Henderson Valley Private Kindergarten

1 Evaluation of Titirangi Private Kindergarten - Rural Campus

How well placed is Titirangi Private Kindergarten - Rural Campus to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Titirangi Private Kindergarten - Rural Campus is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Titirangi Private Kindergarten - Rural Campus in Henderson Valley, is one of two privately owned centres. It provides sessional or all-day education and care for up to 39 children over two years of age. There are small groups of children with Māori or other ethnic backgrounds.

The service's philosophy promotes children's confidence and acknowledges the importance of partnership between teachers and families. Teachers aim to provide predictable routines and encourage children to grow in knowledge and experiences in preparation for school. Features of the service are spacious environments and opportunities to interact with farm animals.

The licensee holds a full practising teacher certificate and is responsible for the service's governance and management. He leads the teaching team and is supported by three registered teachers, one of whom is the centre supervisor, and two other staff members. The owner has a leadership role, working with local schools in the Kōtuitui Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako.

The 2015 ERO report identified parents' enthusiastic support and noted that children interacted confidently and cooperatively. The report recommended improvements in assessment, planning and evaluation, including sharing written information with whānau about their children's learning progress. It also noted the need to improve understanding about changes in legislation and licensing requirements in relation to children's safety. While some progress has been made there is still work to be done to strengthen curriculum documentation, teacher appraisal, management and administration practices.

The Review Findings

Warm, responsive relationships underpin centre practices. Parents and children are greeted on arrival by staff. Children settle well and engage in play in the spacious, well-resourced learning environment. Children converse confidently with each other and approach adults for comfort, care and individual needs. They show care and concern for others, are eager learners, and demonstrate a sense of belonging.

Teachers are warm and encouraging as they guide children’s learning. They enact their philosophy of providing predictable routines to support children's sense of security. Children play either inside or outdoors at set times each day.

Children have good opportunities to explore, be adventurous and physically active in the large outside area. Teachers know children and families very well and provide a language rich curriculum. They demonstrate intentional teaching and encourage children to share their ideas.

The structured programme prioritises the development of oral language, literacy, numeracy and social competence skills. There is an emphasis on preparing children for school and supporting their transition to school. Children participate in mat times, games and activities, and access a wide variety of resources.

Teachers promote the use of te reo Māori at mat times and sing waiata with the children. Displays and resources reflect their bicultural commitment. Children with additional learning needs are integrated into the programme. Teachers are inclusive and responsive, and work closely with parents and external agencies.

Leaders and teachers engage in informal and purposeful daily internal evaluation. They have end-of-session meetings to discuss their observations, often with a focus on individual children's behaviour, and some group planning. Group planning that reflects Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, is well established. Teachers are aware they should focus planning and assessment on children's individual interests and dispositions for learning, and make their extension of child-led learning more visible in assessment and planning documentation.

The kindergarten has well-established leadership and extensive connections with local schools, and wider educational community. Leaders and the teaching team are reviewing their strategic plan, which is closely aligned to their philosophy. They could consider how to better reflect Te Whāriki, through this review, leading to likely improvements in teaching practice and children's learning outcomes. As part of the centre's internal evaluation, increasing the rigour and analysis of regular parent surveys would also help to identify ways to enhance practices.

Leaders and staff would benefit from accessing external support to build capacity and improve practices across different areas of service operations, including internal evaluation, teaching and learning, governance and management.

Key Next Steps

Leaders and teachers agree that their next steps are to:

• access external support to improve policies, teaching practices and children's learning outcomes

• improve opportunities for children to lead their own learning and more readily access the outdoor learning environment

• continue developing bicultural practices

• develop robust induction and appraisal processes to support improvements in teaching practice

• develop shared understandings about implementing the revised Te Whāriki, and increasing the visibility of individual children's learning in assessment and planning documentation.

Since the on-site phase of this ERO review, the owner has taken steps to address aspects of practice and documentation that did not meet legal requirements.

A new steering committee provides opportunities for parents to contribute to centre review and development.

Some policies and procedures have been adapted to reflect requirements, particularly those relating to safety checking of staff.

The owner has established a centre manager role to provide management and leadership, and to ensure that regulatory requirements are met at all times.

Recommendation

ERO has requested an action plan from the service provider that shows how priorities for improvement will be addressed. ERO will request progress updates against the plan.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Titirangi Private Kindergarten - Rural Campus 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety, governance and management. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

• policies, practices and documentation related to systematic review, human resource management, and safety checking of all adults working with children

• records of three-monthly emergency drills, and parental acknowledgement of the administration of medication

• risk analysis and management in relation to any excursion or time when children are off the licensed premises as part of the programme.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8,17,28,31, GMA6,7,7A; Children's Act 2014.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

2 August 2019

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.