Richard Hudson Kindergarten

1. Evaluation of Richard Hudson Kindergarten

How well placed is Richard Hudson Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

At the heart of Richard Hudson Kindergarten’s philosophy are biculturalism, relationships, and ecological sustainability. The kindergarten has a history in Caversham Dunedin going back to 1908 and maintains strong community connections.

The kindergarten provides education and care for children from two-years old to school age. It is open for school-day hours. Forty children attend in the morning and up to thirty in the afternoon. Some children attend for half a day.

The close team of teachers are all qualified. A parent committee supports the kindergarten with fundraising and improvements. The kindergarten has made useful progress in improving self review and planning practices as recommended in the 2012 ERO report.

The kindergarten operates under the Dunedin Kindergartens (DK) Association. DK provides management and professional support for the teachers. This review was part of a cluster of 24 kindergarten reviews in the DK.

2. The Review Findings

The teachers describe their kindergarten as ‘strongly and proudly bicultural’. ERO found this to be the case. Teachers use te ao Māori as a vehicle for children’s learning throughout the programme. Concepts such as manaakitanga (caring) and whanaungatanga (relationships) underpin the life of the kindergarten. Children regularly hear and use te reo Māori in ways that recognise it as a living language. They learn waiata and tikanga Māori, use karakia and take part in celebrations such as Matariki and Polyfest.

Children are well supported to be respectful of Papatūānuku (earth mother) through the kindergarten’s emphasis on caring for the environment. They take part in real-life experiences such as looking after the garden, harvesting the vegetables and fruit, recycling waste, and caring for the kindergarten’s chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Children, their families and whānau, and the teachers have a strong sense of belonging at the kindergarten. The teachers genuinely welcome parents and whānau and encourage them to contribute their knowledge and skills. The culture of Pasifika families further enriches the kindergarten community.

The kindergarten has well-established traditions that connect it to the community. For example, children and teachers make regular visits to a local rest home and tidy up the local park. They celebrate the diversity of cultures in their community through an annual Race Unity Day. Teachers look for ways to support the whole family.

Children have friendships at the kindergarten and play together in a settled way. The teachers actively encourage children to help others and to take on leadership roles. The programme also supports children’s oral language, literacy and mathematic skills, physical abilities, and knowledge and attitudes around physical health. The teachers are still refining the pattern of the day since changing to school-day hours at the start of 2015.

The teachers, with the support of the senior teacher from DK, have developed a useful structure for group planning. The records of children’s learning clearly show the kindergarten’s priorities around biculturalism, sustainability and relationships. The teachers are continuing to develop their systems for planning for individual children’s learning.

Under the leadership of the head teacher, the team works cooperatively. The teachers each contribute their own strengths and they have a shared vision of what is important for children at the kindergarten. They have expanded their philosophy statement to give clear guidance about what this means in practice.

The teachers, in partnership with the hard-working parent committee, have established long-term priorities to give useful direction for future development. They work together to achieve them.

The teachers have developed an effective structure for self review and have used it to bring about positive changes in the kindergarten.

The vision of the DK is to provide excellence in early childhood education for all children. The DK is governed by a board and managed by a long-serving general manager. The kindergarten teachers told ERO they appreciate the support they receive from the association and the advice and guidance of the senior teachers.

The board, general manager and senior teachers:

• provide appropriate opportunities for parents and staff to contribute their ideas about matters in the association

• are responsive to identified needs of children and families within the association and provide funding and support to enable these to be met

• have developed a useful framework to guide their work

• take all reasonable steps to ensure safe environments for children, teachers and staff

• maintain their professional learning and provide ongoing professional learning for teachers in the association.

Key Next Steps

Teachers and ERO agree that a key next step is for the teachers, with the support of the senior teacher, to continue to develop their planning for individual children’s learning. This includes:

• strengthening identified learning intentions that are decided in partnership with parents

• ensuring records of learning more consistently show children’s progress over time.

The teachers should also develop a schedule for self review that covers all matters that have a significant impact on children’s learning and wellbeing.

Next steps for the board, with the support of the general manager and senior teachers, are to:

• continue to define what excellence in education looks like in the DK

• further develop strategic planning to better show future goals and priorities and how these will be achieved in the association and in the kindergartens

• ensure that the reports they receive are evaluative, show how well the DK’s vision and goals are met, and inform future planning

• continue to strengthen the appraisal process and be assured that appraisals are rigorous and consistent throughout the kindergartens.

With the appointment of a new senior teacher it is timely for the board and general manager to review the role of the senior teachers and strengthen systems to ensure consistent, high-quality practice across all kindergartens within the DK.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Richard Hudson 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:

• 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Richard Hudson Kindergarten will be in three years.

Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

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 and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years

• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years

• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years

• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

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.