Whales Tales Montessori Preschool

Education institution number:
47377
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
28
Telephone:
Address:

33 Maxwell Street, Riccarton, Christchurch

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Whales Tales Montessori Preschool

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 Akarangi Quality 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 Whales Tales Montessori Preschool are as follows:

Outcome Indicators

(What the service knows about outcomes for learners)

Whāngai Establishing

Ngā Akatoro Domains

 

Learning Conditions
Organisational Conditions

Whāngai Establishing
Whāngai Establishing

2 Context of the Service

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool is one of two centres owned by the licensee. The Montessori approach nurtures children’s independence and individuality. A centre manager has responsibility for daily operations. Five certificated teachers were appointed in 2021. This service has three learning areas, and the service roll is highly diverse.

3 Summary of findings

Children are supported to become confident and competent learners in a diverse learning community. They have opportunities to make choices about Montessori activities and other play experiences. Children are encouraged to build reciprocal relationships and develop communication skills while learning and collaborating.

Assessment, planning and evaluation practices reflect Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers are becoming more effective at designing a meaningful curriculum for children based on their individual strengths and interests. Teachers notice and interpret children’s learning and progress in relation to the strands from Te Whāriki and the service’s learning priorities. Considering children’s increasing capabilities in relation to the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki is work still to be done.

Leaders and teachers aim to be inclusive, and this supports children and their family’s sense of wellbeing and belonging. Learning partnerships with parents are not yet well established to develop stronger understandings and reflection of children’s cultures, languages and identities in the curriculum. Aspects of tikanga Māori are woven through the curriculum and at times, some teachers use te reo Māori. Further work is required to ensure children have consistent opportunities to experience a rich bicultural curriculum.

Regular policy and emergent reviews support the service to reflect on practice and make improvements. A useful internal evaluation framework is in place but is not yet well understood by staff. 

4 Improvement actions

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. These are to:

  • establish a shared understanding of the intentional use of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki in assessment practices and use these to report on the progress of each child

  • develop learning partnerships with parents to gain greater understandings of each family’s cultural background and use this to inform the curriculum

  • increase opportunities for children to hear, speak and experience te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in meaningful learning contexts

  • grow the evaluation capability of leaders and teachers to use internal evaluation processes effectively to help them understand what is working well and for whom.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Whales Tales Montessori Preschool 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.

6 Actions for Compliance

ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance:

  • safety checking must be consistently undertaken in accordance with the Children Act 2014. Results must be clearly documented and kept for as long as the person is employed in the service.  

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008 GMA7A. 

7 Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

4 October 2022 

8 About the Early Childhood Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool

Profile Number

47377

Location

Christchurch

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

25 children, including up to 7 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

30

Review team on site

May 2022

Date of this report

4 October 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, June 2019

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool - 12/06/2019

ERO’s judgement

Regulatory standards

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool was fully licensed in October 2018. It is one of two centres owned by the licensee. A centre manager is responsible for the operations of the service. The centre has three rooms, including an under two area. Most staff have an early childhood and/or Montessori teaching qualification.

Summary of review findings

The service caters for a diverse community. Teachers provide a curriculum that respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture and encourages children to understand and respect other cultures. Positive steps are taken to respond to parent and whānau aspirations for their child. Adults engage in interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The programme is underpinned by Te Whāriki, the Early Childhood Curriculum, and the Montessori philosophy. A suitable range of equipment and resources is provided to support the learning and abilities of children.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Education Review.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

12 June 2019

Information about the service

Early Childhood Service Name

Whales Tales Montessori Preschool

Profile Number

47377

Location

Christchurch

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

25 children, including up to 7 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

50-79%

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1.4 - Better than regulatory standards

Over 2

1:8 - Better than regulatory standards

Service roll

26

Gender composition

Boys 17, Girls 9

Ethnic composition

Māori 3

NZ European/Pākehā 2

Indian 7

Filipino 4

Other ethnicities 10

Review team on site

May 2019

Date of this report

12 June 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

First ERO review of the service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include:

Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.

ERO undertakes an Assurance Review process in any service:

  • 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 Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated 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; police vetting; teacher certification; ratios)

  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an 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.