32 Dominion Road, Kaitaia
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 Three Little Birds Kaitaia are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
Three Little Birds Kaitaia is one of four services under the same ownership. The owner has an active role in governance and management of the service. A professional leader provides mentoring and supports an onsite manager with daily operations. Most of the tamariki enrolled are Māori, and a small number have Pacific heritages.
Kaiako are deliberate and intentional in their strategies to support the learning of tamariki Māori. Kaupapa Māori values of manaakitanga, wairuatanga, whakawhanaungatanga and kaitiakitanga are woven through the curriculum design and decision making. The mana and sense of identity of tamariki Māori are enhanced through the curriculum provided.
Infants and toddlers experience a caring and unhurried environment. Consistent caregiving practices ensure their individual needs are responded to. This supports smooth transitions between daily routines.
The play of tamariki is valued as meaningful learning and their preferences are respected. Problem-solving and creativity are supported through access to a variety of resources. All tamariki, including those with additional learning needs, are well supported within an inclusive learning environment. Tamariki are confident explorers and learners.
Kaiako purposefully prepare the environment so tamariki can lead their own learning. They consult with whānau, set learning outcomes and document meaningful records of the individual learning and progress of tamariki. Kaiako could now consider what opportunities there are for older tamariki to revisit and plan their learning with their whānau.
Effective processes are in place for governance and management of the Three Little Birds services. The centre owner, professional leader and centre managers meet regularly and work collaboratively to promote valued teaching practices and consistency of care across all services.
A useful process has been established for internal evaluation, which guides kaiako to grow their teaching and leadership skills. The learning and wellbeing of tamariki and promoting their success as ākonga Māori are primary considerations in decision making.
Three Little Birds Kaitaia will include the following action in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Consider opportunities for tamariki to be included in planning for, and assessing their own learning.
As an organisation Three Little Birds will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Improve internal evaluation processes by monitoring how changes made are impacting on the learning of tamariki.
Continue to motivate and mentor teachers to build effective teaching and leadership capabilities with a focus on improving professional practice and learning outcomes for tamariki.
Before the review, the staff and management of Three Little Birds Kaitaia 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.
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows the following non-compliance had been addressed:
Having a record of risk assessment of staff that includes an assessment of all information collected to determine if there is a risk to children’s safety (GMA7A).
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
26 September 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Three Little Birds Kaitaia |
|
Profile Number |
11518 |
|
Location |
Kaitaia, Northland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
49 |
|
Review team on site |
June 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
26 September 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2019; Education Review, April 2015 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Three Little Birds Kaitaia is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Three Little Birds Kaitaia is a privately owned centre, which was purchased from ABC Kaitaia and re-opened in 2018. Many families have remained at the service since the change of ownership. The centre provides all-day education and care for up to 40 children, including a maximum of 10 under two years of age. Most children have Māori heritage.
The centre's philosophy promotes respectful and trusting relationships, with a focus on the individual child and their whānau. It encourages a learning programme and environment that captures the child’s strengths, interests and culture through exploration, challenges and fun. The philosophy also places priority on incorporating bicultural practices in the programme.
The Three Little Birds organisation has two other centres in Whangarei. Centres are supported by an operations manager and a professional leader who provide administrative and professional support. The new centre manager oversees day-to-day centre operations. The teaching team includes long-serving and newly employed teachers.
This is the first ERO review of Three Little Birds Kaitaia.
Children, parents and whānau are welcomed into the centre. Teachers recognise the importance of building respectful and responsive relationships with children and their families. Children are settled and show a good sense of belonging in the centre.
Children work well together in their play, both independently and alongside each other. They communicate confidently with adults and share their individual experiences. Children with additional learning needs are well provided for through external agency support.
Teachers gently support children’s play to extend their interests and learning and to promote oral literacy. Teachers in the tuakana space use open-ended questions very well. Encouraging children's self-management skills is part of the daily routines.
Infants and toddlers receive caring attention from adults who know them well. Teachers respond to their individual needs and care routines, and support learning as children play. Infants and toddlers have good opportunities to mix with older children.
Teachers value and respond to children's diverse cultures. While karakia and waiata are visible in the environment, providing more prompts in the environment could help teachers to increase their use of te reo Māori.
Records of children's learning and development over time are evident in displays and portfolios. Children’s and parents’ contributions are highlighted in learning stories. Teachers communicate with whānau informally to seek their aspirations and expectations. This information could be used to help plan the centre’s programme and respond to children's individual preferences.
A specialist management group provides good support, and keeps the owner informed about the centre operations. The management group has developed policies and procedures that are regularly reviewed by teachers and parents.
