99 East Street, Feilding
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Pitter Patter Education Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Pitter Patter is a privately owned and operated full day education and care service located in Feilding. It is licensed for 70 children, including 20 up to two years of age. At the time of this evaluation 75 children were enrolled, 30 of these children identify as Māori.
There are two separate learning areas, one caters for infants and toddlers and the second for the older children. Each of these areas have specific teaching teams.
Curriculum implementation and the day-to-day operation of the service is undertaken by the teaching team collectively. Staffing includes ten qualified early childhood teachers who have current practising certificates.
The service philosophy highlights the importance of reciprocal relationships with families, whānau and the wider community in supporting child-led learning. The values of mana, excellence, partnerships, fairness and fun underpin practice.
ERO's September 2016 evaluation recognised teachers could benefit from external support to further strengthen assessment for learning, planning and evaluation. ERO's evaluation also identified a key next step, to develop a shared working knowledge of effective internal evaluation.
Children enthusiastically participate in a breath of well-considered curriculum experiences. Opportunities abound for child-led learning. Attentive teachers know children and their preferences well and skilfully take advantage of opportunities to encourage children's investigation, exploration and curiosity. This is particularly noticeable in the way teachers support children's developing literacy, numeracy, science skills and knowledge.
The service's youngest children's holistic development is promoted and supported in a culture of nurture and care. Transitions from the infants and toddlers' space to the older children's area are well-supported.
The culturally responsive curriculum aligns well to the principles and strands of Te Whāriki and the service philosophy. Te ao Māori is highly valued by staff and an integral part of Māori, and all, children's early childhood experience. Celebrating and reflecting Pacific heritages in the centre and providing opportunities for children to learn and use Pacific languages are also evident. The centre's community is becoming more ethnically diverse and teachers are focused on responding to all children's cultures, languages and identities.
Strategies in place to empower parents and whānau to be involved in the life of the centre and their children's early learning are well considered. Aspirations families hold for their children are pursued. Progress and achievement in relation to these are shared informally and formally through on-line and well-thought-out documented assessment practices.
Outcomes for children are enhanced by effective internal evaluation and practices that build teachers' capability. Teachers have built their knowledge of effective assessment practice and their understandings of children's social and emotional competence. Planning for individual children's progress and learning leads to improved outcomes.
Teachers should continue to use internal evaluation effectively to sustain and continually improve teaching and learning for all children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Pitter Patter Education 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:
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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Central Region
19 August 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.
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Location |
Feilding |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45246 |
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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 |
70 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
75 |
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Gender composition |
Female 45, Male 30 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
30 |
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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 |
|
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
July 2019 |
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Date of this report |
19 August 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2016 |
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|
Education Review |
October 2013 |
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|
Education Review |
March 2011 |
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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 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.
Pitter Patter Education Centre is a privately owned service located in Feilding. A significant change, since the October 2013 ERO report, has been the merging of the service's two licences into one.
Previously operating as Pitter Patter Education Centre 2 and Pitter Patter Education Centre 1, a new and refurbished building is now providing education and care for 70 children, including 20 aged up to two years. Of the 94 children enrolled, 37 are Māori. The separate learning areas are purposefully organised to provide for the needs of infants, toddlers and young children.
Of the 12 staff, 10 are qualified and two are fully certificated as teachers, one is in training and one is untrained. Most staff are long serving.
The centre's philosophy, currently under review, highlights high quality care and education where children explore, investigate and make discoveries in an environment that is nurturing and learning centred.
The October 2013 ERO report identified that teachers needed to continue to strengthen assessment practices, to more clearly identify planned next steps for children's learning and their implementation. Progress is evident.
The strategic direction and day-to-day management of the centre is the responsibility of the manager. A distributed leadership approach drawing on the strengths of the staff, is promoted. Coconstruction and partnership with parents, families and whānau as a learning community is also given priority.
The learning environments are well resourced and purposefully organised to support a range of learning experiences which offer challenges for children. Indoor and outdoor settings encourage children to be innovative, responsive and creative learners.
The programme is responsive to children's interests and wonderings. Conversations with educators foster language growth and understanding of mathematical and scientific ideas. Children are attentive, engaged learners in child-led and adult-initiated activities. They communicate with confidence and actively explore.
Infant and toddler programmes cater well to individual strengths and needs. Sound child, educator and family relationships contribute to a calm, settled environment. The indoor, outdoor flow encourages children's exploration. Educators are responsive to children's verbal and non-verbal cues.
Teachers work collaboratively to implement a cyclic assessment, planning and evaluative approach. This incorporates knowledge and parental aspirations children bring with them. Staff meetings and ongoing discussions are used to develop teaching and learning practices. Educators agree that building a working knowledge of evaluation is ongoing.
Portfolio narratives acknowledge children's cultures, languages and identity and highlight their interests, experiences and learning steps. Children’s creative art work also enhances the portfolios.
Te ao Māori is incorporated throughout the service. It is reflected in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. The values of manaakitanga, whānau tangata and ngā hononga are evident in practice. Learning partnerships with Māori have developed through parents and whānau participating in the centre literacy and mathematics projects. This transformed practices for adults and children. Educators are increasing their capability to be actively responsive to Māori learners' ways of knowing, doing and being. Links to Te Whatu Pokeka: Kaupapa Assessment Maori: Early Childhood Exemplars' are used in practice.
Teachers work responsively with children who are identified with diverse needs for learning. External agencies, families and centre staff collaborate to support in the progress and development. An inclusive environment acknowledges, and is respectful of, the multiple ethnic groups in the centre. Teachers continue to find strategies to engage and support those requiring additional learning support.
Teachers effectively support children to settle into the centre. Transition into and through the service is responsive and flexible to individual needs and the preferences of children and families. Teachers' participation in cluster meetings with local schools and centres builds closer links. Teachers from a number of schools visit the centre. These visits are used as opportunities for the centre to increase primary sector understandings of early childhood teaching and learning.
Led by an experienced manager, teachers are progressing in developing a shared knowledge and understanding of internal evaluation. Parent and whānau voice is effectively documented by the centre. Internal evaluation to guide improvement should continue to be strengthened.
ERO and leaders agree that teachers should be supported to continue to strengthen:
assessment for learning, planning and evaluation
a shared working knowledge of internal evaluation to enhance teaching and learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Pitter Patter Education 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:
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 Pitter Patter Education Centre will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central
29 September 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.
|
Location |
Feilding |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45246 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
70 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
94 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 55, Boys 39 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Fiji Indian Asian Chinese Other European |
37 52 2 1 1 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
29 September 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2011 |
||
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.