7 Henry Street, Queenstown
View on mapERO’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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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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.
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre is one of two services owned by Auckland-based Inspired Schools. An operational manager supports a new centre manager, who leads a small teaching team. The service has a diverse multicultural roll which includes a small number of Māori children.
Children have opportunities to make choices about their play and learning. They have access to a range of resources, both indoors and outdoors to extend their learning and development within a purpose-built facility.
Teachers engage in positive and responsive interactions to enhance children’s learning and relationships. Children have some opportunities to see and hear diverse cultures. There are some opportunities for children to hear te reo Māori within the daily curriculum.
Governance and management systems relating to human resource management, and aspects of health and safety need to be rigorously applied to ensure ongoing compliance with the Regulatory Standards.
Next steps include:
to increase the opportunities children, have to hear and speak te reo Māori in meaningful learning contexts.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti O Waitangi
the daily hazard checks of equipment, premises and facilities includes all specified areas including vandalism, dangerous objects, and foreign materials, (e.g. broken glass, animal droppings), and windows and other areas of glass
all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children Act 2014.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care 2008, C5, HS12, GMA7A.
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
5 October 2022
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
45594 |
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Location |
Queenstown |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
38 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
25 |
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Review team on site |
August 2022 |
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Date of this report |
5 October 2022 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Akanuku | Assurance Review, September 2019; |
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
|
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.
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre is located in Queenstown and provides all day education and care from Monday to Friday. It is owned and governed by ACG Education Group. Significant progress has been made to address the recommendations from ERO’s June 2018 review. This includes improved systems for planning assessment and evaluation, identifying priorities for learning, and improved appraisal processes.
The centre manager and team leaders plan and implement a programme based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The programme is based on the interests, strengths and capabilities of all children. There are opportunities for children to be confident in their own culture and to understand the cultural heritages of the Treaty of Waitangi.
There are suitable governance and management structures. SELO professional learning has supported the centre to address the areas identified in ERO’s June 2018 review. Internal evaluation and appraisal processes support leaders and teachers to improve and sustain aspects of education and care.
For ongoing improvement, key next steps include:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Education Review.
Dr Lesley Patterson Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
6 September 2019
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre |
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Profile Number |
45594 |
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Location |
Queenstown |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
38 children, including up to 20 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
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Reported ratio of adults to children under 2 |
1:4 - Better than regulatory standards. |
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Reported ratio of adults |
1:6 - Better than regulatory standards. |
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Service roll |
34 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 15, Girls 19 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 1 |
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Review team on site |
August 2019 |
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Date of this report |
6 September 2019 |
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Most recent ERO reports
|
Education Review June 2018 |
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.
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:
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:
As part of an Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
There are two Zigzagzoo early childhood centres in Queenstown. The Academic College Group (ACG) based in Auckland, is the licensee of Zigzagzoo ECE services, having taken ownership of this service in 2014. This Zigzagzoo centre is on Henry Street, close to the main township. It is a full-day service licensed for 38 children, including 20 under two years of age.
An operations manager has overall responsibility for both centres. A manager/team leader at Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre has been appointed to support team leaders to provide learning and teaching in each of the two rooms, where children are grouped by age. She has been in her role for six months, and prior to this had been with the Zigzagzoo service in Remarkables Park for a number of years. The majority of the teaching staff are recent appointments and a further team leader position is currently vacant.
Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre has a high turnover of staff. There has been little progress with addressing the recommendations in the 2015 ERO report. There are insufficient systems to support the centre operations and ensure that positive outcomes for children can be sustained.
The centre aims to provide education and care based on philosophies that include RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) and Reggio Emilia approaches.
The April 2015 ERO report recommended the owners, managers, leaders and teachers:
Two further key priorities from the ERO report were for leaders to ensure planning for children focuses on future learning, and to develop bicultural practices, including the integration of Māori perspectives into the programme.
There has been some progress with implementing aspects of the recommendations from the 2015 ERO report. It is too early to evaluate, however, the impact of changes, or to be confident in the sustainability of improved practice.
Children at the centre settle well when they arrive. Teachers provide a range of interesting resources and activities to support and encourage their engagement in learning. The environment is small and well organised and teachers have made maximum use of the space available. Children work and play well together, in small groups or alongside others. Friendships between children are apparent. Children know the teachers' expectations for behaviour and routines are well established. The manager/team leader is focused on ensuring that the health and wellbeing of children is supported through establishing useful systems and teaching practices. This is particularly evident within the infant room where teachers are very responsive to the needs of the children. Teachers work along-side children and engage in purposeful conversations that are affirming and help extend children's thinking.
The operations manager from Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre Remarkables Park has a good relationship with the manager/team leader at Henry Street. She has encouraged her to develop leadership skills and provided her with opportunities for professional development.
The next steps for governance and management are similar to those in the 2015 ERO report.
The owners and the centre's operation manager need to ensure there are robust systems to accurately report and monitor compliance with regulatory requirements across all aspects of the centre operation at both the Zigzagzoo sites. This needs to include robust internal evaluation to inform decision-making at governance level. This should help inform key strategic and annual priorities for long and short-term centre development.
The ACG licensee needs to provide the operations manager with ongoing support and guidance to:
The operations manager needs to clearly identify and communicate centre-wide expectations for teaching and learning across both centres. The manager/team leader at this Zigzagzoo centre has been working independently to develop systems and establish practices there. The owner and operations manager need to clarify roles and responsibilities and ensure the leaders from both sites work together to achieve greater consistency across Zigzagzoo. Teaching practices need to better align to an agreed centre-wide philosophy that includes clear key learning priorities.
The manager/team leader is making progress building coherence within the new team of teachers. The operations manager needs to continue to work collaboratively with her and other team leaders across Zigzagzoo to establish effective systems that:
Before the review, the staff and management of Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre 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
ERO identified areas of compliance where practices were not satisfactory or requirements were not met. The centre owners (ACG) completed an internal Health and Safety Performance Assessment in 2017 which also highlighted areas of non-compliance identified as a risk.
The overarching concern is the lack of adequate systems and insufficient clarity around processes to identify, maintain and improve compliance with requirements.
To ensure compliance with Regulation 47, the owner needs to ensure the service is effectively governed, and is managed in accordance with good management practices. ACG and the centre manager need to ensure there are robust policies and procedures that:
There needs to be a robust system and process to regularly review all aspects of the centre operation to ensure practices meet legal requirements and build on the quality of centre practices (GMA6).
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008
ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a comprehensive plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.
The next ERO review of Zigzagzoo Early Learning Centre will be within two years.
Dr Lesley Patterson Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
25 June 2018
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.
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Location |
Queenstown |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45594 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
38 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
46 |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 26 Boys: 20 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Other |
2 14 30 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2018 |
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Date of this report |
25 June 2018 |
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Most recent ERO reports
|
Education Review |
April 2015 |
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|
Education Review |
April 2012 |
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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.