134 Elstree Avenue, Point England, 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 |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre is a well-established service governed by an incorporated society. It operates from a modified city council building adjacent to Point England School. A supervisor and three senior teachers lead the curriculum provided for children and manage daily operations. Most of the children enrolled are of Samoan or Māori heritage.
Children experience a curriculum that respects and supports their culture and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They are supported to be confident in their own culture and to understand and respect each other.
Adults engage in meaningful, positive interactions with children. The curriculum supports children’s developing social competence and understanding of appropriate behaviour.
Consistent implementation and monitoring of licensing requirements is needed to maintain regulatory standards.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
having a current Fire Evacuation Scheme approved by Fire and Emergency New Zealand
having a written emergency plan that includes a list of safety and emergency supplies and resources sufficient for the age and number of children and adults at the service, and details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency, a communication plan for families and support services, evidence of review of the plan on at least an annual basis and implementation of improved practices as required
maintaining sleep records to show that children over two years of age are checked at least every 5-10 minutes, or more frequently according to individual needs
having evidence of a system of regular appraisal of staff.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS4, HS7, HS9, GMA3, GMA7.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Ensuring indoor and outdoor items and surfaces, furniture, equipment, and materials are safe and suitable for their intended use (PF5).
Ensuring windows accessible to children are either made of safety glass; or covered by an adhesive film designed to hold the glass in place in the event of it being broken (PF7).
Monitoring that the first aid kit complies with the requirements of Appendix 1, is easily recognisable and readily accessible to adults, and is inaccessible to children (PF28).
Ensuring the infant sleep room is kept at a comfortable temperature no lower than 18°C (at 500 mm above the floor) while children are attending (HS24).
Maintaining a record of all medicine (prescription and non-prescription) given to children that includes the time medicine was administered and by whom, and evidence of parental acknowledgement that they have been advised that medication was administered (HS28).
Providing information to parents about any fees charged by the service and the amount and details of the expenditure of any Ministry of Education funding received by the service (GMA3).
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence issued to this service provider. ERO will not undertake a further review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets regulatory standards.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
24 April 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre |
|
Profile Number |
25125 |
|
Location |
Glen Innes, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
28 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 years |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
25 |
|
Review team on site |
February 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
24 April 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, May 2019; Education Review, May 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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
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 |
Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre is a community-based service that has served the Point England community for almost 30 years. It is licensed to provide full-day education and care for up to 28 children, including up to five under two years of age. Most children have Pacific or Māori heritage.
The centre continues to operate from a modified city council building adjacent to Point England School and is awaiting the renewal of its lease. It is governed by the management committee of an incorporated society and charitable trust. A supervisor and three senior teachers lead programmes for children. These four registered teachers have worked as a team for a long period of time. Teachers reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the centre community.
The centre's philosophy is based on the Māori concept of Te Whare Tapa Whā, the holistic development and wellbeing of the child. The philosophy is linked to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and includes a strong commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi.
In 2015 ERO identified several positive features of the service. ERO recommended that teachers strengthen their assessment, planning and internal evaluation processes, and their relationships with whānau. Teachers have continued to work on their practices in these areas.
Children are friendly, and confident. They have very good relationships with teachers and engage in play that interests them. Children explore the learning environments, often playing in small groups. They respond well to adult support. They also benefit from the easy flow between the indoor and outdoor spaces, and the good quality and open-ended resources. Children have a strong sense of belonging in the centre.
Infants and toddlers enjoy nurturing and affectionate care. Programmes support their developmental milestones. Teachers encourage them to explore the environment and resources. Toddlers frequently play with the older children, as they develop their mobility and social skills. This enables them to enjoy tuakana/teina relationships.
Teachers know children and families well. They use this knowledge to respond to children's individual interests. Teachers are sensitive and responsive to children with additional learning needs. Children's languages and cultures are affirmed.
Adults' conversations with children encourage them to express themselves, share their ideas, and sustain their play for periods of time. Teachers often integrate te reo Māori and foster the use of children's first languages. They support children to develop early literacy and numeracy skills in meaningful contexts. Teachers could research further ways that they can deliberately support young children to acquire language.
Teachers are trialling a new planning, assessment and evaluation process. They have started using online portfolios. Planning and assessment are displayed to promote parent contributions and teacher collaboration. As part of this improvement initiative, it would be worthwhile for teachers to plan strategies for supporting older children to develop more challenge and complexity in their play. Teachers could consider re-establishing assessment portfolios. This would enable all families to access their children's individual learning records.
Leaders and teachers maintain trusting relationships with families. They are highly aware of the social, emotional and physical needs of the centre's community. Respect for Māori and Pacific languages and cultures provides a sense of belonging for all. Leaders acknowledge that they need to engage whānau in partnerships that focus on children's learning.
