22 Falkirk Street, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluation evaluates the extent to which this early childhood service has the learning and organisational conditions to support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Te Ara Poutama Indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre is a family-owned service. The manager is a qualified teacher who is supported by a team of three qualified teachers. The ethnically diverse teaching team provides care and education for the predominantly Asian children and families attending.
Children experience caring and nurturing relationships with teachers. As a result, they show confidence in daily routines and initiate conversations with their peers and adults, reflecting their sense of belonging. Teachers communicate with each other to ensure that children’s preferences, interests, and needs are respected and responded to appropriately. Children are encouraged to sustain their engagement in meaningful experiences and activities.
The service’s curriculum takes steps to acknowledge the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Leaders and teachers have begun implementing basic te reo Māori into daily practice and aspects of tikanga Māori are beginning to be evident in routines.
Teachers are working to build a shared understanding about how the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, are to be used to assess children’s learning. Assessment information does not yet sufficiently reflect children’s identity, languages and cultures. Teachers could further develop their evaluation of how the curriculum and teaching practices impact on learning outcomes for children.
Leaders and teachers have established responsive and respectful relationships with children, parents and whānau. They are working to build these relationships into partnerships that focus on children’s learning.
Teachers engage in a process of internal evaluation, and there is some evidence of positive impacts for children from this work. Leaders should support teachers to build a shared understanding about ways to use evaluation to guide improved practices. Evaluation should include documentation of teachers’ and leaders’ evaluative thinking and focus on evaluating the impact on children’s learning over time.
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Increase the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects their identity, languages, and cultures.
Foster learning-focused partnerships with parents and whānau which inform practices and processes to improve outcomes for children.
Build leaders’ and teachers’ collective understanding to undertake internal evaluation for improvement. Indicators for success should be clear, and outcomes and the impact on children’s learning should be evaluated and documented.
Before the review, the staff and management of A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following areas of non-compliance:
Ensuring that furniture and items intended for children to sleep on are securely covered with a non-porous material (PF30).
Ensuring safety checking all children’s workers before employment or engagement that meets the safety checking requirements of the Children’s Act 2014 (GMA7A).
Having an annual plan identifying ‘who’ in relation to key tasks the service intends to undertake each year (GMA8).
Providing an annual budget, setting out the service’s estimated revenue and expenses for the year that includes staffing costs, including leave entitlements, professional development costs, equipment and materials cost for the ongoing purchase of new equipment and consumable materials, and provision for operational costs (GMA9).
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
31 January 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre |
|
Profile Number |
45218 |
|
Location |
Blockhouse Bay, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
20 children aged over two years |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
|
Service roll |
23 |
|
Review team on site |
October/2022 |
|
Date of this report |
31 January 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, April 2019; Education Review, July 2015 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre is a family owned and operated business in Blockhouse Bay. It is licensed to provide for up to 20 children over two years of age. The centre serves a culturally diverse community.
The centre's philosophy is founded on learning through play, with some structure and routines in each day. Teachers aim to provide a programme based on children's interests and learning needs.
The teaching team consists of a manager and two other registered teachers. Two part-time relieving teachers are currently in training.
The 2015 ERO report commented positively about teachers' inclusive and sensitive interactions with children. These aspects continue to be present. The report recommended strengthening bicultural practice and internal evaluation, and extending children's understanding and use of language. Some progress has been made in these areas.
Children are confident and friendly. They are respectful in their interactions with their peers and teachers. Children settle quickly and make choices about their play. Resources are accessible, promoting children's sense of independence.
Teachers interact with children in nurturing and responsive ways. They model appropriate behaviour and intentionally support children to develop skills for social competence. Children value others and look after each other's wellbeing.
Teachers are inclusive and make efforts to ensure that children from diverse cultural backgrounds feel a sense of belonging at the centre. They promote bicultural practices through the use of te reo Māori, and the provision of resources and relevant displays.
Parents are comfortable and relaxed in the centre, often staying with their children as they settle. Displays encourage parents to engage in conversation with teachers about what children are doing while at the centre.
Teachers are continuing to develop a shared understanding of quality planning and assessment practices. Regularly recorded assessments are a mix of individual and group stories. Children's voice is sought and recorded in documentation and in displays. This supports children's sense of belonging and creates opportunities for them to revisit their learning. Parents' aspirations are shared in their children's individual portfolios. Teachers plan collaboratively, provide resources, and create environments to help extend children's interests.
