3 Flanshaw Road, Te Atatu South, Auckland
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 |
Meeting |
|
Health and safety |
Meeting |
|
Governance, management and administration |
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.
Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu is one of two services owned by the Kimberley Housing Charitable Trust. The service provider supports a qualified centre manager to lead the team of eleven qualified teachers and five unqualified staff, including a cook and administrator. The majority of children attending are of Māori or Pacific heritage.
The service curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the Early Childhood curriculum. Leaders and teachers acknowledge and reflect the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The curriculum provides a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning. Information and guidance is sought, when necessary, from agencies and services to enable teachers to work effectively with children and their parents.
Consistent implementation of health and safety practices is required to maintain regulatory standards.
A key next step is to:
Strengthen the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects their identity, languages, and cultures.
The service has provided ERO with evidence that shows the following non-compliance has been addressed:
Ensuring the premises has a current Fire Evacuation Scheme approved by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (HS4).
Having a written emergency plan that includes a list of emergency supplies, details of how supplies will be maintained and accessed, and evidence of a review of the plan on an, at least, annual basis (HS7).
Having a sleep procedure that ensures children are checked for warmth, breathing, and general wellbeing at least every 5-10 minutes, or more frequently according to individual needs (HS9).
Ensuring hazard management processes include consideration of hazards relating to cleaning agents, medicines, poisons, laundry facilities, vandalism, and dangerous objects (HS12).
Having a record of regular excursions that includes assessment and management of risk (HS17).
Having a record of training and information provided to adults who administer medicine to children while at the service (HS29).
Ensuring the written child protection policy contains provisions for the identification of child abuse and neglect (HS31).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
24 October 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu |
|
Profile Number |
25356 |
|
Location |
Te Atatu South, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
79 |
|
Review team on site |
August 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
24 October 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2019; Education Review, November 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 |
Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu is one of two services owned by the Kimberley Housing Charitable Trust. The service is licensed for up to 90 children, including a maximum of 20 under two years of age.
The centre operates in two separate buildings, with four age-related learning areas. One purpose-built building is for children up to three years of age, and the other two-storied building is for older children. At times during the day, teachers create opportunities for mixed-age play to support children's transitions across the centre.
A trust board representative liaises with the regional manager, who has oversight of the two services. The recently appointed centre manager works with seven other registered teachers including team leaders, and a number of untrained staff. Staff changes over recent years have impacted the teaching teams' ability to sustain and improve programme practices.
The Kimberley services' philosophy is values based, reflects the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and includes recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi. It includes a focus on relationships, inspiring environments and support for children's social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual development.
ERO's 2016 report identified many positive practices and next steps related to strategic planning, teacher appraisal, documentation of management systems, and internal evaluation. ERO also recommended improving older children's access to the outdoors, and better access for children to their individual learning records. Good progress has been made.
Children enjoy well-resourced learning programmes in each of the four areas. Teachers engage actively and positively with children and plan learning opportunities that respond to children's strengths and interests. Teachers are keen to promote curiosity, perseverance and creativity through the programme, and set up activities that support learning through play. In each area, children are encouraged to be physically active and enjoy outdoor play.
The area for infants and toddlers is well supervised, with a high ratio of staff to children. Staff provide nurturing and gentle support that enables children to explore their surroundings and gain confidence in their interactions with others. Routines for babies and toddlers are managed effectively, providing reassurance for parents that children receive individual care.
Teachers know children and their families well, respecting their cultural backgrounds and parents' aspirations. Bicultural learning contexts have been a focus for centre development, and teachers are developing confidence in using te reo Māori in greetings, mat time activities and waiata. Teachers are able to use home languages to respond to some children from diverse backgrounds.
Teachers are developing inquiry skills as a result of planned professional learning. The focus on gathering evidence through the teacher appraisal process is helping teachers to reflect on their own practices and knowledge of Te Whāriki. Future areas for inquiry could usefully include practices that grow leadership, in order to contribute further to positive outcomes for children. In addition, leaders could explore ways to sustain and build on benefits gained from professional learning and development.
Teachers are beginning to recognise children's learning dispositions. Children's individual assessment portfolios show their development over time and provide useful information to support their transition across age groups. Teachers encourage parents to contribute to their children's digital learning stories.
Teachers plan the programme and make good use of learning stories to develop children's current interests. As many of the staff are new, managers recognise that formal meeting times should be more consistently scheduled into centre routines. Team building is a key priority for strengthening programme planning and evaluation practices.
