St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten

Education institution number:
25009
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
15
Telephone:
Address:

11 Vincent Street, Howick, Auckland

View on map

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten

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 St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten 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

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten is a Christian-based service providing care and education for children over two years of age. A board of trustees has oversight of central governance, and a finance and operations manager and newly appointed head teacher are responsible for daily operations.

3. Summary of findings

Children learn and develop in a play-based context that builds their capability and confidence and reflects a strong Christian ethos. They have a strong sense of belonging and show kaitiakitanga/guardianship in the care of their play environments.

Children’s views and ideas are encouraged, accepted, and respected. They are given space and time to lead their play and form nurturing relationships with their peers. Teachers know children well and support them through a range of strategies to encourage exploration and expression. They provide resources and environments for exploration that is meaningful and enjoyable for children. Teachers support children to choose resources and interests, experience challenge and revisit prior learning.

Effective assessment practices continue to evolve. Documentation has a strong lens on te ao Māori and Māori learning dispositions. This feature supports bicultural practices and acknowledges children’s social and cultural worlds and ways of learning. Parent and whānau aspirations and expectations are acknowledged and understood, and the team works collaboratively and responsively to achieve these. Teachers are working towards strengthening assessment documentation and their responses in facilitating children’s learning.

Leaders have a strong focus on continual improvement. They show commitment to the service’s philosophy, vision, and goals, bicultural practice and teaching that contributes to positive learner outcomes. Leaders and teachers ensure that their practices reflect the rights for equitable opportunities for all children.

Self-review for improvement is well understood and implemented. Teachers are building their evaluation capacity. This development shows signs of being purposeful to realise the service’s vision, values, strategic direction, goals, and priorities for learning.

4. Improvement actions

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • Embed high quality assessment practices that include supporting children to lead, plan, and assess their own learning.

  • Continue to build teacher capability to do, use and embed evaluation for improvement to sustain valued learning outcomes for all children.

5. Management Assurance and Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of St Andrews Chilton 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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

17 June 2022 

6. About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten

Profile Number

25009

Location

Howick, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

46 children over two years of age

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

20

Ethnic composition

Māori 1, NZ European/Pākehā 12, Chinese 4, other ethnic groups 3

Review team on site

May 2022

Date of this report

17 June 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, November 2018;
Education Review, January 2015

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten - 15/11/2018

1 Evaluation of St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten

How well placed is St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

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

Background

St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten is a well-established Christian based service providing sessional and full-day care and education for up to 46 children over two years of age. A board manager, four trustees, and Church elders have oversight of centre governance. A finance and operations manager along with a head teacher, four registered teachers, and one teacher aide take responsibility for day-to-day operations.

The majority of children attending the centre are Pākehā. There are also smaller numbers of children with Māori, Pacific and Chinese heritage. The philosophy of the centre aligns with Te Whāriki, is grounded in Christian values and based on the belief that "play is a natural learning opportunity".

ERO's 2015 review report recommended improvements in the areas of planning, assessment, evaluation, and teaching and learning. It also required the centre to promote children’s understanding and use of te reo Māori and enhance self-review processes by using key indicators of effective practice. Some progress has been made in these areas.

The Review Findings

Children settle quickly on arrival and play cooperatively in one group. They learn in a welcoming environment that promotes their safety and wellbeing. They have opportunities to be with and alongside their siblings creating a family feel and fostering tuakana-teina relationships.

Children interact respectfully with each other and teachers and are respectful of resources and equipment. Teachers provide children with a range of experiences and give them opportunities to make choices about their play as they access relevant activities both inside and outdoors.

Teachers work with children at their level. They interact and engage children in conversations about their play and the wider world around them. They could now make these conversations more in-depth to challenge children's thinking, prompt problem solving and the sharing of ideas and theories. Displays could also be improved to better reflect children's current learning and exploration.

Teachers know children and families well and interact with them in warm, responsive ways. Parents are comfortable in the centre and engage in relaxed conversations with teachers and children. Teachers seek and value parent aspirations. Wall displays show parents' appreciation of the teachers and the programme provided.

Portfolios are an attractive record of children's participation in the programme. Assessment is regular and the process is based on individual teacher's knowledge and understanding. Establishing a shared understanding by all teachers of what, and how to document children's learning and progress is a next step.

Curriculum decisions are collaboratively made and programme planning is shared. Continuing to document how teachers support and extend individual and group learning will improve the planning process.

Teachers have discontinued outdated approaches for promoting literacy. They are currently building their knowledge of effective teaching approaches and strategies that will help them implement the early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki 2017.

Teachers are strengthening their understanding of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. They promote te reo and tikanga Māori through teaching practices. They also provide bicultural resources that depict te ao Māori. Some teachers use children's home languages to connect with them and their families. They could continue to strengthen their awareness of diverse cultural world views.

Centre leaders regularly review policies and procedures. Teachers could enhance this process by evaluating how well policies and procedures are actually being implemented. While internal evaluations are regular and follow an established process, this could be improved. Starting with an evaluative focus and setting specific quality indicators, teachers would enable teachers to more effectively measure the impact that changes have on outcomes for children.

Robust reporting helps the board to be assured of the effective management of health and safety, resources and finances. Developing a strategic plan and aligned annual planning would help prioritise centre developments, guide leaders and teachers' work, and provide a basis for measuring progress towards centre goals.

Leadership is inclusive and teachers take individual responsibility for areas aligned to their strengths and interests. The recently improved appraisal process now aligns with the Education Council teaching standards. Leaders and teachers should continue to embed the appraisal process in practice and through documentation.

Key Next Steps

Key next steps for centre development are for teachers to continue:

  • developing their understanding and use of Te Whāriki 2017 to strengthen assessment and planning and to guide a review of the centre philosophy

  • building responsive partnership relationships with Māori, Pacific and other children and whānau in the centre

  • increasing the rigour of teacher appraisal processes to strengthen teaching practices and improve outcomes for children.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of St Andrews Chilton 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 St Andrews Chilton Kindergarten will be in three years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

15 November 2018

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

Howick, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

25009

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

46 children over the age of 2 years

Service roll

45

Gender composition

Boys 28 Girls 17

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Chinese
other ethnic groups

3
26
11
5

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Over 2

1:9

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

September 2018

Date of this report

15 November 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

January 2015

Education Review

February 2012

Education Review

November 2008

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.