Hayfield Way, Karaka, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has 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 are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whakaū Embedding Whakaū Embedding |
ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre is one of seven services within the ACG Education Group. A qualified centre manager works with team leaders and teachers in three age-specific rooms. A small group of Māori children are enrolled. Other children attending are from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
Children at this service benefit from responsive and respectful relationships with their peers and teachers. Children are able to recognise their own ability to learn and use a range of strategies and skills to play alongside others. Younger children benefit from calm and predictable routines. They are valued as individuals and are provided with opportunities to make decisions about their learning and play.
Teachers are responsive to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues. Primary caregiving for infants and toddlers supports positive relationships with parents. Children with diverse needs are well supported by teachers’ intentional strategies in an inclusive curriculum. Te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are valued and promoted in the daily programme. Similarly, cultural diversity is respected and embraced within the service. Families/whānau aspirations, knowledge and ideas for their children’s learning are regularly sought and used by teachers to influence the curriculum provided.
Teachers set up the learning environment to provoke thinking and problem-solving for children.
Learning-focused partnerships with parents’ support children’s learning and inform child’s individual plan. Some assessment practices:
Teachers’ assessment practices are variable. They are working together to strengthen their shared understandings of effective assessment and planning practices and further monitoring the impact on learner outcomes.
Relational trust supports effective team collaboration. Leaders and teachers are provided with a range of professional development and mentoring opportunities. This has helped to grow their professional knowledge, expertise and cultural competence to design and implement the service’s curriculum.
A well-established internal evaluation process is in place that supports improvements to systems and practices. Improving the teaching team’s collective knowledge of how to effectively do and use evaluation for continued improvement is a priority.
ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre completed an ERO 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.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
24 June 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre |
| Profile Number | 10316 |
| Location | Karaka, Auckland |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 115 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 77 |
| Review team on site | March 2024 |
| Date of this report | 24 June 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, June 2020; Education Review, June 2016 |
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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.
ACG Strathallan Preschool Centre is licensed for 115 children, including up to 25 children under the age of two years. There are small numbers of Māori and Pacific children attending.
The centre manager leads a team of 11 registered teachers, and two staff members. There are three areas; nursery, juniors and seniors. Children of different ages access separate indoor and outdoor environments.
The centre is on the ACG Strathallan School grounds and the school's principal has oversight of the centre. The philosophy reflects the school's values. The preschool operations follow the school's framework of policies.
The 2016 ERO report noted that positive relationships between teachers and children supported children's confidence and communication. These positive aspects remain evident. ERO noted that areas for improvement included improving teaching approaches, bicultural practices, internal evaluation systems, and processes for supporting provisionally registered teachers. Progress has been made in these areas.
Children show a strong sense of belonging at the centre. They confidently approach adults for comfort or help. Children in the nursery are settled and demonstrate secure attachment relationships with adults. Older children interact positively with each other, play cooperatively and show leadership.
Teachers interact with children in positive and caring ways. Nursery teachers respond to children's verbal and non-verbal communication well. Teachers use specific strategies and collaborate with external agencies to promote positive outcomes for children with additional learning needs. Teachers at the preschool and school work well together to support children's transition to school.
Teachers have begun to include te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in the curriculum. They are committed to building their relationships with whānau Māori. Teachers value individual children's cultures and affirm these through celebrations that involve children, families and the community.
Learning environments are purposeful and well designed. Teachers could continue to provide more natural and open-ended resources to offer children opportunities to develop theories about the living, physical and material worlds. They could further encourage children to develop their creativity and imagination.
Children's learning records show their participation in the curriculum. Teachers aim to provide a balance of child and teacher-initiated activities in response to children's interests. Leaders and teachers have identified that developing shared understandings about Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, could help them to clearly assess and document how the curriculum contributes to children's progress over time.
Internal evaluation processes have been recently established. Parents have opportunities to contribute their ideas. Leaders and teachers should improve how they document the changes made, and the impact of these changes on outcomes for children, their whānau, and teachers.
A positive organisational culture has been maintained. An online teacher appraisal process has recently been established.
Key next steps include leaders and teachers:
strengthening the implementation of Te Whāriki and the learning priorities identified in the centre's philosophy
evaluating the effectiveness of teaching practices in responding to and extending children's interests and thinking
strengthening bicultural practices that reflect the dual heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand
implementing and evaluating the progress made towards achieving the centre's long-term goals.
Before the review, the staff and management of ACG Strathallan Preschool 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:
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 - Te Tai Raki
12 June 2020
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 |
Karaka, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
10316 |
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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 |
115 children, including up to 25 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
92 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 52 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
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Under 2 - 1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 - 1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
March 2020 |
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Date of this report |
12 June 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
March 2016 |
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Education Review |
December 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:
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 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.
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.