1 Arahoe Road, New Lynn, Auckland
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Horizons Montessori Preschool provides full-day education and care for up to 30 children aged 2 years and over. The centre is located in the residential area of New Lynn close to two local primary schools. The premises have been modified to provide a spacious facility for early learning. Children have ready access to outdoor areas.
Horizons Montessori Preschool is a privately owned centre. The owners are both qualified early childhood teachers and full members of the professional teaching team. One owner takes responsibility for the day-to-day management and leadership of the centre. The owners are supported by a high ratio of qualified teachers. The teaching team is well-established and work well together. Low staff turnover has helped teachers to build close relationships with families over time.
The centre's philosophy is underpinned by the Montessori approach to education and strongly grounded in Te Whariki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum.
The centre has a positive ERO reporting history.
Horizons Montessori Preschool provides high quality education and care for children.
Children are highly engaged in learning and are confident and well supported to be self-managing and lead their own play. They persevere with their projects and activities and are proud of their successes. Teachers use deliberate strategies that help to grow children's social skills.
The well designed curriculum promotes children's overall development and learning. Children have extensive opportunities to investigate, initiate their own learning, and be imaginative and creative. Teachers integrate through play daily opportunities for children to develop early skills in reading, writing and mathematics. This ensures that children see these skills as meaningful and worthwhile. The environment is designed to give children access to physical challenge and environmentally sustainable practices.
Teachers have strong and effective learning relationships with children. They are positive, sensitive and responsive to each learner. Skilled teaching practices facilitate children's play, language development and engagement in learning. Teachers are respectful and unhurried when working with children. They support children towards success and provide children with feedback that acknowledges their efforts.
Teachers' programme planning, assessment and evaluation is highly responsive and involves deliberate decision making about the priorities for children's learning. Centre systems ensure that children's individual plans for learning are inclusive of each child's community. The child, teacher, and family contribute to the planning, assessment and evaluation stages. Children's strengths, interests, culture, language and needs are all evident in planning. Children with additional learning needs are very well catered for in this highly individualised process.
A monthly centre plan, developed on the basis of children's emerging interests, helps teachers to extend learning opportunities for them. The programme is informed by children's questions that are used to drive purposeful learning inquires.
The centre benefits from highly capable professional leadership and co-operative team work. Leadership is knowledgeable and competent. The centre leader clearly articulates the centre vision and ensures that teachers have a common understanding about expectations for their professional practice. Decisions about professional learning and development opportunities are strategic and responsive to identified needs. The centre leader fosters collaborative ways of working that allow all of the members of the centre's community to contribute to improving learning outcomes.
The centre manager and teachers have a very good understanding of internal evaluation. They use it well to improve the quality of education and support equitable outcomes for children. High quality evaluative practice is evident in the way that they use their evaluative findings to consider what they mean in terms of their teaching roles and any changes to practice.
While te reo and tikanga Māori are integrated into the programme and the environment, centre leaders are appropriately planning to continue increasing teachers' capability and collective capacity to provide a high quality authentic bicultural curriculum.
Before the review, the staff and management of Horizons 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Horizons Montessori Preschool will be in four years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
2 November 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 |
New Lynn, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10188 |
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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 |
30 children over 2 years of age |
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Service roll |
47 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 27 Girls 20 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
July 2018 |
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Date of this report |
2 November 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
January 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
February 2010 |
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Education Review |
December 2007 |
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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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Horizons Montessori Preschool is located in New Lynn, Auckland. It is licensed for up to 30 children between the ages of two and six years of age. It currently provides for 74 children. The roll is culturally diverse and includes high numbers of Chinese children.
The centre has a positive reporting history with ERO and continues to provide a high quality programme that reflects the Montessori philosophy. Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and socio-cultural theory are integrated in the centre’s philosophy. Since the 2010 ERO review the centre has strengthened its self-review processes.
The centre is well led by a committed centre leader. Teachers work collaboratively and respectfully with parents, children and staff. Self review is valued, effectively led and focused on promoting quality outcomes for children.
Children are confident to follow their interests and work together co-operatively. They are trusted to make their own choices and have established friendships with their peers and teachers. Teachers interact respectfully with children and engage them in meaningful conversations.
Teachers recognise the importance of children learning through play. They support children to become competent, independent learners. Children contribute to the learning programme and are involved in leading their own learning.
Teachers are sensitive and responsive to children’s emerging interests and individual development. They provide well considered, high quality and varied learning programmes for children to experiment and make their own discoveries. Flexible routines allow children to have the freedom and opportunities to develop their thinking skills and to solve problems. Literacy, numeracy and science learning experiences are included in meaningful ways as children play. Children also become familiar with te reo and tikanga Māori. Supporting children’s readiness to transition to school is an ongoing component of the programme.
Teachers use information from individual and group observations to plan and introduce specific topics for children. Their planning and assessment focuses on enhancing children’s learning experiences. Children’s assessment portfolios are now being produced online for parents. They are vibrant celebrations of children’s learning and contain good information for parents about children’s care and engagement in the programme.
Parents value opportunities to regularly provide feedback as part of centre self-review process. They express a high level of satisfaction with the education and care provided for their children, and appreciate opportunities to discuss their children’s learning.
The centre leader promotes and models professionalism, shared leadership and ongoing learning based on current and relevant educational research. She initiates discussion with local schools and early childhood centres to share new knowledge about child development and to support seamless transitions to school for children.
Teachers value relationships based on mutual respect and trust. Reflective practice is a strength of the teaching team, and teachers commit enthusiastically to the continuous review of their teaching practices. They have created a culture where children are valued, celebrated and affirmed.
The centre leader is keen to continue strengthening self review in the centre to support continual improvements for children.
Before the review, the staff and management of Horizons 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Horizons Montessori Preschool will be in four years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services
Northern Region
29 January 2014
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.
|
Location |
New Lynn, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10188 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
74 |
||
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Gender composition |
Boys 40 Girls 34 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese Indian Other |
4 37 20 7 6 |
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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 |
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2013 |
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Date of this report |
29 January 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2010 |
|
|
Education Review |
December 2007 |
||
|
Accountability Review |
February 2002 |
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.