63 Station Road, Kamo, Whangarei
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 |
|
Curriculum |
Meeting |
|
Premises and facilities |
Not meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Not meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Smart Start Preschool provides for children from infants to school age in two separate houses. The owner is responsible for governance of the service, and also works alongside the teaching team to support centre operations. Approximately half of the children enrolled are Māori.
Teachers providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences.
The curriculum is inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children are provided with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development, both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups. A language-rich environment supports children’s learning.
Consistent implementation of health and safety, premises and facilities and governance and administration practices is required to meet regulatory standards.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
ensuring there are sufficient spaces for equipment and material to be stored safely, including that stored equipment and materials can be easily and safely accessed by adults and where practicable, by children
ensuring the first aid kit complies with licensing requirements
ensuring heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury are secured
having a record of time each child attending the service sleeps, and checks made by adults during that time
ensuring equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children; consideration of hazards must include cleaning agents, medicines, poisons, and other hazardous material, electrical sockets and appliances, the condition and placement of learning, play and other equipment, vandalism, dangerous objects, and foreign materials (e.g. broken glass)
having a record of all medicine (prescription and non-prescription) given to children attending the service, that includes the name and amount of medicine given and the time medicine was administered
having a process for human resource management that includes a system of regular appraisal of staff
ensuring all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014
having an annual budget setting out the service’s estimated revenue and expenses that includes professional development costs
having an attendance record that meets the requirements outlined in the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook.
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF8, PF28, HS6, HS9, HS12, HS28, GMA7, GMA7A, GMA9, GMA11].
ERO recommends that the Ministry reassess the licence issued to this service provider. ERO will not undertake a further review of this service until the Ministry of Education is satisfied that the service meets regulatory standards.
The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
15 February 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Smart Start Preschool |
|
Profile Number |
10416 |
|
Location |
Kamo, Whangarei |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
40 children including 10 under 2 years |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
47 |
|
Review team on site |
December 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
15 February 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2018; Education Review, October 2015 |
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Smart Start Preschool is a small, family-owned and operated service. It is licensed for 30 children from two years of age to school age. A third of the children enrolled are Māori. Most staff are qualified early childhood teachers. Three of the teaching team are family members. The preschool is located in a renovated historic villa in a residential area of Kamo.
The preschool's philosophy emphasises the importance of learning about Māori beliefs and using te reo Māori in meaningful ways in the programme. There is a focus on developing sustainable conservation practices, caring attitudes and providing opportunities for children to explore, research and problem solve.
The centre has made good progress since the 2015 ERO review, which recommended that the centre work with the Ministry of Education to develop a plan for implementing required improvements. They have developed a strategic plan, improved their performance management practices and further developed assessment, planning and evaluation processes. Areas of non-compliance identified in the 2015 ERO report have been addressed.
Children experience respectful interactions with each other and their teachers. They confidently make choices about following their interests and their participation in the learning programme. All children, including Māori, have regular opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori and to be part of the preschool's daily tikanga Māori practices.
Children play happily with and alongside each other in the well-resourced environments. They have access to an appropriate range of equipment in the interesting outside spaces. These areas invite children to challenge and foster their physical development. Children enjoy gardening as part of their learning about sustainable conservation practices.
Teachers are welcoming and inclusive. They know children and whānau well. Teachers willingly support parents and involve them in their child’s learning. They frequently communicate with parents and keep them well informed about their child's participation in the learning programme. Many of these conversations continue long after children leave the centre and enter school.
Teachers and staff work cooperatively. Together they provide a learning programme that is responsive to children’s interests and abilities. Teachers and staff see children as capable learners. They maintain an intentional focus on children’s learning and development. There are many opportunities for children to develop oral language and literacy skills. Teachers foster children’s thinking and creativity by extending their ideas through conversations and the wide range of readily available art experiences.
Transition into the centre is well paced to meet the needs of each child and their family. There is a purposeful approach to supporting children's successful transition to school as part of the learning programme.
Parents who spoke with ERO said that the centre is organised, relaxed and calm. They appreciate the play-based programme, the small number of children in the group and the range of choices available. Children with diverse needs are well supported.
Leaders intentionally support teachers and staff to improve their capability by using an online appraisal system and providing useful feedback. Leaders and teachers engage in professional discussions about children's learning and wellbeing and their own development. Leaders provide the teaching team with a range of relevant professional learning opportunities to support their work with children and whānau.
Leaders have developed a process for internal evaluation. They recognise the need to use it more comprehensively to look deeply at the impacts of changes made at the centre on outcomes for children.
Leaders agree that the key next steps are to:
further develop assessment, planning and evaluation processes to:
strengthen internal evaluation by clearly identifying the impacts of changes made on outcomes for children
review the philosophy and redesign the strategic plan to align more closely with it and the centre vision.
Before the review, the staff and management of Smart Start 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.
To improve current practice, leaders should ensure that:
there is a risk assessment and management plan for the garden area outside the licensed premises
earthquake drills occur regularly, at least every three months
parents approve the ratio of adults to children for all excursions.
The next ERO review of Smart Start Preschool will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
14 August 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.
|
Location |
Kamo, Whangarei |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
10416 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
30 children over 2 years of age |
||
|
Service roll |
36 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 25 Girls 11 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
13 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
July 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
14 August 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
October 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 2009 |
||
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.