Selwyn Kids

1 Evaluation of Selwyn Kids

How well placed is Selwyn Kids to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Selwyn Kids is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Selwyn Kids is licensed under Selwyn Kids Limited, which also operates a home-based education and care service.

This early learning service is licensed for 57 children on all weekdays, with the exception of Wednesdays when the licence is for 35 children. Selwyn Kids offers care and education for children over the age of two. The Discoverers room is for children aged two to three and a half, and the Explorers room has children from three and a half to school age. An after-school programme and a playgroup operate on the same site.

The service philosophy places value on providing a quality, modern early learning service for families where children learn through play. It states its commitment to a primary focus on children and is based on the principles and strands of Te Whāriki, the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum. The philosophy also espouses respect for New Zealand's bicultural heritage and a place where cultures are celebrated.

Selwyn Kids is a member of the recently-established Ngā Peko Tauwharekākaho Kāhui Ako (Community of Learning) ECE cluster. This membership is enabling the service to build educational relationships with local schools.

Since ERO's 2015 review, new head teachers have been appointed in each of the two rooms. One of the head teachers is also the manager of the service. The centre owner, leaders and newly-appointed teachers are working together to establish a team culture and shared responsibility for ongoing improvement. The roll has grown by 31% since ERO's 2015 review.

The Review Findings

Children demonstrate a clear sense of belonging to the centre. They play well with and alongside each other, establish friendships and develop their social competency. Children with diverse learning needs, and their families, are well supported by individualised strategies, advocacy and external agencies, as appropriate. Teachers support children's growing confidence and independence in a programme that includes:

• promoting children's self-care skills and building their understanding of routines and events
• providing natural resources in the outdoor environments to extend children's imaginative and sensory play and increase their knowledge about the natural world
• flexible and personalised transition approaches into and within the centre
• the well-considered and inclusive "Pathways to Kura" programme, aligned with Te Whāriki, that supports transitions to school
• increasingly seeking and including parents' aspirations for their children to develop a more personalised learning pathway for each child.

In response to the considerable staff changes over the past three years, the owner and leaders have demonstrated a strong commitment to building a team culture. There has been a purposeful leadership restructure and clarification of responsibilities. Focus areas for ongoing improvement have included:

• the current and ongoing review of the centre vision, philosophy and values to clarify and develop clear and shared understanding of the learning valued in the centre
• carefully-considered staff appointments to align with the service's philosophy
• refined systems to manage accountabilities and legal requirements.

These areas are providing a sound foundation and framework for a collaborative approach to effective teaching and learning. Leaders are also working towards establishing a shared understanding of internal evaluation and building capability to enable systematic improvement.

Key Next Steps

The planned professional learning and development (PLD) programme has the potential to strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation and improve the learning of all children. Aspects to focus on in this PLD should include how to:

• be more specific in recognising, planning for and evaluating learning for individual children
• more clearly identify, plan for and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies in supporting learning outcomes for children
• increase teachers' understanding and use of Te Whāriki so that all children have the opportunity to learn in-depth across all five strands and learning outcomes of the curriculum.

Further next steps to promote positive learning outcomes for children include:

• developing cultural responsiveness within the curriculum and planning targeted strategies to enable success for Māori as Māori, and for all children to develop a deep appreciation for biculturalism in Aotearoa NZ
• developing a shared understanding of internal evaluation that focuses on outcomes for children
• refining and embedding the appraisal system to focus specifically on outcomes for children and associated implications for teaching and learning.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Selwyn Kids 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.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services

Southern Region

1 April 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

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 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.