Waipuna Preschool Centre

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 Waipuna Preschool Centre are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Waipuna Preschool is one of two education and care services under the same ownership. A qualified owner and manager lead a team of one qualified teacher and four support staff at this service. A third of children attending are Indian, and a small number have Māori or Pacific heritage.

3 Summary of findings

Children are provided with play-based experiences. The learning environments and resources provided promote children’s curiosity, creativity, independence and exploration. Te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are important aspects of the curriculum. Children share karakia and sing waiata. Infants and toddlers develop trusting relationships with teachers, who respond sensitively to their cues and needs.

Teachers value the languages, and cultures of learners. They use children’s home languages and celebrate cultural events and traditions. Service leaders are committed to developing teachers’ capabilities to support Pacific learners.

The centre philosophy is well enacted. Children and their whānau develop a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing at the service. Leaders and teachers are proud of their relationships with families and whānau. They have embedded effective practices to build these connections.

The service curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Assessment practices inform planning decisions and focuses for children’s learning. Documentation includes feedback from teachers that acknowledges children’s learning, and recognises their efforts, interests, challenges, and successes. 

Teachers are committed to their ongoing professional learning. They actively engage in reflection, problem solving and collaborative practices to support ongoing improvements to teaching practices. Strengthening internal evaluation processes would enable teachers to monitor how well their practices are contributing to improved learning outcomes for children.

Leaders promote collective accountability and shared responsibility, using the strengths of all teachers.  There are robust systems and processes to monitor children’s health and safety.

4 Improvement actions

Waipuna Preschool Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Build teachers’ capability to support Pacific learners through use of the Tapasā teaching resource.

• Implement systematic processes for evidence-based evaluation that include evaluating the impact of improvements on equitable outcomes for learners.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Waipuna Preschool Centre 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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

16 November 2022 

6 About the Early Childhood Service