Sunbeams Private Kindergarten

Education institution number:
46525
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
40
Telephone:
Address:

11 Myrtle Street, Western Springs, Auckland

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Sunbeams Private 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 Sunbeams Private Kindergarten are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whāngai Establishing

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 
Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whāngai Establishing

Whakaū Embedding

2 Context of the Service

Sunbeams Private Kindergarten is a privately-owned, well-established service. The owner is a certificated teacher who leads a team of four qualified and three unqualified teachers. Children play and learn together in a mixed age setting. At the time of the review the majority of children attending are of New Zealand European heritage.

3 Summary of findings

Leaders and teachers work collaboratively to set an environment that invites exploration, discovery and wondering. This encourages children to become active participants in the curriculum. Teachers have a deliberate focus on children’s developing social competence and language skills. As a result, children are settled and enthusiastic learners.

Relationships with families are developed and maintained through regular, ongoing communications. A range of opportunities are provided for families to share information about the learning and progress of their children. This information sharing could now be used to establish learning focused partnerships with families and to increase the visibility of children’s language, culture, and identity.

Good opportunities are provided for children and their families to learn about Māori culture. Te reo Māori is highly visible in the centre environment. Waiata and karakia form part of daily rituals. Leaders and teachers have identified that this is an area they will continue to strengthen.

Equitable outcomes for children are promoted through intentional responses to their different learning needs. Leaders have acknowledged programme plans could be more strongly aligned with the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to promote trajectories of learning.

A process for internal evaluation is established and the team works collaboratively to focus on improving outcomes for learners. Good access to quality professional learning opportunities is provided to build teacher capability. The recruitment of well qualified teachers supports a positive working environment that facilitates low staff turnover and is conducive to establishing quality learning programmes for children.

4 Improvement actions

Sunbeams Private Kindergarten will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

  • Strengthen learning focussed partnerships with families to ensure collaboration in setting learning outcomes for individual children.
  • Strengthen opportunities for children to hear te reo Māori through the learning programme.
  • Strengthen the extent to which the languages, cultures and identities of children and their families are visible in centre documentation.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Sunbeams Private Kindergarten completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
  • relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

6 Actions for Compliance 

During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • Having a hazard management system that includes consideration of hazards in the laundry (HS12).
  • Ensuring all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

29 January 2024

7 About the Early Childhood Service 

Early Childhood Service NameSunbeams Private Kindergarten
Profile Number46525
LocationWestern Springs, Auckland
Service type Education and care service
Number licensed for 30 children over 2 years old
Percentage of qualified teachers 80-99%
Service roll34
Review team on siteNovember 2023
Date of this report29 January 2024
Most recent ERO report(s)Akanuku | Assurance Review, July 2021; Education Review, May 2017

 

Sunbeams Private Kindergarten

ERO’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.

ERO’s Judgement

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.

Background

The managing director of Sunbeams Private Kindergarten is a qualified teacher. She leads a team of four qualified teachers and three unqualified staff. The service philosophy links with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and values each child’s uniqueness and partnerships with parents.

Summary of Review Findings

The service curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning. The practices of adults providing education and care demonstrate a knowledge of relevant theories and practice in early childhood education.

Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding 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.

Compliance

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

  • ensuring heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured (HS6)
  • ensuring hazards to the safety of children are eliminated, isolated or minimised, and that

consideration of hazards must include but is not limited to medicines, poisons, and other hazardous materials; electrical sockets and appliances (particularly heaters), and hazards present in kitchen or laundry facilities (HS12)

  • maintaining a record of all injuries, illnesses and incidents that occur at the service includes actions taken and by whom; and evidence that parents have been informed (HS27)
  • maintaining a record of training and/or information provided to adults who administer medicine to children (other than their own) while at the service (HS29)
  • ensuring that all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

7 July 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Sunbeams Private Kindergarten
Profile Number 46525
Location Western Springs, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

30 children over 2 years old.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

40

Ethnic composition

Māori 1
NZ European/Pākehā  37
other ethnic groups 2

Review team on site

May 2021

Date of this report

7 July 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, May 2017

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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.