Teachers enjoy good working relationships. It is timely now for teachers to re-establish evaluation systems and documentation. This would help to ensure next steps are identified to extend children's learning programmes. Processes for supporting children's transition to school should be reviewed and improved to better enable learning continuity for children.
There is a useful shared leadership approach in the centre. Teachers' strengths are valued. Leaders encourage critical and reflective practices through the appraisal process. However, they should engage external personnel to carry out manager and supervisor appraisals. Ongoing external professional learning is necessary. Leaders and teachers would benefit from sharing their individual inquiries into ways to improve practices and extend children's learning. They should undertake further work to deepen their understanding of Te Whāriki (2017).
The management team works well to manage centre operations and finances. They have developed a long-term and annual plan to guide centre operations. Health and safety systems and processes are established. Managers would benefit from professional assistance to build shared understandings about internal evaluation. They should also ensure they rationalise the policy review schedule.
Leaders agree that key next steps for centre development include leaders and teachers accessing relevant external professional support to:
strengthen programme planning, assessment and evaluation to enhance the focus on extending individual children's interests and complex play
re-establish regular opportunities for learning focused engagement with whānau
develop shared understandings about, and improve systems and recording processes for, internal evaluation that results in improved teaching practices and positive outcomes for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Te Ao Hou Community Childcare 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
10 May 2019
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 |
Point England, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
25125 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
28 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
25 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 17 Girls 8 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
February 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 May 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
May 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
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 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.
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.
Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre is a well established centre in the Auckland suburb of Point England which provides education and care for children mostly from the local community. The centre can cater for up to 28 children each day, including five up to two years of age. It operates in a modified city council building on council land close to the local primary school. The centre provides mixed-age learning programmes.
Children and families using the centre come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, with a high percentage of Māori and Pacific families/whānau. Teachers represent some of children’s cultures and are able to converse with them in their home languages.
The centre philosophy, co-constructed with staff, provides a picture for parents about the aims and aspirations for children’s time in the centre. It refers to teachers’ focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnerships and Te Whāriki the early childhood curriculum.
The centre is an incorporated society and intends to operate with a governance committee. The centre has a positive reporting history from ERO and continues to build on identified strengths and areas for development.
Children enjoy positive and supportive relationships with teachers. They are warmly welcomed at the start of their day, and immediately settle to play. The mixed-age grouping of children provides many opportunities for children to practise tuakana/teina relationships with younger children. The tone in the centre is harmonious and friendly.
Teachers provide a ‘free-flow’ play programme that encourages children to make independent choices about where and how they want to play. Teachers support the programme well by providing a range of good quality equipment and resources. Children are confident and often spend long periods exploring and developing their play. A next step for teachers could be to place a focus on including children in decision-making about aspects of the programme.
A considerable strength of the centre is the way teachers draw on what they know of children’s home life as well as their interest in activities to develop reciprocal and meaningful conversations with children. This is a very positive way of helping children to develop useful skills when they transition on to school. The programme also includes a positive focus on mathematical language and opportunities for children’s learning about literacy, nature and science through play.
Teachers’ care for infants is affectionate and cheerful. Infants and young toddlers are included in older children’s play and in meal and group times. Teachers might now consider ways of providing more play items that encourage these children’s exploration of everyday and natural items.
Teachers have a focus on building and sustaining partnerships with whānau. Their use of face-to-face meetings to discuss parents' aspirations for their children has had a very positive impact on whānau interest in the programme. Teachers display information in the playroom to inform whānau of activities during the week that may be linked to whānau aspirations.
Children benefit from the inclusion of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in the programme. Whānau also commented favourably about the extent of their children’s learning of te reo Māori and their familiarity with protocols, such as karakia before food. Teachers support this aspect of the programme well, with books of legends, use of te reo Māori and their clear understanding of how they wish to improve children’s learning.
Teachers have developed assessment and programme planning over time. New portfolios are being developed to record the decisions made by whānau about what they want for their children. Teachers make good use of photographs to demonstrate children’s activities and participation in the programme.
Teachers have identified transitions to school as a topic for self review this year. Children are carefully settled when they first join the centre and teachers hope that this smooth transition can also happen for children when they move on to school.
The governance committee for the centre has not successfully attracted new membership recently. Teachers are hoping that the new and stronger relationships they are forging with whānau may encourage an interested group of adults to fulfil the purpose and directions of the centre.
Centre management and teachers identified their next steps. ERO agrees that these are to continue to build on newly established processes and practices in the centre. These include:
Management should continue to seek membership of whānau on the governance committee for the centre.
Before the review, the staff and management of Te Ao Hou Community Childcare 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 Te Ao Hou Community Childcare Centre will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
8 May 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 |
Pt England, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
25125 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
28 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
29 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 16 Girls 13 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Cambodian Cook Island Niuean Samoan Tongan |
15 1 1 1 1 9 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
March 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
8 May 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
April 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
March 2009 |
||
|
Education Review |
January 2006 |
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.