Rangiora High School Nursery School - 20/05/2020

• On this page:

• 1 Evaluation of Rangiora High School Nursery School
• 2 Information about the Early Childhood Service
• 3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

How well placed is Rangiora High School Nursery School to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Rangiora High School Nursery School is very well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Rangiora High School Nursery School is a community-based education service, with an elected board of trustees. It is licensed for 45 children from two years old to school age. They learn together in one play space.

An experienced head teacher has responsibility for the centre. Since the 2016 ERO review a new assistant head teacher has been appointed. All teaching staff are fully qualified early childhood teachers.

Centre programmes and practices are guided by a shared mission and teaching philosophy which emphasise self-worth, confidence, independence, creativity and discovery to support each child's lifelong learning journey.

Leaders and teachers have made very good progress against ERO's November 2016 recommendations. They have used external expertise to support professional development and teacher appraisal. They have strengthened internal evaluation practices and strategic planning to address areas of improvement identified in that report.

The service is an active member of the Puketeraki Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning.

The Review Findings

Children benefit from caring and responsive relationships with each other and their teachers. Well-established routines support children to build high levels of social and emotional competence. As a result, children are supported to develop a strong sense of belonging and empathy through their collaborative play and learning.

Children experience a curriculum that is highly responsive to their home cultures, languages and identities. Children who identify as Māori are intentionally supported in consultation with whānau, to recognise their strengths. A wide range of engaging environments, activities and resources support physical challenge, sensory development and extend children's interests and ideas. The centre's focus on inclusive practices effectively supports children with additional needs to ensure they are fully involved in all aspects of learning and activities.

Planning for individual children reflects an in-depth understanding of each child and their family's needs and aspirations. Teachers make very good use of their knowledge of each child to involve them in meaningful conversations that extends their learning and supports their wellbeing. They record detailed and responsive group assessment and planning and regularly share assessments with parents, and seek their input to inform the centre's curriculum. Teachers effectively evaluate their teaching strategies to ensure children experience consistency in their learning.

Highly effective leaders model collaborative and reflective practice that is child focused. The leadership team has successfully implemented effective systems to support the smooth operation of the centre. They use internal evaluation practices to support continuous improvement.

Key Next Steps

Centre leaders and ERO agree that the next steps are to build on existing good practices by:

• continuing to strengthen the centre's demonstrated commitment to culturally responsive practice, including the development of a cultural narrative
• further strengthening strategic planning to align priorities and associated goals to sustain developments and improvements.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Rangiora High School Nursery School 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

20 May 2020

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

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.

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.