity, languages, and cultures in their assessment records
continue to build teachers’ internal evaluation capability to record the impact of the curriculum and teaching practices on improved learning outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom 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.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
12 May 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom |
|
Profile Number |
46930 |
|
Location |
Epsom, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
40 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 1, NZ European/Pākehā 10, Chinese 9, Indian 6, |
|
Review team on site |
February 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
12 May 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2018 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom is a new service licensed to provide full-day education and care for 60 children, including up to 15 under two years old. Children learn in three age-related groups, although the two older groups frequently mix in a shared outdoor environment. The roll includes children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
The centre is part of the Peacock group of centres operated by a board of directors. They delegate daily management to a manager and a team leader but maintain close oversight of centre operations. Experienced mentors support staff with business and financial matters and curriculum delivery. The directors have established a clear strategic vision and policy framework, and they support the ongoing professional development of staff. The service has a strong commitment to the Reggio Emilia approach aligned with the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum. The RIE teaching philosophy also inspires pedagogy and practice with infants and toddlers.Te Whāriki,
The teaching team includes seven registered teachers and several supporting staff. Teachers reflect the diversity of the centre community.
This is the first ERO review of the centre.
Children are settled and relaxed in the centre. They have positive and respectful relationships with teachers and confidently explore resources that interest them. Children often play collaboratively in small groups, at times using first languages and they respond positively to adult support. They benefit from many excursions into the community, the focus on nature education and a physical play programme that supplements their outdoor play opportunities. Children's independence is fostered through many opportunities to make choices and develop self-help skills.
Attractive indoor spaces encourage children to engage with natural materials and abstract resources known as 'loose parts' that reflect the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching and learning. Other traditional early childhood resources are also available, although some of these could be more easily accessible for children.
Children in the infant area are supported well with gentle affectionate care. The RIE teaching philosophy and a key kaiako (teacher) for settling into the centre supports their wellbeing and sense of belonging. Capable teachers who respect these very young children enable them to explore independently, take learning risks and develop relationships with others. The fun these babies have with music, singing and tactile materials supports their oral language development and fosters sharing and group play. Children are also becoming familiar with te reo Māori and waiata.
Teachers in all areas know children well. Teachers are strongly committed to the learning approaches they promote. They support children to explore the open-ended resources and involve them in group activities such as gardening. Adults value children's ideas, record their comments, and encourage early literacy and numeracy learning in meaningful contexts. The diversity of the teaching team enables them to support the first languages of many children well. Teachers are also building their capacity to provide a bicultural curriculum and support the success of Māori children.
Teachers formally and informally discuss children's learning interests. They keep daily, weekly and monthly records of children's involvement in the programme and align these experiences with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. A greater planning focus on children's individual interests and learning dispositions could help to extend the complexity of children's play. Teachers have identified the need to further develop their systems to support older children in their transition to school.
Parents are kept well informed about learning programmes. Frequent reports, surveys, newsletters, emails and opportunities to share their child's assessment portfolios enable parents to share aspirations and comment on learning. Families also contribute their skills and knowledge during cultural events and relevant learning topics. Parent surveys indicate there is considerable satisfaction with the service.
The centre is well managed. The directors and centre manager lead the operation of the centre efficiently through a sound policy framework and effective health and safety systems. They have developed a long-term strategic plan with an annual implementation process which they plan to evaluate and modify each year. Leaders have established internal evaluation processes. They ensure that there are links between teachers' appraisal goals, centre goals, professional development opportunities and evaluation topics. They could further develop their review of aspects of teaching and learning, and the ways in which these support children's holistic development. Directors have a strong commitment to the ongoing mentoring of staff to retain teachers and increase their capacity as leaders.
Centre leaders agree the next steps for centre development include:
continuing to deepen internal evaluation processes
continuing to develop bicultural practices and establishing a relationship with the local marae
establishing relationships with local schools to enhance transitions for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom 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.
The next ERO review of Peacocks Early Learning Centre Epsom will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
12 June 2018
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 |
Epsom, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46930 |
||
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
60 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
51 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 33 Girls 18 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
12 June 2018 |
||
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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:
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.