Wonder Kidz

Education institution number:
47283
Service type:
Homebased Network
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
54
Telephone:
Address:

1 Glenalmond Road, Mount Eden, Auckland

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Wonder Kidz

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Wonder Kidz is a home-based service providing education and care predominantly for Chinese families. Children are usually in the care of their grandparents, as home-based educators. The owner/manager and one coordinator are responsible for day-to-day educator support and management of the service. The coordinator visits each child monthly to observe the curriculum provided by educators in homes.

Summary of Review Findings

Teachers plan and implement a programme that is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The curriculum is inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences.

A range of experiences and opportunities is provided to extend children’s learning and development. Their learning is supported by positive interactions with educators in a language-rich environment. The curriculum acknowledges the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. It supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture.

Actions for Compliance

Since the onsite visit the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non- compliances

  • Ensuring that the service’s procedure for monitoring children’s sleep is implemented and information is communicated to parents about their child’s daily sleep patterns (HS8).

  • Completing documentation required for excursions that includes assessment and management of risk each time children leave the homes for an excursion (HS14).

  • Having evidence of safety checking of staff every three years, including safety checks being carried out by the employer or another person or organisation acting on their behalf (GMA6A).

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

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

20 February 2023 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Wonder Kidz
Profile Number 47283
Location Mount Eden, Auckland
Service type

Home-based service

Number licensed for

50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2

Service roll

46

Review team on site

December 2022

Date of this report

20 February 2023

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, October 2019.

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 the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008.

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 Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based 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 Akanuku | 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 Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)

  • relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

As part of an Akanuku | 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.

Wonder Kidz - 31/10/2019

1 Evaluation of Wonder Kidz

How well placed is Wonder Kidz to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Wonder Kidz is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Wonder Kidz is a home-based education and care service that has been in operation for two years and is licensed for 50 children from birth to school age. It provides predominantly for Chinese families. Children are usually in the care of their grandparents, as home-based educators. The owner/manager and one coordinator undertake day-to-day support and management for 31 educators and 34 children.

The philosophy and vision for the service highlight the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, as guiding documents. The coordinator visits each child monthly to model good practice, observe the programme in action, and to check that all licensing criteria are met. This is the first ERO review for the service.

The Review Findings

Educators aspire to good quality education and care for their grandchildren and are making steady progress in providing well for them. Children's interests and capabilities form the basis for programme planning. Recently, educators have taken responsibility for writing learning stories for each child's portfolio and sharing these with parents. This has been a successful transition from the coordinator writing all the learning stories based on conversations and her monthly observations.

The commitment from the manager and coordinator to implementing a bicultural focus in all settings has been carefully explained to educators. There is evidence in portfolios of this commitment through use of some words in te reo Māori, records of visits to places of Māori interest, celebrations of important festivals, and sharing and making resources. Parents have indicated their pleasure that their children are learning about Māori culture.

Changes being made in educators' practice provide good evidence of the impact of the coordinator's modelling and promotion of good strategies for teaching and learning. This progress in educators understanding their responsibilities is helped by the professional development provided. The fortnightly playgroup provides opportunities for educators to meet and discuss their work with other educators. This is also an opportunity for children to play with others and to develop social competence.

The manager and coordinator have open, friendly relationships with families. They make opportunities to meet with parents, monitor what is happening in educators' homes, and provide educational material and resources. There are also regular surveys and newsletters for parents and educators. These strategies to promote partnerships are having a positive impact on leaders knowing families and their aspirations for their children.

The manager and coordinator's monitoring of the effectiveness of the service is ongoing and thorough. They undertake prolonged and detailed internal evaluation to help further develop programmes and management practices. The recent year-long evaluation and development of educators' play environments has had a positive impact on what educators understand about children's play. Regular monthly health and safety checks by the coordinator ensure that educators maintain safe, healthy environments for children.

Key Next Steps

The manager agrees that key next steps are to continue:

  • working with educators to further build their knowledge and confidence to notice, recognise, respond, record and revisit children's learning

  • providing leadership opportunities for educators, children and parents

  • seeking professional development opportunities to increase manager and coordinator knowledge and confidence with management tasks, and teaching adult learners

  • using internal evaluation to make decisions about the effectiveness of programmes for children and the support and development of educators.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Wonder Kidz completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

31 October 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 Home-based Education and Care Service

Location

Mount Eden, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

47283

Institution type

Homebased Network

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2

Service roll

34

Standard or Quality Funded

Standard

Gender composition

Boys 18 Girls 16

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Chinese

1
4
29

Number of qualified coordinators in the network

1

Required ratios of staff educators to children

Under 2

1:2

Over 2

1:4

Review team on site

September 2019

Date of this report

31 October 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

 

No previous reports

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

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.