Managers are developing a new appraisal process to meet Teaching Council requirements. This will ensure that appraisals are personalised and meaningful for all staff, and monitored on an ongoing basis. Continued professional development should help to embed shared understandings about expectations for teaching, reflective professional practice and 'teaching as inquiry'.
Strategic and annual planning is aligned with the centre’s philosophy and vision. It is timely now to review and adapt strategic and annual plans so they provide clear guidelines for centre development.
Internal evaluation is having a positive impact on children's learning. It includes consultation with children, whānau, parents, managers and staff. Leaders use a systematic approach that is focused on improving the quality of teaching.
As a result of internal evaluation, there have been significant changes to the environment, particularly children's access to resources. To build on these improvements, leaders could consider improving learning resources to encourage greater exploration and complexity in children's play. They could also adapt the infants' learning environment to create a more inviting and comfortable space.
Centre leaders agree that key next steps are to:
develop a curriculum that is more responsive to te reo Māori, and the cultural identity of tamariki Māori
deepen teachers’ knowledge of the strands, goals and learning outcomes of Te Whāriki, the revised early childhood curriculum
increase teachers' understanding of internal evaluation to support ongoing improvement to teaching practice.
Before the review, the staff and management of Three Little Birds Kaitaia 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
29 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.
|
Location |
Kaitaia |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
11518 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
49 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 26 Boys 23 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
33 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
January 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
29 March 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
||
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.
ABC Kaitaia, in the far north, provides education and care for up to 42 children. It operates under the umbrella of Kidicorp Ltd, who provides organisational and professional support for the centre.
Over recent years the centre has maintained stable staffing, with most teachers being qualified and registered.
Children are grouped according to age in two areas to cater for their developmental levels. The centre reflects its community, with most of the children from Māori or New Zealand European backgrounds.
ERO’s 2013 report on the centre noted good practice in the way teachers supported the development of children’s social skills and encouraged tuakana-teina relationships, where older and younger siblings spend time together. These good practices continue to be evident.
The centre also has responded positively to ERO’s 2013 recommendations. The centre has made good progress in strengthening the quality of the programme. It has taken steps to ensure that organisational policies and practices are effectively administered and provided good professional support for staff.
Children are settled and happy in the open and expansive environment. They play well together and confidently engage with other children and adults. Children mostly play close to where teachers are working. Infants and toddlers are involved in the whole centre programme for part of the day. They also have time apart to enable teachers to place greater focus on their individual and age-related stages of development. This approach strengthens the responsiveness of the programme, provides good learning opportunities and enriches all children’s education and care.
Children are involved in play which has evolved from their emerging interests over time. They have ready access to indoor and outdoor play areas. A variety of activities are available and the programme is well resourced. Wall displays provide a good account of what children have been doing.
Te reo Māori is integrated into the daily routines and programmes. Teachers use te reo to give simple instructions as part of story-telling, and as part of language and numeracy learning. This inclusion of te reo reflects the cultural heritage of many of the centre’s children and their whānau.
Teachers consistently interact with the children. They involve themselves in children’s play. Teachers should now look at ways of supporting children to deepen the complexity of their play. The process of reflecting on and reviewing teaching practice and improving teaching techniques should also become a regular event in teachers’ professional practice to enrich learning experiences for children.
Parents are encouraged and invited to feed back on the practices and policies of the centre. Centre managers and teachers are now looking to further involve parents/whānau in the centre through establishing strong learning partnerships where teachers and parents work together to support children’s learning and progress. The proposed parent committee, as outlined in the strategic plan, could foster these partnerships, further involving parents in building the foundations of their children’s learning and helping them to assist their children’s learning at home.
Teachers are developing programme planning and evaluating outcomes of these programmes on a monthly basis. To further ensure that they are constantly looking to improve their practice, teachers should now extend their written evaluation to include their next steps for promoting quality teaching and learning practices.
Self review practices are becoming embedded and are helping the centre manager and staff to improve the daily programme and ongoing practices. Staff have grown in confidence with the use of self review. They see its importance for centre improvement. Parents’ input is seen as an important contribution to improving the centre.
Personnel from Kidicorp Ltd provide effective guidance for the centre. Regular and consistent organisational and leadership support from a professional external expert has been a significant contributing factor that has guided and promoted centre improvements.
The centre manager, Kidicorp representatives and ERO agree that managers should provide wholecentre professional learning for teaching staff in order to:
Before the review, the staff and management of ABC Kaitaia 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 ABC Kaitaia will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
17 April 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 |
Kaitaia, Northland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
11518 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
53 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 30 Girls 23 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā other |
29 22 2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
January 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
17 April 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
August 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
April 2007 |
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:
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.