36 Blockhouse Road, Avondale, Auckland
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
The registered owner of Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre provides governance and management support to a team of eight registered teachers, four staff, and a cook. Children under two years of age have separate indoor and outdoor spaces, while older children use three separate indoor spaces and share an outdoor area.
Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Children are given opportunities to develop knowledge of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The service curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. It provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning. Regular opportunities are provided for parents to communicate with adults about their child and share specific evidence of their child's learning.
Consistent implementation of health and safety practices is required to maintain all aspects of the regulatory standards.
During the onsite visit the service provided ERO with evidence that showed it had addressed the following non-compliance:
All children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Verifying that a tempering valve or other accurate means of limiting hot water temperature is installed for the requirements of criterion HS13 to be met (PF24).
Ensuring furniture and items intended for children to sleep on such as mattresses, that will be used by more than one child over time, are securely covered with or made of a non-porous material (PF30).
Ensuring heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured (HS6).
Equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children and consideration of hazards includes cleaning agents, medicines, poisons, and other hazardous materials, hazards present in kitchen or laundry facilities and bodies of water (HS12).
Verifying that water stored in any hot water cylinder is kept at a temperature of at least 60°C (HS14).
Verifying that rooms used by children are kept at a comfortable temperature no lower than 18°C (at 500mm above the floor) while children are attending (HS24).
Ensuring medicine records include the amount of medicine given, the time given, a record of the written authority from parents for the administration of medicine and evidence of parental acknowledgement they have been advised medication was administered (HS28).
Ensuring adults who administer medicine to children (other than their own) are provided with information and/or training relevant to the task (HS29).
Maintenance of an attendance record that meets the requirements outlined in the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook for children currently attending (GMA11).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
9 August 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre |
|
Profile Number |
20167 |
|
Location |
Avondale, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
59 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 6, NZ European/Pākehā 33, Indian 8, other European 7, other Asian 5 |
|
Review team on site |
April 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
9 August 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2018; Education Review, February 2015 |
All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.
Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.
having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a 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 certification; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
discussions with those involved in the service
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre is an independently owned education and care service. It operates from a converted villa and has purpose built spaces for older children. Infants have their own indoor and outdoor play spaces. Toddlers occupy their own indoor area and share the outdoor play area with older children.
The managing director is supported by a leadership team comprising a pedagogical leader and a recently appointed staffing leader. This team works alongside seven other teachers. Over 90% of the teaching team are qualified teachers. The diversity of the community is reflected in the teaching team, which has changed significantly in recent months.
The service philosophy states that it values empowerment, encouragement, extension, emotional and physical wellbeing, and partnership with families and caregivers. Sustainability is a strong strategic focus of the team.
The 2015 ERO review acknowledged the strong relationships between parents and teachers, the collaborative teaching team, and respectful relationships between children and teachers. These have all been sustained. One of the areas for development included further strengthening bicultural practice and there has been good progress in this area.
Children are settled. They interact positively with their peers and teachers. Friendships between children are developing while they play in small groups. Teachers and leaders know their children well and effectively support them to develop their interactive and social skills.
The teaching team warmly welcome children and whānau. Teachers work to respond to the needs of individual children and ensure their wellbeing is prioritised. They provide respectful and responsive care for infants and toddlers. Teachers provide good opportunities for children to be leaders throughout their day.
Teachers use an on-line assessment tool to share children's learning with whānau. Most parents are comfortable to use this portal as an opportunity to engage with teachers and read learning stories with children at home. Teachers gather parent aspirations for children's learning and are working to include these in programme planning.
Teachers respectfully use te reo Māori with children. They include waiata and karakia at group and meal times. Teachers have made te reo Māori visible on the walls to support their growing use and confidence with the language and to share this with families. Teachers and leaders are committed to upholding the values of te Tiriti o Waitangi and weaving bicultural experiences throughout the programme.
