Gumboots Early Learning Centre

Education institution number:
20145
Service type:
Education and Care Service
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
94
Telephone:
Address:

1157 Peak Road, RD 2, Helensville

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Gumboots Early Learning Centre

ERO’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. 

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

​​Meeting​

Premises and facilities

​​Meeting​

Health and safety

​​Meeting​

Governance, management and administration

​​Meeting​

​​During the onsite visit, the service provided ERO with evidence to show it has addressed an area of non-compliance and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.​

Background

Gumboots Early Learning Centre is a privately owned service. The owners offer support to the centre manager who is responsible for daily operations. She leads a team of 12 qualified teachers and seven unqualified staff. Children attending the service have diverse cultural backgrounds, including a small number who have Māori or Pacific heritages.

Summary of Review Findings

Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Leaders and teachers are inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences.

A range of experiences and opportunities are provided to children that enhance and extend their learning and development, both indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups. Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children.

Key Next Steps

A next step is to develop internal evaluation processes through a focus on evaluating the impact of changes or improvements on children’s learning outcomes.

Compliance

​​During the review, the service provided​ ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following  
non-compliance:

  • Maintaining a record of all safety checks and the results to meet the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).

Next ERO Review

​​The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

​​16 August 2023​

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

​Gumboots Early Learning Centre​

Profile Number

20145​

Location

Helensville, Auckland​

Service type

​​Education and care service​

Number licensed for

70 children, including up to 22 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

​​80-99%​

Service roll

95

Review team on site

July 2023

Date of this report

​​16 August 2023​

Most recent ERO report(s)

​​Akanuku | Assurance Review​, ​October 2022; Akanuku | Assurance Review​, ​October 2019​ 

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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.

Gumboots Early Learning Centre

ERO’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.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Not meeting

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Gumboots Early Learning Centre provides for infants, toddlers, and older children in four separate indoor and three outdoor areas. Children attending the service have diverse cultural backgrounds. There have been recent leadership and staffing changes.

Summary of Review Findings

Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. 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. The service curriculum supports children’s developing social competence and understanding of appropriate behaviour.

Information and guidance are sought, when necessary, from agencies to enable adults providing education and care to work effectively with children and their parents.

Ongoing monitoring of health and safety and governance, management and administration practices is required to ensure all aspects of regulatory standards are maintained.

Action for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following
non-compliances:

  • securing heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage (HS6)

  • maintaining a list of safety and emergency supplies and resources sufficient for the age and number of children and adults at the service, details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency and having an emergency plan that includes evacuation procedures for the service’s premises, which apply in a variety of emergency situations which are consistent with the Fire Evacuation Scheme for the building (HS7)

  • adults providing education and care are familiar with relevant emergency drills and carry these out with the children on an at least three-monthly basis (HS8)

  • ensuring equipment, premises, and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children (HS12)

  • maintaining a record of serious injuries, illnesses and incidents that occur at the service that include actions taken (HS27)

  • ensuring medicine (prescription and non-prescription) is not given to a child unless there is written authority (appropriate to the category of medicine) in accordance with the requirement and a record of all medicine given to children attending the service that includes name and amount of medicine given (HS28)

  • providing parents of children attending the service with opportunities to contribute to the development and review of the service’s operational documents (GMA4)

  • maintaining a process for reviewing and evaluating the service’s operation that is consistent with Criterion GMA4 with a schedule showing timelines for planned review and recorded outcomes from the review process (GMA6)

  • ensuring all children’s workers who have access to children are safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014. Safety checks must be undertaken, and the results obtained before the worker has access to children. The results of the safety checks must be recorded, and every child’s worker must be safety checked every three years (GMA7A)

  • maintaining an attendance record that meets the requirements outlined in the Early Childhood Education Funding Handbook (GMA11).

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

11 November 2022  

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name

Gumboots Early Learning Centre
Profile Number 20145
Location Helensville, Auckland

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

70 children, including up to 22 aged under 2

Percentage of qualified teachers

80-99%

Service roll

96

Review team on site

June 2022

Date of this report

11 November 2022

Most recent ERO report(s)

Akanuku | Assurance Review, October 2019;
Education Review, March 2015

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 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:

  • 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 certification; ratios)

  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

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.