285 Lincoln Road, Henderson, 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.
Kindercare learning Centres - Lincoln in Henderson, provides for up to 95 children, including a maximum of 40 children under two years of age. Children are catered for in five age-related rooms, and play outdoors in recently upgraded, connected playgrounds.
The Kindercare organisation's philosophy of 'Safe, Loved and Learning' guides centre beliefs and practices, and is evident throughout the centre. Programmes are underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
The 2013 ERO report noted that children had a strong sense of belonging and respectful relationships with each other and their teachers. Children were encouraged from an early age to direct their own learning. The good teaching practices and strengths identified in that report are still an important focus at this centre. Since 2013, there have been some staff changes including the appointment of a new centre manager.
This review was part of a cluster of three Kindercare Learning Centres reviews.
Children and their whānau are warmly welcomed into the centre each day. Children settle quickly and demonstrate a strong sense of belonging. They are confident to approach adults and to play together for extended periods of time, making friends and choices about their learning. The integration of children's home languages and the use of te reo Māori support children's cultural backgrounds and understandings.
Infants and toddlers benefit from warm and responsive relationships with teachers who ensure their daily needs are met with care and sensitivity. Teachers help these children to reach developmental milestones. The calm environment provides security for the children who freely explore new interests each day.
Centre leaders recognise the importance of supporting two-year-old children and have developed an additional learning space specifically for this age group. This has supported the continuation of high quality respectful interactions.
Older children are provided with opportunities for complex learning. They work collaboratively with their peers at interesting activities that challenge and extend their thinking. Children take learning risks and hold sustained conversations as they explore and develop their activities and ideas. They have fun and enjoy each other's company. Teachers listen respectfully to children's ideas and respond to their interests. They support children as they form working partnerships to investigate, challenge each other's thinking and solve problems.
The programme includes literacy and numeracy experiences that are presented in a variety of ways to encourage children's participation. Children are given opportunities to make decisions and are becoming involved in planning for their own learning.
Teachers plan for individual and group learning experiences. They focus on supporting children to lead their own learning. Assessment portfolios are a good record of children's interests and involvement in the programme. Teachers could enhance these records by more frequently including children's ideas about their learning.
The teachers work collaboratively together and are well supported by centre leaders. Professional development is planned in response to teachers' individual and centre-wide goals. This promotes a reflective teaching culture that aligns well with an effective teacher appraisal process.
Parents report high levels of satisfaction with the service. Their regular discussions with teachers support children’s learning interests. An online digital portal has increased communication opportunities and also helps teachers to establish respectful and positive partnerships with whānau.
Kindercare provides well established systems and policies to guide its centres. These systems are consistently implemented and regularly monitored. The organisation's values and strategic direction also guide each centre. Specific goals are developed by each staff team to guide individual centres. Ongoing support for Kindercare staff ensures centre sustainability, accountability and continued improvement.
Managers agree that key next steps for the centre are about strengthening and embedding good practices. To assist this process managers should:
develop leadership across the centre to promote and support sustainability of quality practices
improve assessment, planning and evaluation processes, to more consistently show how teachers extend children's thinking and how individual interests are developed over time
develop a bicultural curriculum, based on a deeper knowledge of te ao Māori concepts, knowledge, skills and beliefs
improve the use of internal evaluation to measure the effectiveness of systems and practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres - Lincoln 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 Kindercare Learning Centres - Lincoln will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
23 November 2016
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 |
Henderson, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10305 |
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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 |
95 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
104 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 54% Girls 46% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Indian South East Asian Tongan other |
14% 15% 37% 9% 8% 2% 15% |
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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 |
September 2016 |
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Date of this report |
23 November 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
November 2013 |
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|
Education Review |
September 2010 |
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Education Review |
June 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:
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 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.
Kindercare Learning Centres (11) in Henderson offers all day care and education for children. The licence allows for 95 children, including 40 up to two years of age.
The centre is managed in accordance with Kindercare policies and procedures that provide guidance for the operation of the service. Kindercare’s philosophy outlines the intentions of the service to provide an environment where children feel safe, loved and where learning is fun. Teachers are well supported by the organisation in the areas of administration, curriculum and leadership.
Children are grouped largely by age into five rooms within the purpose-built centre. Children and staff come from diverse ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. Staff are long serving. They work well together to cater for the children in their care.
The 2010 ERO report found the centre to be effectively managed. It identified the need to develop self review, to provide greater challenge for children and to develop their social competence. These areas for development have been the focus of professional learning and considerable progress is evident.
Children have a strong sense of belonging in their room. They benefit from settled environments and genuine attachments to teachers. Children form respectful relationships with each other and with their teachers. They are able to engage in activities uninterrupted and to seek help and support from adults.
Babies and toddlers’ preferences for care routines are acknowledged and valued. Infants are seen as capable and confident learners. Teachers take time to engage with children as individuals and to encourage them to direct their own learning.
Teachers value strong, supportive relationships with children’s families and whānau. They extend the care they offer to children to all involved in the wider centre community. As a result, teachers know and understand the children well. Centre leaders value these relationships and are interested to find other ways the wider community can be involved in the centre.
Parents are invited to share the aspirations they have for their children. Teachers report to parents about their children’s learning in relation to the strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers work together collaboratively to ensure children’s needs are met.
Centre leaders have trialled new learning journals to strengthen home and centre relationships. Through the journals, teachers share relevant information about children with parents on a daily basis. Teachers are planning to use these journals throughout the centre. ERO supports this initiative to further develop the partnership between parents and the centre.
Centre leaders work together professionally to provide effective leadership and management that values the whole centre community. They encourage teachers to engage in leadership opportunities aligned to their interests. This action supports the development and sustainability of good practices.
Centre leaders monitor and support teacher development. Teachers develop appropriate goals for appraisal. They reflect honestly about their progress and efforts to achieve their goals. Teachers access professional development that supports their own, and the centre’s priorities.
Teachers have focussed their professional conversations on developing social competence in the children. Children are supported to build their skills to be resilient and persistent. Teachers model strategies that build these dispositions. Children are now using these skills and becoming increasingly self managing. Social competence is valued as a prerequisite to formal education at school.
Self-review processes have been developed. Information from self review has been used by staff to help them to improve the centre’s environments and programmes. As self review becomes more embedded, centre leaders appropriately intend to include greater use of early childhood education research and theory in the process.
Centre leaders have identified areas for further development, including:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kindercare Learning Centres (11) 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 Kindercare Learning Centres (11) will be in three years.
Dale Bailey
National Manager Review Services Northern Region
15 November 2013
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 |
Henderson, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10305 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
95 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
96 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 50 Girls 46 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā Chinese Indian Samoan Cook Island Tongan Fijian African Latin American other European other Asian other |
18 26 17 13 3 2 1 1 1 1 10 2 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 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
September 2013 |
||
|
Date of this report |
15 November 2013 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
September 2010 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 2007 |
||
|
Education Review |
May 2005 |
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 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.