4 Greenhithe Road, Greenhithe, 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 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 The Cottage Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whakatō Emerging |
The Cottage Early Learning Centre is privately owned. A qualified centre manager is responsible for day-to-day service operations. She is supported by three qualified head teachers that lead their teaching teams. At the time of the review a small number of children had Māori whakapapa.
Leaders and teachers provide a curriculum that positively promotes children’s independence, decision-making, and sense of security. Learning environments are well resourced and encourage wonder and creativity. As a result, children experience a range of opportunities, both indoors and outdoors.
Warm, reciprocal relationships are evident. Teachers who work with infants and toddlers are responsive to their individual needs. They maintain a calm, slow pace that gives these younger children space and time to explore. Teachers are responsive to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues.
The learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, provide the basis for assessment of learning that promotes holistic development. Teachers use a range of strategies to encourage children to express their ideas, to problem-solve, and experiment. Over time, assessment records show each child’s sense of belonging and learning progress. Teachers are aware of professional resources that can contribute to building teachers’ culturally responsive practices. Unpacking these resources as a team could support teachers to learn more about how to provide a more culturally responsive curriculum for children.
Evaluation and inquiry are recognised as being important at this service. Leaders are working to develop appropriate tools and methods to undertake evaluation for improvement. Engaging in critical reflection would support teachers to reflect on their teaching practice and inquire into improvements that can be made for the benefit of children.
Those responsible for governance and management allocate resources that clearly align with the service’s philosophy, vision, and goals for learning. Leaders recognise the need to reimplement systems, processes, and practices to support ongoing improvement. A positive working environment facilitates low turnover of kaiako and is conducive to the building and sustaining of quality adult:child ratios.
The Cottage Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
To develop a deliberate, systematic internal evaluation process that supports teachers’ critical reflection and promotes improved teaching practices.
To provide coaching and mentoring opportunities that support the collective capability of the teaching team to make changes which result in improved outcomes for learners.
To use cultural frameworks/resources to support the actioning of a more culturally responsive curriculum.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Cottage Early Learning Centre 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.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
15 June 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
The Cottage Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
20198 |
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Location |
Greenhithe, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
54 |
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Review team on site |
March 2023 |
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Date of this report |
15 June 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, April 2018; Education Review, October 2014 |
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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.
Prodigy Centre - Greenhithe is part of the Prodigy group of centres and operates in a renovated villa. The centre is licensed for up to 50 children, including 15 under the age of two years.
The centre’s philosophy and vision promote children’s learning, and are evident in teaching practices. The philosophy is closely linked to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is respected as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand, and teachers’ bicultural practice honours that commitment.
The owners provide operational systems for centres including policy and budget frameworks. The long-serving centre manager oversees the centre's daily operations, and works with six teaching staff, a cook and four teacher aides.
ERO’s 2014 report noted positive, respectful relationships and interactions, and good support for children to develop social skills and independence. These aspects remain positive features of the programme. ERO suggested focusing programme planning more on individual children's emerging interests, and providing more high quality learning experiences in the outdoor area. The teaching team is committed to ongoing improvement in these areas. Leaders have worked purposefully to address areas of non-compliance relating to the premises and teacher appraisal that were identified in the 2014 ERO report.
Children and parents are welcomed in a home-like environment. A calm and positive tone supports children to settle quickly into the programme. They move between clearly defined areas of play that are attractively presented and invite exploration. Children are confident to work alongside other children and talk about their experiences. They sometimes participate in sustained, cooperative play.
Teachers’ interactions with children are caring and respectful. They know individual children well and respect their diverse cultural backgrounds. Teachers work alongside children and listen carefully to the ideas that they contribute. They model effective strategies to support children’s developing social skills. The programme provides good support for children with additional learning needs.
Teachers have reviewed the way they plan programmes. They have developed planning and evaluation processes that focus on children's individual interests and strengths, and provide experiences that promote positive learning outcomes.
The learning environment has been deliberately laid out to promote exploration, investigation, creativity, and imaginative play, and is supported by a good selection of resources. A strong focus on literacy, science and mathematics is woven skilfully by teachers as a natural part of children's play. Gardening and planting seasonal edible plants is a key feature in the programme.
The area for infants and toddlers is peaceful and inviting. There is a considered, slow pace to the programme for this age group. Children enjoy the mixed-age group setting. Younger children stay connected with older siblings. They also have a separate space if they want to play without interruptions.
Teachers are collaborative and collegial. They seek parents’ aspirations for their children’s learning during conversations at drop-off and pick-up times. The manager has moved her office to the front of the building, which has contributed to a strengthening of positive relationships with whānau.
The online communication portal has been a success for quick uploading of information about what children are involved in during their time at the centre. Children’s participation in the programme is attractively documented and teachers skilfully identify the learning that happens during children’s play. Teachers could more clearly show children’s learning and progress over time.
The centre is committed to developing practices that reflect the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. Teachers are using resources to increase their use of te reo Māori during group times. They have identified a teacher to lead the team's development. They could now more consistently include te reo Māori in spontaneous interactions with children. Developing a long-term goal to support this centre-wide focus is an appropriate next step.
Teachers are involved in professional development to strengthen their support for children's learning and their partnerships with families. Centre leaders report that improved practices have benefitted children from diverse cultural groups.
The centre is well led. The manager works collaboratively with teachers to promote shared team approaches. Staff are focused on continuous improvement. The new teacher appraisal process provides opportunities for teachers to reflect on and develop their practices. They now need to implement and embed this process. Professional development is supporting teachers to strengthen internal evaluation practices.
Key next steps for teachers include:
In order to strengthen governance and management practices, the directors/owners and leaders should:
Before the review, the staff and management of Prodigy Centre - Greenhithe 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 Prodigy Centre - Greenhithe will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
6 April 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.
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Location |
Greenhithe, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
20198 |
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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 |
50 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
51 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 30 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
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 |
February 2018 |
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Date of this report |
6 April 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
October 2014 |
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Education Review |
August 2011 |
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Supplementary Review |
June 2008 |
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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.