Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool

Education institution number:
65011
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
27
Telephone:
Address:

108 Racecourse Road, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch

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Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whakaū Embedding

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whakaū Embedding
Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool is a privately owned centre. Children from diverse cultural backgrounds attend, including a small number of Māori and children of Pacific heritage. Although there have been significant staff changes since the 2019 ERO report, leaders have made good progress in the key next steps from that report. This includes improving internal evaluation, assessment, planning and evaluation practices and increasing the use of te reo Māori.

3 Summary of findings

The service‘s curriculum is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Aspects of the Montessori philosophy guide the provision of an environment where children can freely choose work based on their developmental needs and interests. The local curriculum and priorities for learning were developed with whānau and use of local iwi resources. It is strongly based on Māori values and concepts, and it sits alongside a statement of what matters most for children’s learning.

Children experience caring, respectful relationships with their teachers. They engage in mana-enhancing, intentionally planned experiences and interactions with teachers and each other. Teachers purposefully include te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in routines and learning experiences.

Leaders and teachers carefully balance child-led and teacher-guided learning that promotes leadership and cooperative play opportunities among children. There are good examples of individual children’s assessment and planning for learning. Teachers use the learning outcomes and dispositions from Te Whāriki to guide planning and show children’s progress over time. It is timely, to make each child's languages, cultures and learner identity more prominent in their learning documentation.

Those involved in governance and leadership:

  • place children and whānau at the centre of decision making

  • ensure that parent and whānau aspirations influence children’s learning and wellbeing

  • implement a relevant, purposeful induction process for new staff

  • maintain a useful policy and procedures framework that is fit for purpose.

Leaders and teachers engage in systematic, meaningful internal evaluation that focuses on improving practices and positive outcomes for children.

4 Improvement actions

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • Prioritise implementing ways children can independently access their own learning records while at the centre to revisit their learning and progress over time.

  • Prominently include all children’s cultures, languages and identity in their learning documentation.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Riccarton Park Montessori 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.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

26 June 2023 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool

Profile Number

65011

Location

Christchurch

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

27 children aged two years and over

Percentage of qualified teachers

100%

Service roll

21

Review team on site

March 2023

Date of this report

26 June 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

Education Review November 2019
Education Review April 2016

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool - 21/11/2019

1 Evaluation of Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool

How well placed is Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Riccarton Park Montessori Preschool is a small privately-owned service licensed for 27 children over the age of two years.

The centre philosophy, based on Montessori principles, aims to provide children with a calm well-structured learning environment with a focus on early literacy and mathematics.

The teaching team and many of the children are from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds. There are a number of children with additional learning needs.

The Review Findings

Children learn in a calm well-organised environment. They easily access a wide range of experiences and high-quality resources designed to support and extend their learning and development. The programme combines Te Whāriki- the Early childhood curriculum with a Montessori curriculum. Children follow their interests and the choice of activities provides sufficient challenge to keep children meaningfully engaged. The centre's priorities for children's learning include literacy and maths and these are a key focus of the daily programme. Science learning is also well supported.

Teachers know children well and have positive relationships with them and their families. Parents and family members often contribute their unique skills and knowledge to the programme. Routines are well established and teachers' expectations for learning and positive participation are well understood by the children. These contribute to children's sense of wellbeing and belonging.

Teachers purposefully integrate parent aspirations for their children's learning into the daily programme. Children's profile books show that agreed goals and the strategies teachers plan to use to promote learning are being implemented. Children's learning is closely monitored and their progress is regularly shared with parents.

The cultural diversity of families within the centre is highly valued and regularly celebrated. Most of the teachers are fluent in languages other than English. They help support children with English as their second language to settle quickly and understand what is happening around them. Teachers are pro-active in securing extra support for children with additional needs and promptly seek external support when required. Regular involvement of a speech language therapist is making a significant difference to children's learning and building teachers' capabilities in this area.

Teachers appropriately integrate te ao Māori practices into the daily programme and regularly use te reo Māori. Children and teachers are confident with their current knowledge of te reo Māori and enthusiastic about learning more. It is timely to develop a planned approach to this learning to ensure the gains are maintained and built upon over time.

Teachers follow a useful transition procedure to support children coming into the centre and when leaving to attend school.

There are high expectations for teaching and learning. The leader has begun to implement a shared leadership approach with the team. They work well together with a shared vision and commitment to ensuring all children have their learning and wellbeing needs met.

Leaders and teachers are focused on continuous improvement. They stay current with changes in regulations and theories about teaching and learning. They engage in regular professional development and new learning is shared and put into practice.

A strategic plan gives good guidance for the future development of the centre with a clear focus on children's wellbeing and learning. It would be useful to review the strategic and annual plan to show more specifically how the goals will be met and progress monitored during each year.

Recent external professional development on internal evaluation provided an opportunity for the team to review practice while also ensuring alignment with the philosophy and beliefs about learning. Planned reviews are comprehensive and evaluation topics are investigated thoroughly. Changes implemented as a result of these reviews are having a positive impact on outcomes for children. The development of the review schedule and inclusion of the service's key priorities for children's learning may help maintain the focus of each review, to ensure the things that impact most on children are reviewed regularly.

Key Next Steps

ERO's evaluation confirms and the owner agrees that the next steps include:

  • ongoing development and review of assessment and planning processes and strengthening the visibility of children's cultures in documentation

  • continuing to refine and use internal evaluation processes to evaluate the quality of programmes and practices

  • planning ways to sustain and grow te reo Māori learning and the integration of Māori perspectives across the service.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Riccarton Park Montessori 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:

  • 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 Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

21 November 2019

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

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

65011

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

27 children, including up to 0 aged under 2

Service roll

35

Gender composition

Female 22

Male 13

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā
Chinese
Indian
Other ethnicities

5
9
8
13

Percentage of qualified teachers

0-49% 50-79% 80%+

Based on funding rates

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

N/A

N/A

Over 2

1:7

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

September 2019

Date of this report

21 November 2019

Most recent ERO reports

 

Education Review

April 2016

Education Review

November 2012

Education Review

July 2009

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.