Kids Campus T.P.S. Childcare Society Inc

1 Evaluation of Kids Campus T.P.S. Childcare Society Inc

How well placed is Kids Campus T.P.S. Childcare Society Inc to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

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

Background

Kids Campus T.P.S Childcare Society Inc is run by an incorporated society, and is a not-for-profit community-based service established in the late 1980's, located in the Tauranga suburb of Gate Pa. The centre’s local surroundings include a council reserve with community board walks and parks, which is accessed and enjoyed by children and teachers.

The centre’s community continues to benefit from the high quality leadership of the service. The centre is governed by a management committee made up of parents who have children at the centre. The centre manager has been with the centre since it opened, and staffing has remained consistent since the previous ERO report in March 2013. Some second generation children are now attending the centre and families appreciate the homely/whānau culture they experience. Children receive nutritious meals supplied by an employed cook at the centre. Service staff strongly advocate for children and their families. They demonstrate a strong commitment to equity and use a centre van to ensure transport is not a barrier for children to participate in early childhood education.

Developments over three years have included documented reviews that show how the service has continued to ensure children and whānau have access to high quality of education and care. The centre’s mission is to provide a quality early childhood service, in a safe and secure environment for infants, toddlers and children. The vision states that the centre aims to serve the community through partnerships that promote a quality service.

The centre is licenced to cater for 47 children with a maximum of nine aged up to two years. It is a bicultural centre catering for Māori and Pākehā families, as well as for children from other cultural groups. Two specialised group areas are designed to meet the diverse ages and stages of infants, toddlers and young children. The centre continues to operate small group sizes, and maintain high quality adult-to-child ratios that exceed legislative requirement. Centre management and leaders are committed to employing experienced and qualified teachers.

The Review Findings

Children and their whānau are welcomed into an inclusive, positive and caring environment. They experience highly respectful, trusting and reciprocal relationships with centre staff who get to know and value the uniqueness of each child and their whānau. Teachers are skilled at responding to individual needs, temperaments and personalities of children. This successfully supports children to feel a strong sense of belonging, where their emotional and spiritual (wairua) wellbeing is nurtured.

Children experience a curriculum that strongly reflects the principles and bicultural intent of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Priority is given to providing a programme that supports the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Particular strengths of the centre curriculum are:

• bicultural practices that value and promote Māori as tangata whenua and foster children’s language, culture and identity
• the natural integration of literacy, mathematics, science, technology, creative arts, te reo and tikanga Māori learning experiences
• the extensive opportunities for children to make decisions and have choices about their care and learning
• the active participation of whānau in their child’s education and care.

The centre’s philosophy is strongly evident in practice. Children are empowered (whakamana) to learn through their interests and strengths. Teachers thoughtfully plan experiences and set up a well-prepared environment that motivates and encourages children’s active exploration and investigation. Teachers record and document high quality programme planning experiences, based on collaborative discussions with teachers, children and their families. Access to extensive high quality resources and the use of the local community environment enriches the learning programme.

Children’s knowledge and skills are learnt within the holistic (kotahitanga) context of whānau and their life experiences. The importance of whānau and community partnerships (whanautangata/ngā hononga) and relationships are integral to supporting children’s learning. Teachers work hard to establish partnerships with whānau and value their involvement in the education and care of their children. Individual child learning portfolios include multiple perspectives from children, teachers and whānau providing a rich and valuable record of children’s learning and progress while at the centre.

Children benefit from the skilled learning interactions they have with teachers who are extremely responsive to their interests, strengths and needs. Children have fun at the centre and enjoy developing friendships with others. Teachers use a wide range of highly effective strategies to engage children in meaningful learning that promotes their problem solving and higher level thinking. This approach supports them to develop learning dispositions for life long learning.

Particular features of the infant area include experienced teachers who:

• implement personalised care routines that integrate one-to-one social interactions and learning conversations
• engage in open and reciprocal communication with whānau to work in partnership with home routines and whānau aspirations for their child
• tune into infants non-verbal cues, model language through highly respectful and responsive relationships and interactions.

Particular features of the toddler and young children’s area include teachers who:

• facilitate extensive opportunities for children to engage in sustained and complex learning
• encourage and value children’s leadership skills
• support the development of children’s learning dispositions to foster positive attitudes and attributes for learning that they can draw on in future learning contexts.

Children experience a high quality service that supports them to develop as capable and confident learners.

Key Next Steps

ERO is confident that the centre has robust evaluation processes and practices to ensure continual improvement. Through the centre’s emergent planned and strategic evaluation/review process centre leaders, teachers and whānau intend to develop:

• a community hub that promotes whānau ora
• ongoing positive relationships with local iwi to further benefit teaching and learning practices.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Kids Campus T.P.S. Childcare Society Inc 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.

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Kids Campus T.P.S. Childcare Society Inc will be in four years.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

15 February 2016

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.