319 Rosedale Road, Albany, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | 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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Summerfield Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
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He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakaū Embedding |
Summerfield Early Learning Centre is privately owned. The owner and centre manager oversee the centre’s governance and management. They are supported by two professional leaders who have oversight of the curriculum and teaching practices. Children are cared for in four separate rooms, grouped according to age.
Responsive and respectful partnerships with children and parents are prioritised at the centre. Children’s identity is enhanced through teachers acknowledging and responding to children’s languages and cultures. Teachers value and celebrate children for who they are and what they bring to the service. Parents’ perspectives, cultural expertise and aspirations guide the service’s philosophy, vision and priorities for learning.
Kaiako who work with children under two years of age maintain a calm, unhurried pace giving children space and time to lead their own learning. They are responsive to children’s verbal and
non-verbal cues, and they demonstrate that care is understood to be an integral part of the curriculum.
Personalised learning support is provided for children. Leaders and teachers understand that assessment should promote holistic learning and development. Transitions into and within the service are responsive to individual children’s and their parents’ needs, promoting a strong sense of belonging and security for children in the centre environment.
The owner, managers, leaders and teachers recognise the importance of child, parent, whānau and community voice, and they draw on this to inform priorities for service improvement. Evaluation and inquiry are embedded in the policies and processes that guide the service’s plans and actions to realise its vision, goals and priorities for children’s learning.
Managers and leaders facilitate collaboration with relevant external agencies and community organisations. They work well with parents and these agencies to ensure children with additional learning needs have access to inclusive education.
Effective policies and procedures promote the recruitment and selection of kaiako who reflect the cultures of children in the service. A positive working environment facilitates low staff turnover and is conducive to the building and sustaining of quality adult:child relationships.
Summerfield Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Summerfield 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.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
13 July 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Summerfield Early Learning Centre |
| Profile Number | 10022 |
| Location | Albany, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
130 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Service roll |
111 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 2% |
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Review team on site |
April 2021 |
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Date of this report |
13 July 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, September 2016 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Summerfield Early Learning Centre in Albany caters for up to 130 children, including 30 children up to the age of two years. The different age groups are catered for in three rooms each of which provides access to outdoor play areas. Children and their families come from diverse cultures and many speak more than one language.
The centre’s philosophy is founded on a belief in children's capability. Maintaining caring and respectful relationships with children and their families is a key aspect of the philosophy. The aims are to support children to become life-long learners, share and interact with their peers and adults, and make discoveries independently.
The centre is privately owned and operates under the management of Summerfield Childcare Ltd. The owner/director and the centre manager have oversight of the complex and its strategic direction and planning. The daily running of each room is managed by team leaders, and teacher managers who have oversight of different aspects of the curriculum and teaching practice.
The centre has a history of positive ERO reviews. The 2013 ERO report noted strengths that include effective leadership, a responsive curriculum, and the nurturing care of infants. The report also noted that leaders and staff had a very good understanding of self review and that this was resulting in improved outcomes for children. These positive features have been sustained.
Teachers and managers work together as a highly professional and supportive team. Their philosophy of teaching and the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, are clearly evident in practice. Staff turnover last year has been well managed. As a result, the centre has maintained its capacity to provide very good quality teaching and leadership.
Teachers view children as capable and they support children to develop dispositions as confident learners. Infants and toddlers enjoy a calm, unhurried and inclusive environment. They benefit from individualised care and responsive attention from staff. Programmes and routines are flexible to cater for children’s interests, developmental stages and parents’ preferences. Literacy and mathematics are integrated throughout the programme.
Programmes for children are relevant and interesting. Well-considered planning and assessment practices provide a sound framework to guide teachers' programme development. Planning approaches are collaborative and flexible. This enables teachers to respond to children’s interests and to cater for their diverse learning needs.
The curriculum is well documented and shared with children and parents. Portfolios give parents very good information about their children’s individual learning experiences. Weekly diaries are emailed to families showing each room's particular curriculum programme in action.
The purpose-built building provides spacious, flexible environments for children's social interaction and play, and a good working environment for staff. Attractive learning displays invite children's curiosity and plentiful and varied resources support their play. Children’s cultural identities are promoted through displays in the rooms that also reflect their interests and learning.
Teachers continue to develop their knowledge and responsiveness to the centre's increasing cultural diversity. Communications and relationships between the centre, and children and their families are often supported by staff who speak children's home language.
Teachers are continuing to develop their knowledge and children’s awareness of the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. This focus is included as a goal in the centre's annual management plan. Te reo Māori is evident in the environment and is being increasingly used in daily interactions as part of the programme.
Transitions into, through and out of the centre are carefully and positively managed to cater for children’s and families’ needs. Children have regular opportunities to establish relationships with the children and teachers in the rooms they will transfer into. This familiarity with people and environments helps children to transition into new settings more confidently. Children can participate in meaningful programmes designed to help them prepare for school.
Very effective leadership continues to guide the centre. Managers and leaders continually review and adapt teaching and other practices to benefit children’s learning. Regular, planned self-review is linked to strategic goals and is resulting in positive developments in the centre’s programme, environments and practices. Teachers' evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme helps them to be responsive in their work with children. The programme for children, and teachers’ roles in facilitating learning, are continually being refined through ongoing evaluation and review.
Sound appraisal processes support individual teachers to improve their teaching practice. Teachers benefit from the many professional learning opportunities available to them. This professional learning underpins their shared understandings about the practices that best promote children's learning and wellbeing.
Well established self-review has guided managers’ and teachers’ identification of relevant areas for centre development. These include:
increasing staff knowledge to support children and their families who have English as an additional language
continuing to develop bicultural practices and the use of te reo Māori.
Before the review, the staff and management of Summerfield 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 Summerfield Early Learning Centre will be in four years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
9 September 2016
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.
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Location |
Albany, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10022 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
130 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
133 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 55% Boys 45% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Samoan |
2% 52% 41% 5% |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
July 2016 |
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Date of this report |
9 September 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
April 2013 |
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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.
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.