5A Landscape Road, Papatoetoe, 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.
St Georges Preschool is one of two services owned and operated under the umbrella of the Anglican Trust for Women and Children. A qualified centre manager supports a team of four qualified teachers and one unqualified teacher. Over a third of children enrolled are of Māori or Pacific heritages.
Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The service curriculum is language-rich, inclusive, and responsive to children.
The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. It respects and supports the right of each child to be confident in their own culture.
The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences.
Leaders and teachers need to consistently monitor and make changes to policies and practices, when required, to meet and maintain regulatory standards.
Next steps include:
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
24 June 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | St Georges Preschool |
| Profile Number | 45630 |
| Location | Papatoetoe, Auckland |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 50 children, including up to 5 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 25 |
| Review team on site | April 2024 |
| Date of this report | 24 June 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, July 2020; Education Review, June 2016 |
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.
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:
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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
St Georges Preschool requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Aspects of curriculum and health and safety systems require improvement.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
St Georges Preschool provides education and care for children up to five years of age. The centre has a culturally diverse roll. There are separate areas for younger and older children in the purpose-built centre.
The centre's philosophy emphasises the provision of a warm and nurturing environment for children. It aims to provide children with opportunities to make decisions, take responsibility, explore and experiment.
The preschool is governed by the Anglican Trust for Women and Children (ATWC). A centre manager, responsible for two centres under the ATWC, and an experienced supervisor lead a team of qualified and non-qualified teachers. Teachers are reflective of the centre's culturally diverse community.
ERO's 2016 report affirmed the supportive culture and respectful interactions in the centre. These effective practices have been sustained. ERO recommended that teachers improve the opportunities for challenge, social competence and biculturalism in the programme for children. Providing challenging opportunities for children remains an area of focus. Since the last review the outdoor learning environment for infants and toddlers has been extended.
Children are settled in a calm and secure learning environment. They play well with each other and form positive, trusting relationships with their peers and with adults. Children choose from a range of activities and are keen to learn. They are familiar with and actively participate in centre routines. Children would benefit from more challenging experiences to support their thinking, curiosity and creativity.
Infants and toddlers experience sensitive and supportive care and enjoy the occasional mixed-play activities. Children with additional learning needs are well supported.
Teachers' interactions with children are positive. They are welcoming and approachable. Teachers provide parents/whānau with regular information about their child's participation in the programme.
Parents/whānau appreciate the support from teachers in an environment that promotes whakawhanaungatanga. Children benefit from a focus on te reo me ona tikanga Māori. They are familiar and confident with karakia and waiata.
The centre's philosophy should be reviewed to place a stronger focus on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and current theories about children's learning. Teaching approaches could be more responsive to individual children's cultures, dispositions and interests.
A process for the appraisal of teachers has been established. The implementation of this process needs to clearly align with the Teaching Standards. Long and short-term improvement goals have been developed. Progress towards these goals could now be evaluated. Policy review could be more closely monitored so that all policies are regularly reviewed.
Key next steps include:
teachers increasing the extent to which the curriculum and teaching practices recognise and respond to children's interests and learning dispositions
all staff using internal evaluation processes to review and improve curriculum, health and safety and governance systems.
Leaders and teachers could benefit from professional development to help them make these improvements.
Before the review, the staff and management of St Georges Preschool 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.
To improve current practices, the Child Protection policy needs to be regularly reviewed.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety. To meet requirements, the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
all non-registered teachers are police vetted every three years
sleep records consistently show the time each child sleeps, and checks made by adults during that time
excursion records include adult:child ratios and excursions are approved by the person responsible
administration of medication is consistently recorded in the medication register.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA7A, HS9, HS17, HS28.
ERO recommends the Ministry of Education follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region - Te Tai Raki
6 July 2020
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.
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Location |
Papatoetoe, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45630 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 years |
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Service roll |
32 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 25 Boys 7 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2020 |
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Date of this report |
6 July 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
June 2016 |
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Education Review |
April 2013 |
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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.