22B Willcott Street, Mount Albert, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluations evaluate the extent to which early childhood services have 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 and Early Childhood Education (ECE) Improvement Framework (teacher led services) are the basis for making judgements about the quality of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Evaluations for improvement | Ngā Aronga Whai Hua is integrated across all the above domains.
Regulatory standards | ERO’s judgement |
| Curriculum | Meeting |
| Premises and facilities | Not meeting |
| Health and safety | Meeting |
| Governance, management and administration | Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Jump Start Kids is a well-established privately-owned service. The new owner bought the service in 2018 and the centre was fully licensed in 2019. The recently appointed head teacher oversees the daily operations of the service, curriculum and teaching. Children are grouped in three rooms. The owner/director manages the governance and administration aspects of the service.
The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Teachers have taken positive steps to respect and acknowledge parent aspirations. Parents are also involved in making decisions concerning their child’s learning.
Parents are advised on how to access documents regarding service operations and how they can be involved in the service. Child protection procedures meet requirements of the Children’s Act 2014. The Act has information for how the service should keep children safe and how they will respond to suspected child abuse and neglect. A philosophy statement guides the service’s operations.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education & Care Service 2008, PF4,5.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
The next ERO review of Jump Start Kids will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
19 February 2020
| Early Childhood Service Name | Jump Start Kids |
| Profile Number | 10267 |
| Location | Mount Albert |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 90 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80%+ |
| Reported ratio of staff to children under 2 | 1:4 - Better than regulatory standards |
| Reported ratio of staff to children over 2 | 1:8 - Better than regulatory standards |
| Service roll | 47 |
| Gender composition | Girls 27 Boys 20 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 2 NZ European/Pākehā 3 Indian 14 Tongan 6 Middle Eastern 4 other ethnic groups 18 |
| Review team on site | November 2019 |
| Date of this report | 19 February 2020 |
Most recent ERO report(s)
| First ERO review of the service |
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:
| Not well placed | Requires further development | Well placed | Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Jump Start Kids in Mt Albert, Auckland, is one of two centres that is privately owned and operated by Early Childhood Education Ltd. The centre offers sessional and full-day care and education and is licensed for 90 children, including a maximum of 25 children under two years of age. Children come from a number of cultural backgrounds and some have English as an additional language.
Owners oversee the operational and administration aspects of the service. Since taking ownership of the centre in 2008, its two licences have been merged into one and centre owners have received positive ERO reports.
Since the 2011 ERO review significant work has taken place. The centre’s two-storey building has been renovated. The large upstairs space provides a work area for teachers’ use and serves as an office for administrative purposes. The ground floor is divided in to three separate rooms providing care and education for babies and children up to school age. A new learning space has been developed for preschool children and the outdoor playground has been upgraded, resulting in better indoor and outdoor flow.
All teachers are registered and some are long serving members of staff. Other staff members include the centre cook, a receptionist and student teachers. A coordinator in each room manages the daily programmes and mentors teachers by modelling good practice.
Robust policies and procedures guide centre practices. The centre’s clear philosophy and vision promote children’s learning and are evident in teaching practices. The philosophy is closely linked to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is respected as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand and a focus on developing a bicultural curriculum is evident in the centre.
Teachers promote children’s wellbeing and learning effectively. Children are confident and competent learners. They work collaboratively with each other and play and explore the environment together.
Children settle quickly and show trust in adults. Teachers are ethnically diverse and reflect the diversity of the children enrolled. This contributes to a sense of belonging and ownership for children and their families. Leadership opportunities are promoted, particularly for older children in the preschool programme. Teachers encourage children and provide experiences to promote their social competence. Children learn strategies to problem solve, negotiate and take turns, as they make purposeful choices in their play.
Teachers responsible for infants and toddlers programme have been selected for this specialised area of learning and care. Their approaches promote positive outcomes for children. Teachers have a good understanding of aroha, and are compassionate and respectful to children. They provide resources that encourage children’s language development and exploration. The environment is calm and slow paced, giving younger children space and time to lead their learning.
The teaching team are developing a bicultural curriculum. Teachers use te reo Māori in the context of children’s play and promote aspects of tikanga Māori within the daily programme. Visual displays in centre rooms reflect and value children’s cultural diversity. Teachers could now use self review as a tool for monitoring and further developing the effectiveness of the bicultural programme they provide for children.
The physical environment is stimulating and supports children’s learning. The programme is child focused while also including some planned themes that enable children and staff to celebrate various cultural events in the community.
Teachers are friendly and positively respond to parents aspirations. Parents interviewed by ERO express their appreciation of centre staff, who they describe as genuinely caring and helpful. These parents are well informed of what is happening for their children. They can approach staff for support or further discussion. Open approaches such as these promote good centre/whānau partnerships
The owners have a clear vision that sets the direction of the centre. They are committed to ensuring that teachers are supported to provide children with high quality early childhood learning experiences. The teacher appraisal process is effective and is monitored to see how well it brings about positive outcomes for children.
In order for children to continue enjoying successful learning through play, leaders agree that teachers could further improve outcomes for children through:
It could also be beneficial for centre owners and coordinators to work with teachers to put in place an annual work plan that formally documents key actions for meeting centre goals and staff reflections on the effectiveness of actions taken.
Before the review, the staff and management of Jump Start Kids 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.
During the review ERO and the owners discussed the importance of maintaining Police vets for every person working in the centre who is not a registered teacher.
The next ERO review of Jump Start Kids will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
9 February 2015
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 | Mt Albert, Auckland | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 10267 | ||
| Licence type | Education & Care Service | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 90 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 51 | ||
| Gender composition | Boys 29, Girls 22 | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori Pākehā Indian Chinese Samoan other Asian other European | 3 20 11 9 2 5 1 | |
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates | 80% | ||
| Reported ratios of staff to children | Under 2 | 1:4 | Better than minimum requirements |
| Over 2 | 1:8 | Better than minimum requirements | |
| Review team on site | November 2014 | ||
| Date of this report | 9 February 2015 | ||
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review | March 2011 | |
| Supplementary Review | May 2008 | ||
| Supplementary Review | April 2007 |
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.