6 Highfield Street, Culverden
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 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 Polkadots Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakatō Emerging |
Polkadots Preschool is privately owned and governed. The owners are actively involved in the centre’s operation. The increasingly diverse roll includes a small number of Māori children. A new centre manager, appointed from the teaching team, has responsibility for day-to-day management. Progress has been made in addressing some of the key next steps identified in the 2020 ERO report. This includes a review of the philosophy and aligning key centre documents to better identify and monitor improvements in the service.
The service’s curriculum is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Children experience many opportunities to follow their interests while playing cooperatively with and alongside others. Individuals and small groups of children purposefully participate in the well-resourced environments for sustained periods of time. Teachers foster children’s growing social competence through positive relationships.
Infants and toddlers interact with nurturing, attentive teachers who are responsive to their verbal and non-verbal cues. Teachers provide calm, unhurried routines, and they give children time to respond to questions and enable them to explore the thoughtfully presented environment.
Te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and children’s cultures and languages are yet to be effectively integrated into teaching, learning and documentation. Children have some limited opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori. This is not sufficient to constitute a responsive bicultural curriculum.
Limited progress has been made in improving systems for assessment and planning as recommended in the 2020 ERO report. Leaders and teachers are at the early stages of using the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki to add depth and complexity to children’s learning and show progress over time. Teachers are beginning to gather parent and whānau aspirations for their children’s learning. However, more work is required to show these in learning documentation.
Internal evaluation is well established. Leaders and teachers use systematic processes to gather and analyse relevant information to make improvements in some areas of practice. The monitoring phase of the internal evaluation process could better show how changes made have contributed to improved outcomes for children. Closer monitoring is required to ensure that policies, procedures, and practices reflect regulatory standards.
Polkadots Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Increase opportunities for children to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful learning contexts, and to learn about the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Support the right of each child to be confident in their own culture while supporting them to understand and respect other cultures.
Build on the relationships with parents and whānau to develop learning-based partnerships.
Ensure policies, procedures and associated practices reflect the up-to-date Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008.
Before the review, the staff and management of Polkadots Preschool completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance:
acknowledgement of Māori as tangata whenua and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
ensuring the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encouraging children to understand and respect other cultures.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, C5, C6.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Having an updated nappy change and toileting procedure that shows all children will be treated with dignity and respect (HS3).
Having a procedure for monitoring sleeping children that states children do not have access to food or drinks while in bed (HS9).
Maintaining an updated daily hazard checklist that aligns to those hazards specified in the licensing criterion (HS12).
Ensuring documentation for special excursions includes parental approval of the teacher to child ratios (HS17).
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following areas of non-compliance:
Having evidence of reviewing the emergency plan on at least an annual basis and implementation of improved practices as required (HS7).
Maintaining accurate records of the administration of medication and of parental acknowledgement (HS28).
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
26 June 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Polkadots Preschool |
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Profile Number |
70156 |
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Location |
Culverden |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
55 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
76 |
|
Review team on site |
April 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
26 June 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review, March 2020 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Polkadots Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Polkadots Preschool is privately owned and located in the rural township of Culverden in North Canterbury. The centre is open five days per week for full-day sessions There has been a consistent management team in place since the 2016 ERO review. The centre is licensed for up to 55 children, including up to 10 children under two years of age.
The centre's philosophy was last reviewed in 2017. The pre-school's vision is to 'be recognised as an environment providing the very best opportunity for all children to become confident learners, and to be known for its excellent educational programme, exceptional teachers and community relationships'.
Most teachers are fully qualified educators. Recent professional learning and development has focussed on internal evaluation, assessment, planning and teacher appraisal.
The 2016 ERO report identified areas for development as needing to establish effective assessment, planning and evaluation practices, ensure appraisal meets requirements, strengthen teachers' use of te reo, tikanga and te ao Māori, and review the centre's programme to ensure it meets the philosophy and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Progress is evident in these areas, though most remain as next steps for further development.
Children are confident and have positive, respectful relationships with their teachers and each other. They have a range of environments and opportunities for learning and play, which include physical challenge, sensory exploration and creative investigations. Children demonstrate a clear sense of belonging and this is supported by well-established connections to the local rural community, parents and whānau. Children's home language, culture and identity are recognised and celebrated.
Children under two years of age experience responsive and respectful care from teachers who promote their engagement and learning.
Teachers support children to be independent learners and develop self-help skills. They identify children's interests and needs and use this to inform planning and assessment. Teachers use a range of communication tools and appropriate bicultural approaches to involve parents and whānau in their child's learning. They provide feedback to children that acknowledges their effort and success, and opportunities for children to revisit their learning. Routines are consistently applied and encourage children to demonstrate leadership of their own learning.
Leaders have established a management structure to support the effective day-to-day management of the centre and develop the capability of staff. They ensure internal evaluation is ongoing and used to build knowledge to address identified priorities. Leaders are supporting a collaborative approach to developing effective and consistent assessment, planning and evaluative processes and systems. External expertise and professional learning and development are used appropriately to support the development and implementation of these systems and to develop the collective capacity of the staff.
Leaders need to:
review the centre's philosophy to confirm that it incorporates the community's valued outcomes for children's learning, reflects Te Whāriki (2017) the early childhood curriculum, and reflects a commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa, New Zealand
strengthen the alignment of strategic planning, internal evaluation and teacher appraisal to identify and monitor appropriate goals to bring about ongoing improvement and increasingly improved outcomes for children
refine assessment and planning systems across all areas of the curriculum, including identifying clear expectations about extending next steps in children's learning and further involving parents/whānau in the design of their children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Polkadots Preschool 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
18 March 2020
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 |
Culverden |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
70156 |
||
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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 |
55 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
81 |
||
|
Gender composition |
42 Girls, 39 Boys |
||
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
11 |
|
|
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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
December 2019 |
||
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Date of this report |
18 March 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review Education Review |
September 2016 June 2013 |
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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.