The trust board's vision, mission statement and strategic planning are clearly articulated and documented, and include guidelines for monitoring and measuring progress. The board supports ongoing professional development for leaders and teaching staff, and takes an interest in staff wellbeing.
Key next steps for centre development include:
arranging for the teaching teams to have regular and scheduled meeting times to plan and to evaluate learning programmes and the effectiveness of their practices
ensuring that all staff, and particularly new staff, develop shared understandings about valued outcomes and extended learning through child-directed play
growing leadership capability across the centre to ensure high quality practices, and centre-wide professional learning and development, are implemented consistently and sustained
building managers' and teachers' understanding and practice through improvement focused evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
2 August 2019
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 |
Te Atatu South, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
25356 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
86 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 53 Boys 33 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
13 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
2 August 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
November 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2012 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 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:
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kimberley Childcare Centre is located in Te Atatu South, Auckland. It is one of two Christian-based services managed by the Kimberley Trust. The centre provides all-day care and education for up to 90 children from diverse cultures, including up to 20 under two years old. Approximately twenty percent of the children are from Māori and Pacific backgrounds. The centre also serves a large number of Chinese and Indian families.
A regional manager has responsibility for the overview of the two Kimberley Trust centres. Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu is managed by a recently appointed centre manager. Since the 2012 ERO review the centre has expanded into an adjacent building, which is used for the older children. In the centre there are four age-related rooms to cater for children from babies through to preschool. There has been a significant number of newly appointed staff as a result of the growth of the roll and staff resignations.
The centre philosophy describes children as unique, creative, capable and competent. It notes the intention to encourage children’s curiosity, exploration and problem-solving through inquiry. It values respect and partnership with parents/whānau. The centre has a strong commitment to bicultural practice.
The 2012 ERO report outlined notable strengths of the centre. It also recommended that the quality of teaching practice be improved and that programmes be developed to extend children’s learning. Over the last three years the staff have reviewed the centre’s philosophy and developed better ways of assessing and planning for children’s learning. Ongoing professional development has had a positive impact through improved teaching. The centre manager is working strategically to build a highly reflective teaching team across the centre.
Children at Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu are well supported to learn and are well cared for. Teachers of the younger children take a primary caregiver role to ensure that each child’s needs are met and that there is good communication between the centre and the child’s parents/whānau.
Children are encouraged to be independent and to explore their environment confidently. Teachers help them to be leaders and to develop independence. Children are settled, confident, and selfmanaging. The programme supports them to be creative. It promotes early literacy learning, mathematics and helps to build children’s skills and knowledge in science.
Teachers show children respect. They know the children well. They often have high quality conversations with children, asking thoughtful questions to support their learning. The teachers of young children respond well to non-verbal cues and provide many opportunities for infants and toddlers to develop their oral language skills.
The indoor environment is well organised, giving children access to resources that support their learning through play. Displays encourage and support children’s interests. Centre leaders should now review the outdoor area for the older children to ensure that it provides sufficient interest and challenge.
Teachers’ assessment and planning wall displays help parents to know about their child’s time at the centre and the learning that is taking place. Recently introduced electronic portfolios support this communication and encourage parents to contribute to teachers’ knowledge of their children and to the programme. Staff could now look at how the information in the electronic portfolios can be made accessible to the children.
Older children benefit from the recently introduced inquiry approach to programme planning. Teachers help children plan an inquiry based on their interests and curiosity. Teachers also help them access the information and resources to answer their questions. The staff are looking at how a similar approach can support the learning of younger children.
Self review is being used successfully to promote ongoing improvement in learning opportunities for children. Reviews of the centre’s philosophy and bicultural practice are helping to strengthen teacher practice. The staff appraisal process encourages teachers to reflect on their teaching and its impact on children’s learning.
The regional manager has identified the need to develop and distribute leadership within the centre. She is also working towards developing a highly reflective professional culture among the staff. ERO suggests that the centre strategic planning be strengthened by writing clearer goals and action plans to achieve these goals. It could be beneficial for all staff to be involved in this process.
ERO and the centre manager agree that key next steps for the centre are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu 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 Kimberley Childcare Te Atatu will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
5 November 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 |
Te Atatu, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
25356 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 20 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
93 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 48 Girls 42 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Chinese Indian Niue Tongan Cook Island Māori |
15 33 29 11 2 2 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
September 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
5 November 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
May 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
June 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.