Parents actively contribute to the programme by sharing their languages and cultures. Leaders, teachers and parents respond well to the needs of the wider community and support local initiatives. The centre is aware of these needs and opportunities through their positive whānau connections.
Teachers are beginning to use children's interests and strengths as the basis for programme planning. Leaders are working collaboratively to support teaching teams to embed a well-designed programme planning process that effectively captures the learning of individual children. Portfolios of learning could be more reflective of each child's individual learning journey.
The managing director has established a clear strategic direction for the service. She continues to review and enhance systems, including teachers' appraisal and internal evaluation. Leaders could now benefit from relevant professional learning focused on change management processes to effectively lead the centre through this time of growth.
Key next steps for ongoing development include the leadership team:
continuing to strengthen internal evaluation to support the centre through this time of change and growth
embedding the planning and evaluation framework with a continued focus on the learning of individual children
revisiting the centre's evaluation of environments to ensure all children are able to access a wide range of quality resources.
Before the review, the staff and management of Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre 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 Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
3 August 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.
|
Location |
Avondale, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20167 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
57 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 31 Boys 26 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
9 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
July 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
3 August 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
October 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:
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre serves a multi-ethnic community and operates from a converted villa. The owners work together with the newly appointed centre manager to lead and manage the daily operations of the centre. The centre offers education and care for fifty children, including a maximum of sixteen children under two years old. It promotes affordable education to working families in the community. Parents have the option to choose half day sessions for children under three years of age.
The majority of staff are registered teachers. The newly appointed centre manager has begun to build a collaborative and cohesive teaching team. She works closely with the owners to promote the strategic direction and values of the centre.
The centre has a large outdoor space and separate areas for age-related groups. Transition from one area of the centre to the next is dependent on children’s readiness. Teachers work closely with parents to ensure that these changes for children are managed well.
Centre managers have responded well to address areas for development identified in ERO’s 2012 review of the centre. Significant changes have been made and a culture of ongoing improvement has been developed. The centre is focused on providing quality early childhood education and care for its community.
Children settle quickly into the centre. They are confident and articulate about their play choices and are encouraged to follow their interests and initiate their own learning. Children’s conversations and ideas are fostered in the centre’s homely environment. They support each other when playing together and have positive relationships with adults at the centre. Teachers support children to learn as they play.
Teachers are responsive to children and encourage them to enjoy activities in both indoor and outdoor play areas. Their practices reflect the importance they place on child-centred learning and on consulting children about what they want to do. Teachers use Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to develop programmes for specific groups of children and to plan in accordance with children’s interests.
The centre’s bicultural curriculum has recently undergone significant improvement and teachers are using te reo Māori more in the programme. Teachers could now consider ways to further develop the bicultural curriculum and also include multi-ethnic perspectives in the programme.
Staff share a collective sense of responsibility for children in the centre. They work well in teams, work actively to build good relationships with parents, and reflect the cultures of the children that attend. Parents and whānau are valued and welcomed into the centre. They relate well to teachers and enjoy opportunities provided to be part of daily centre activities and excursions. Teachers and leaders work collaboratively to build a culture of respect at the centre.
The newly appointed centre manager has implemented useful management systems. A comprehensive appraisal system is in place and new teachers are supported to achieve their professional goals. Teachers benefit from ongoing support for professional learning development to meet their specific needs.
Changes made as a result of self review are well led and monitored. The ongoing review of the centre philosophy has increased its relevance and meaning for staff. Teachers are encouraged to take on leadership roles and to utilise their professional strengths. The centre’s openness to critique and learning from advisors help managers and teachers to achieve strategic goals for the centre.
ERO agrees with the owner and centre managers that key next steps for the centre should include a focus on:
Before the review, the staff and management of Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre 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 Rocket Kids Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Dale Bailey Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern Select Region
11 February 2015
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 |
Avondale, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
20167 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
69 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 43, Girls 26 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Asian European Indian Tongan |
7 44 5 4 4 3 2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
November 2014 |
||
|
Date of this report |
11 February 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
October 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:
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:
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.
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.