124 Russell Street, Palmerston North
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Puddleducks' Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Puddleducks' Kindergarten is located in Palmerston North. It is licensed to provide all day education and care five days a week, for 30 children over two years of age. The current roll is 24 and four identify as Māori. The service, previously Rewanui Private Kindergarten, was purchased by Aspiring Services Ltd in July 2018. It is one of seven services privately owned by this organisation.
A board of directors and an advisory board undertake the governance role. A managing director supported by a human resources and an educational leader have responsibility for overseeing strategic operation and professional practice. The centre leader is responsible for the day-to-day running of the service. Three of the five teaching staff have early childhood teaching qualifications and current practising certificates.
The philosophy is under review. It promotes the kindergarten as a home away from home, where each child is viewed as unique bringing with them their strengths and knowledge. Relationships with whānau are valued. Respect, kindness and honesty underpin teaching and learning.
Leaders have appropriately focused on building a culture of collaboration and the new teaching team's knowledge and understanding of Puddleducks' expectations for practice.
Children enthusiastically explore and engage in a variety of well-considered planned and spontaneous play-based learning experiences at the kindergarten and in the wider community.
A positive tone permeates the centre and inclusive practices are evident. Children's developing social competence and emotional wellbeing are fostered by attentive teachers within a culture of care and respect.
Governance has significantly improved resource provision to better cater for the age range of children attending. This resourcing and refurbishment of the physical environment, indoors and out, has resulted in a highly conducive environment for learning.
The teaching team are building their knowledge of culturally responsive intentional teaching practice. They continue to embed assessment and planning practices that focus on responding to the aspiration's families and whānau hold for their children. As these developments progress and when the review of the philosophy is complete, teachers should design the service's local curriculum aligned to the valued learning outcomes in Te Whāriki.
Puddleducks' managers and leaders have been supportive in building an organisational culture of improvement. Systems and practices that build teachers' and leaders' capability include appropriate external and internal professional learning. Efficient appraisal, induction and internal evaluation practices build individual's capability and the service's capacity to improve outcomes for children and their families and whānau.
To sustain the good practice occurring and to progress planned developments, leaders should continue to build the team's understanding and use of effective internal evaluation to know how well the service philosophy is enacted and the valued outcomes for children are achieved.
The team should document the developing culturally responsive, localised curriculum to guide practice. They also need to achieve consistent teacher understanding, implementation and documentation of the new assessment and planning procedure.
Before the review, the staff and management of Puddleducks' Kindergarten 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.
To improve health and safety practice leaders must ensure all staff:
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Central Region
28 November 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.
|
Location |
Palmerston North |
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
52511 |
|
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
|
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
|
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, aged over 2 |
|
|
Service roll |
24 |
|
|
Gender composition |
Female 14, Male 10 |
|
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
|
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
October 2019 |
|
|
Date of this report |
28 November 2019 |
|
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
|
Education Review |
November 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 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 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.
Rewanui Private Kindergarten is one of two early learning services owned by the Game Group LTD in Palmerston North. The kindergarten operates from a converted house and has been open for approximately 30 years. It offers full and half day sessions five days a week for up to 30 children aged from two years. Twenty children are currently enrolled.
A manager oversees the Game Group LTD and a team leader is responsible for the day-to-day operation of Rewanui Private Kindergarten.
ERO's November 2014 external evaluation identified that the service required further development, particularly with the curriculum provided for children. Since then staff have undertaken considerable professional learning and development to improve centre practices and develop teaching capability. A development plan was established and staff have worked through the areas identified as requiring improvement.
Significant progress has been made to ensure that children engage in a curriculum based on their observed interests. Assessment, planning and evaluation is visible and deliberate. Teachers can clearly show children's learning journeys. They make clear links to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Staff work collaboratively to provide children with a wide range of learning experiences. Teachers continue to develop and grow their knowledge to ensure that children have positive experiences. This development is ongoing.
The environment provides challenge for children. Staff know children well and provide resources and experiences to support their growing curiosity. Literacy and numeracy learning are woven through the curriculum. Children's learning is enhanced and extended through meaningful and interesting contexts. Teachers and children make good use of the two distinct outdoor areas. Children are included in decision making about resources and the changing environment. Their engagement in the programme is high.
Parent and whānau aspirations are actively sought. They increasingly comment on what their children are learning through the online assessment tool used by the service. Parents access a wide range of information about the curriculum and how planning and assessment impacts on their children. They are partners in their children's learning
Children's sense of belonging is nurtured. Cultural values are affirmed. Teachers foster children's friendships and engagement in the group. This enhances their transitions into the service and when moving to school. A focus of recent review for the service has been manaakitanga. The outcomes for children and their families are evident through children's confidence and the building of strong relationships within the centre.
Through self review the teaching team has built on current practice and identified ongoing areas for improvement. Teachers are highly reflective through self review. They have identified that the service's philosophy is due for review. This should enable staff to further identify curriculum priorities and how the philosophy is enacted for children. It would be timely to build leaders' and teachers' evaluation capability to enable staff to move from reviewing what they do to evaluating how effectively their practices improve outcomes for children.
The appraisal process has been strengthened. Procedures have been developed collaboratively with all staff. There is a clear process for gathering evidence and ongoing reflection by staff about their practice, linked to the Practising Teacher Criteria. Regular review and discussion between the appraiser and teacher occurs with purposeful feedback. To strengthen the process the manager should make clear in the procedure, how observations will occur and how teachers will receive feedback from these.
Staff have identified that the philosophy needs to be reviewed. Consideration should be given to evaluating how well it reflects current practice.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rewanui Private Kindergarten 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 Rewanui Private Kindergarten will be in three years.
Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central
10 February 2017
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 |
Palmerston North |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
52511 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children over two years old |
||
|
Service roll |
24 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 13, Boys 11 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Samoan Other ethnic groups |
3 17 1 3 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
December 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 February 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
November 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2008 |
||
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.