37 Alexander street, Greymouth
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 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 The Children’s House Greymouth are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whāngai Establishing |
The Children’s House Greymouth is located on the West Coast of the South Island. It one of two early childhood services in common family ownership. The owner and a curriculum leader are responsible for the teaching and learning across both centres. Most of the teachers are qualified. Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and Montessori approaches underpin the philosophy.
Teachers foster respectful relationships with children, parents and whānau. They work collaboratively to enhance the mana of children through empowering them to see themselves as successful learners. Teachers provide a purposefully prepared environment that reflects the children’s interests and their parents’ aspirations for their learning.
Children make good use of Montessori resources to support their ideas and learning in a range of literacy, numeracy, art, practical life, and nature play activities. Assessment documentation captures the involvement of children in these rich experiences but has yet to consistently show learning in relation to the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki and consistently recognise and respond to the cultures of children’s families and whānau.
Teachers build on tamariki Māori ways of “knowing, being, and doing” within a bicultural curriculum that has an increasing focus on the unique local community and te ao Māori. Teachers’ understanding and integration of te ao Māori is a focus area for development.
Teachers provide a curriculum for children under two years that promotes their sense of security. Consistent, familiar teachers respond meaningfully to children’s individual preferences and routines aligned to their home lives.
Leaders effectively foster collaboration within the team and maintain a focus on sustaining improvements that make a difference to children’s learning and wellbeing. They develop, implement, and evaluate systems that strengthen operation and practice. Policies and procedures are current and support teachers to have a shared understanding of service expectations.
A new systematic approach to undertaking internal evaluation has been introduced. All teachers are yet to be fully involved in this evaluative process and understandings of effective internal evaluation requires strengthening.
The Children’s House Greymouth will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
consistently use te reo and tikanga Māori across the teaching team, and increase its visibility in key documentation
ensure the language, culture, and identity of all children, and knowledge they bring with them, are evident and meaningfully contribute to assessment, planning and evaluation processes
consistently use the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki in assessment planning and evaluation
build capability of all teachers to lead and do in-depth internal evaluation to sustain and build on improvements to teaching and learner outcomes.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Children’s House Greymouth 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.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
heavy furniture, fixtures and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008, HS6.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
26 July 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
The Children’s House Greymouth |
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Profile Number |
47106 |
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Location |
Greymouth |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 16 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
53 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 10, NZ European/Pākehā 33, other ethnic groups 10 |
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Review team on site |
March 2022 |
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Date of this report |
26 July 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report |
Education Review, March 2019 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
The Children's House Greymouth is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The Children's House Greymouth is a privately owned centre. It opened in 2016, and was fully licensed to cater for 35 children, including 10 under two, in 2018. The centre provides sessional and all-day care in a converted villa.
The owner takes responsibility for governance and the new head teacher, appointed at the end of 2017, leads the day-to-day management of the centre. There have been a number of changes in teaching staff since the centre opened. Most teachers are fully qualified and registered early childhood teachers. Some of the teachers have Montessori qualifications.
The recently reviewed philosophy is underpinned by the whakatauki, 'Ko te ahurei o te tamariki aroha o taa mahi – Let the uniqueness of the children guide our work.' The philosophy values positive relationships and the role of the teacher in supporting children to become confident, capable learners. It weaves Te Whāriki, the Early Childhood Curriculum, and Montessori philosophy together.
This is the first ERO review for the Children's House Greymouth. This review is one of a cluster of two early childhood education and care centre reviews in the Children's House Hokitika Company Limited.
Children are provided with many opportunities to lead their own learning in settled, unhurried learning environments. Teachers effectively support children’s learning and wellbeing and are responsive to children’s needs, interests and strengths. They work together to identify and plan how best to meet specific learning priorities for each child. Te Whāriki effectively underpins assessment, planning and evaluation of children’s learning with some aspects of the Montessori curriculum influencing learning programmes.
Teachers are committed to growing their culturally responsive practices. The increasing use of te reo and tikanga Māori is having a positive impact on outcomes for children. Teachers are responsive and respectful of children’s home culture, celebrating the diverse cultures within the centre. Care and sensitivity is shown to towards children with additional needs and their families in the provision of learning programmes.
Effective transitions within the centre support children’s wellbeing. The well-considered learning environment allows friendships to develop and supports tuakana-teina relationships. The over two outside environment encourages exploration and creative play. Teachers model and scaffold positive interactions. Children remain focused and engaged in their learning for considerable lengths of time.
Children under two are encouraged and supported to develop independence. They are actively involved in making decisions about their learning and wellbeing. Teachers care and nurture infants and toddlers, enabling them to form strong and secure attachments. Structures and systems ensure teachers have the time to develop positive relationships with infants and toddlers and their parents and whanau.
Leaders have high expectations and are focused on what is most important for promoting positive outcomes for children. Teachers are well supported to grow their practice through collaboration, reflection and effective internal evaluation.
ERO and centre leaders agree that the next steps to improve outcomes for children are to:
strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation practices, including evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching strategies and developing systems that allow for a greater contribution of children's voice
develop a more cohesive approach to align the centre’s strategic direction and priorities for learning across key documentation and practices, including a more systematic and planned approach to professional development provision
strengthen risk management practices and documentation when planning trips and excursions.
ensure appraisal practices are well understood, fully comply with Teaching Council expectations and are consistently implemented so teacher practice is affirmed and challenged.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Children's House Greymouth 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Region
25 March 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 |
Greymouth |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47106 |
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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 |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
43 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 25 ; Girls 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
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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 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
January 2019 |
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Date of this report |
25 March 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
No previous ERO reports |
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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.