15 Harris Street, Wellington CBD, Wellington
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 |
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Health and safety |
Not meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Te Wharemarie Tamariki is a community-based service located in Wellington City Council Premises. It provides education and care for children from birth to school age in a mixed-age setting. All staff are qualified. There have been significant staff changes since the 2019 ERO review. A new Centre Manager was appointed in April 2022. A small number of Māori learners attend the service.
Teachers providing education and care engage in positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The service curriculum respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their culture and encourages them to understand and respect other cultures. Children are provided with a range of experiences to support their learning and development.
A policy and procedure framework is in place, however, there needs to be a stronger focus on ensuring that policy and practice align. Record keeping, human resource processes, and health and safety practices require strengthening to ensure that the service is meeting the regulatory requirements.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
an annual review of the emergency plan
the daily hazard register should specify all aspects of the Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education. Hazards to the safety of children are eliminated, isolated or minimised
parents/caregivers giving prior written approval for the proposed ratio for regular excursions
written parental permission and approval of adult:child ratios for children to travel in a motor vehicle is obtained
Licensing criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS7, HS12, HS17, HS18, HS19, HS27, GMA7, GMA10, GMA11.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
the premises having a current fire evacuation scheme
all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014
specifying on the annual plan who will undertake key tasks.
Licensing criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS4, GMA7a, GMA8.
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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
16 November 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Te Wharemarie Tamariki |
|
Profile Number |
60171 |
|
Location |
Wellington |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
27 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
26 |
|
Review team on site |
October 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
16 November 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, July 2019; Education Review, March 2016 |
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 Wharemarie Tamariki is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Te Wharemarie Tamariki, located within the Wellington City Council premises, is a not-for-profit community centre. It is licensed to provide education and care for up to 27 children, aged six months to five years old.
Day-to-day operations are overseen by the centre manager and team leader. There have been significant staff changes.
The centre’s vision is to grow curious, tenacious, questioning, lifelong learners. The philosophy focuses on ways of being, knowing, doing and positioning. It seeks to encourage creativity, risk taking and exploration in a safe, caring and homely environment.
ERO's March 2016 report identified key next steps for this service. These included: strengthening the appraisal process; further developing teachers' competence in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori; and implementing robust assessment, planning and evaluation. Ongoing progress is being made in these areas.
Children confidently engage in activities and sustained play experiences. The inclusive learning environment promotes genuine interactions based on respect and willingness to listen. Warm, reciprocal relationships are evident between staff, whānau and children.
Responsive caregiving supports infants and toddlers need for strong and secure attachment. Teachers maintain a calm, unhurried pace in which younger children have space and time to lead their learning. Tuakana teina approaches are used effectively to enable younger learners to actively play and learn with their older peers.
Teachers know children well and purposefully respond to their strengths, interests and capabilities. They use a range of deliberate strategies to support children’s oral language development. Routine times are used as teachable moments. Environmental sustainability is a focus and children are actively involved in promoting this. Staff use the central Wellington area effectively to strongly promote children’s sense of connection to the urban environment and extend learning.
Aspects of kaupapa Māori concepts are strongly evident in the environment. Children are familiar with and participate in karakia and waiata. Teachers use te reo Māori in learning conversations with children to enrich the programme. Leaders should identify how they can weave places of significant value for Māori into the localised, bicultural curriculum.
The service is undertaking a review of its philosophy. Leaders and teachers should continue to engage with parents, families, whānau Māori and their Pacific community to determine what educational success looks like for their children. This should assist them to more clearly define and support a shared understanding of what learning matters here.
The centre has developed a sound inquiry based planning for learning framework. Group planning supports children’s emerging skills. Teachers notice their interests, recognise the potential learning and respond appropriately. A next step is to clearly articulate specific and measureable learning outcomes in group planning and identify intentional teaching strategies to meet these. This will help the centre to establish what they want to achieve, and provide guidelines to measure the impact of the learning programme.
Developing relationships enable parents, whānau and teachers to set meaningful learning goals for individual children. Learning journals record interests, centre excursions, milestones reached and participation in the programme. To further improve assessment teachers should ensure learning journals more clearly show:
children's individual learning goals, including parent aspirations
the learning that is taking place
progression of learning over time
links to the bicultural curriculum and places of local significance for Māori
recognition and celebration of the child’s culture, language and identity.
Children’s sense of belonging is nurtured as they enter into the service. Seamless transition through the centre is promoted by the holistic inclusion of all children in learning and play. A personalised pathway to school programmes strongly prepares children to successfully move on to their next place of learning.
A sound, systematic approach to relevant and meaningful internal evaluation is undertaken. This leads to changes that have a positive impact on improving learning outcomes for children.
A useful appraisal system is in place for staff to support them to grow their capability. Meetings and targeted observations occur regularly. Teachers are challenged effectively to reflect on and improve their practice.
A well-considered strategic plan guides the direction of the service. The parent committee works collaboratively to support teachers and staff to meet centre goals and objectives. The centre manager shows a strong commitment to enacting the philosophy, vision and goals of the service.
Trustees, leaders and ERO have identified priorities for improvement to further develop:
assessment, planning and evaluation for learning
the bicultural curriculum linked to places of local significance for Māori.
Before the review, the staff and management of Te Wharemarie Tamariki 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.
Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
16 July 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.
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Location |
Wellington |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
60171 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
27 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
27 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Male 16, Female 11 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
16 July 2019 |
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|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2016 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 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 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.