Pukeko Preschool Claudelands

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

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Mini Miracles is a privately owned and operated centre, and part of the Mini Miracles Educare organisation. The September 2018 ERO report found that the service required further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The recently appointed and fully registered Centre Manager leads a team of six teachers and four are qualified and registered.

Summary of Review Findings

Children experience meaningful and positive relationships with their teachers. Nurturing, affirming and reciprocal learning opportunities promotes their thinking and wondering. Children’s social competence is supported within a language rich environment. They are seen as capable and competent and their choices are respected. The curriculum is inclusive and responsive to children’s interests and needs. Parents are invited to participate in their child’s learning and are encouraged to work with teachers to plan aspirations and goals for learning and development. A policy framework and an annual plan guide centre operation. Health and safety procedures are monitored, and changes made when required.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• continuing to explore ways to embed bicultural practice into the curriculum to support children’s understanding around the dual heritage of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
• increasing the extent of children’s language, culture and identity, so that it reflects in their learning and throughout the centre.

Next ERO Review

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

Phil Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)

Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

1 December 2020

Information About the Service

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.

1 Evaluation of Mini Miracles Educare Claudelands

How well placed is Mini Miracles Educare Claudelands to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Very little progress has been made in addressing the key next steps in the 2015 ERO report. The recommendation to consult with the Ministry of Education to develop an action plan, access appropriate professional development and have ongoing mentoring and support were not carried out. While some new systems have been very recently introduced, these now need time to be fully implemented. The centre would benefit from external support.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Mini Miracles Educare Claudelands is situated in Hamilton and is one of four privately owned centres. It provides full-day education and care for children from birth to school age in two age-based rooms. It is licensed for 40 children, including 15 up to the age of two years. The current roll of 29 includes seven children of Māori descent, and nine from a range of other ethnicities. All permanent teachers are fully qualified, and two part-time teachers are in training to complete their early childhood education qualifications.

The centre's vision is focused on children learning, growing and developing to their own potential. Priority is placed on play-based learning and supporting children to gain social, emotional and creative competence and become life-long learners. The centre's philosophy includes having small group sizes which allows children to play and explore in a way that suits their own needs, interests and strengths.

Since the 2015 ERO review there have been many changes to teaching staff. New regional and assistant managers have been appointed in 2018 and there has also been an appointment of a new head teacher. Centre ownership has remained the same.

The Review Findings

The centre’s curriculum provides opportunities for children to be independent learners and develop confidence. Children are able to make choices about their learning and develop positive skills for self management. The centre has a strong family atmosphere and supports positive tuakana/teina relationships. The younger and older children enjoy interacting with each other. Children are well engaged in their learning and play.

Teachers have positive and affirming relationships with children, their parents, families and whānau. They foster children’s friendships and social skills and provide positive guidance for learning. Children’s rights are respected and teachers take time to talk to them about decisions that will affect them. Children with additional learning needs are supported appropriately. They are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves in a caring and inclusive environment. Responsive interactions support children’s sense of belonging and wellbeing.

Children up to the age of two years have their individual care needs well met. Teachers deliberately extend learning through complexity of play and exploration. Structured routines provide a sense of security for young children. Children are relaxed and happy in their relationships with teachers and their environment.

Useful systems and processes are being developed to guide centre operations and direction. There is need to embed these to ensure continual centre improvement and sustainability over time. Consultation with teachers, parents and whānau has contributed to the centre’s new vision and philosophy. A comprehensive strategic plan is focused on improving outcomes for children, but needs to be fully implemented in practice.

Leadership has begun centre self review and is supporting professional learning and development for teachers. However, professional learning is not specifically linked to the ongoing needs of teachers or the direction of the centre. Teachers would benefit from support to set appropriate appraisal goals, reflect on their own practice and gather quality evidence. Strengthening systems for providing effective feedback and feedforward to teachers about their teaching practice needs to be implemented. The personalised and individual planning format needs to be consistently implemented for all children, to respond to their interests, needs, cultures and add complexity to their learning.

Key Next Steps

ERO and leaders agree the next steps for this centre are to:

• strengthen language, culture and identity for Māori and other children in planning and assessment

• access relevant professional learning focused on building teacher capability in the revised early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki and children's literacy and mathematics learning

• consider ways to improve resourcing and to provide richer learning opportunities and appropriate levels of challenge for all children

• continue to plan for the ongoing maintenance including hazard identification, to ensure a safe and attractive environment for learning.

Aspects of governance and leadership practice require strengthening. There is a need to:

• clearly define, formalise and document roles and responsibilities especially for leaders

• ensure personnel and human resource management practices are in place and followed

• strengthen communication at all levels to ensure transparency and collaboration across the team.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Mini Miracles Educare Claudelands 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

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to curriculum and premises and facilities. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

• supporting children's cultural identities

• providing a stimulating environment for learning

• safety in the outdoor environment.
  [Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, C6, C9, PF5].

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Mini Miracles Educare Claudelands will be within two years.

Adrienne Fowler

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region

6 September 2018

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.