The teaching team uses a clear framework for internal evaluation. The process could be strengthened by having an evaluative question or focus, and setting specific measurable quality indicators. This would enable teachers to measure the impact of their evaluation and subsequent changes, on outcomes for children.
The centre has established its strategic vision and philosophy. It is now timely to review and adapt the philosophy and vision to ensure their alignment with the intent of Te Whāriki 2017, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers could also evaluate their progress towards achieving the centre's goals and vision.
The manager is supportive and inclusive, encouraging a sense of trust and belonging for teachers. The appraisal system reflects Teaching Council requirements and supports teachers with improving their teaching practice. Accessing relevant professional learning and development opportunities would help teachers to make decisions that impact positively on their teaching practice and children's learning outcomes.
Leaders and teachers agree the next steps are to continue:
evaluating and critiquing the effectiveness of teaching practice and learning environments in promoting complexity in children's play and learning
strengthening the recording of teachers' responses to children's individual interests and dispositions, and making children's learning and progress more visible in assessment and evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre 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
18 April 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 |
Blockhouse Bay, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45218 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
20 children aged over 2 years |
||
|
Service roll |
31 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 18 Boys 13 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Pākehā |
6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
February 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
18 April 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
July 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2012 |
||
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.
A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre in Blockhouse Bay is a family-owned service that provides sessional and full day education and care for children from the surrounding suburbs. Children over two years of age are able to attend the centre, which is licensed for twenty children. Children and their families represent a number of cultural groups. Teachers share some of the same cultures and are able to speak in children’s home languages.
The teachers’ philosophy for the centre includes commitment to reflecting Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and a focus on biculturalism in the programmes for children.
This is the second review of the centre. The 2012 ERO report commented favourably on the caring and respectful relationships teachers had with children. Calm interactions and a well planned play environment contributed to children’s easy settling into the centre and their comfort and confidence.
ERO identified that teachers were becoming more confident with assessment and planning systems. The report suggested that a deeper self review focus should provide teachers with information about the impact of programmes on children’s learning. The report also prompted teachers to provide more opportunities for children to extend their play in uninterrupted ways, and to include a stronger focus on biculturalism.
Children play together harmoniously. They benefit from the assured, collaborative teamwork of the teachers. The carefully prepared and attractive environment is well-resourced with good quality natural furnishings and resources. This encourages children’s engagement and provides prompts for them to develop their play. Teachers’ friendly and sensitive interactions with children support them to settle quickly and become involved in play.
Parents who spoke to ERO appreciate the welcoming partnerships teachers have established with them. Teachers’ inclusive and warm interactions with children were also identified as strengths. Parents feel well informed about their children’s progress and enjoy the portfolios that describe the learning programme. Teachers could now consider how they might more clearly record children’s individual progress over time. They could also link assessment and programme planning in a more transparent way.
Teachers work closely with children, listening to them and encouraging conversations with them. They use their knowledge of individual children’s interests and dispositions to guide programme planning. It would be appropriate for the supervisor to continue to provide leadership and modelling to further strengthen the growing professionalism in the teaching team.
Teachers’ self review follows an established pattern. The streamlining of this aspect of good practice is as a result of learning gained through professional development. Self review is now more clearly focused on exploring and making decisions about the learning programme. Teachers should continue with these good practices in order to guide the development of their teaching. Review should then help their understanding about the effects of their work on children’s learning.
Teachers have identified a need to further develop bicultural practices in their work with children. They already support each other to use words and phrases in te reo Māori in the programme. It would be useful for teachers to continue to build their understanding of te ao Māori as part of their professional growth. Teachers could also reflect a more obvious focus on other cultural groups in the environment. Children are beginning to understand some words in the home languages of their friends in the centre.
Management of the centre is well ordered and efficient. A framework of effective policies and procedures is in place and these are reviewed regularly. The managers could now consider ways of aligning their strategic and annual planning as a guide for the streamlining of operational management.
The owners and the supervisor are committed to establishing a shared vision of high quality early childhood education and care. The centre philosophy is clearly evident in centre practices.
ERO identified and centre managers agree that their next steps are to continue to:
Before the review, the staff and management of A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre 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.
The next ERO review of A Step Ahead Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Dianne Moffitt
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
16 July 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 |
Blockhouse Bay, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
45218 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
20 children, including up to 0 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
26 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 15 Girls 11 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Māori NZ European/Pākehā NZ European/Māori/Cook Island NZ European/Samoan Indian European/Indian Samoan Tongan Chinese Niue Pakistani Tongan/Fijian |
1 3 3 1 1 7 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
June 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
16 July 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
September 2012 |
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 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.