26 Somme Street, St Albans, Christchurch
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 |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management, and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Pascals St Albans is part of the Evolve Education Group, in Christchurch. The centre is purpose built and has separate learning spaces for infants, toddlers, and young children over the age of three years. Since the last ERO review in May 2020, the service has a new centre and area manager. The outside environment has been upgraded and the older children’s room adapted to enable children to make better use of this area.
Te Whāriki forms the foundation of the curriculum that promotes responsive and reciprocal relationships with children, their parents, whānau. Positive interactions between children and kaiako are promoted and are focused on children’s interests and extending their learning. The environments are resourced for the learning and abilities of the children attending.
There is a system in place to monitor health and safety and changes are made when required. A policy framework, strategic and annual planning guides service operation.
Next steps include:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
11 October 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Pascals St Albans |
| Profile Number | 45683 |
| Location | Christchurch |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 20 aged under 2. |
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Percentage of qualified teachers (delete if not applicable) |
50-79% |
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Service roll |
40 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 4, NZ European/Pākehā 22, Other ethnicities 14. |
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Review team on site |
August 2021 |
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Date of this report |
11 October 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Akanuku | Assurance Review, May 2020; Education Review, June 2017. |
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 regulated standards are being met. 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 |
Pascals St Albans requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
There have been significant changes in leadership including the recent appointment of a manager. Teachers require support to build their capability in assessment, planning and evaluation practices. Internal evaluation has not been regularly carried out. Leaders and teachers need to build their understanding and use of internal evaluation.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Pascals St Albans was formally known as Angelcare Preschool. There are four spaces within the service catering for the specific learning needs of groups of children. It is licensed for 50 children from birth to school age , including up to 20 under two year olds. There are shared outdoor play spaces.
Evolve Group 2 Limited governs the service. The policies and administration framework are provided by this privately-owned company. Area and regional managers, and a centre development manager provide support for the operation of the service.
Most staff are qualified and registered early childhood teachers. There have been significant changes in leadership since the February 2017 ERO review.
The philosophy emphasises high quality relationships, children leading their play and 'Ako' being the knowledge and skills children bring with them.
Leaders and teachers continue to work towards addressing most of the key recommendations from the 2017 ERO review. This includes extending planning processes for individuals and for groups, making bicultural aspects more visible in documentation and the environment, solidifying leadership roles and responsibilities within the centre and strengthening and embedding internal evaluation practices.
Children experience a broad range of activities which give them opportunities to explore and create. The outdoor environment provides appropriate physical challenges. Older children make connections within the local community by taking part in regular excursions.
Teachers help children develop social competence, self-help skills and independence as learners. Children play well together and are often engaged for sustained periods in their activities. Respectful relationships are evident.
Children have opportunities to participate in aspects of Māori culture. Teachers use te reo Māori and practise Māori tikanga in the daily programme.
Teachers know children and their families well. Infants and toddlers are well supported by consistent and responsive teachers in calm environments. Their sense of wellbeing is fostered.
The quality of assessment, planning and evaluation for children's learning is variable and requires strengthening. Leaders now need to build teachers capability with a focus on improving learning outcomes for all children.
Teachers' knowledge and effective use of internal evaluation processes requires improvement. Teachers are in the early stages of implementing internal evaluation and although they have identified current areas to focus on, evaluations are yet to show how they have improved outcomes for children. Leaders now need to support teachers to grow their understanding.
Management is focussed on improvement. The current reviews of the strategic plan and philosophy should provide clear direction for the future. The teacher appraisal process is useful and is now well embedded in practice. All teachers have opportunities to participate in professional learning and development to strengthen their capability.
To improve outcomes for all children, priorities are to:
continue to develop the approach to strategic planning; this should include identifying priorities and associated actions, monitoring of progress, and evaluation to measure the impact on child outcomes and inform next steps
build capability for high-quality internal evaluations that are scheduled, collaborative and focused on outcomes for children
build capability and capacity to undertake effective assessment, planning and evaluation for children's learning.
Before the review, the staff and management of Pascals St Albans 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.
ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety practices. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:
adults must be familiar with the relevant emergency drills and carry these out with children on at least a three-monthly basis and evaluation of the drills should be used to inform the review of the service’s emergency plan
equipment, premises and facilities must be checked every day of operation for hazards to children
when children leave the premises on an excursion, all licensing requirements for excursions must be met.
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS12, HS17, HS18]
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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
11 May 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 |
Christchurch |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45683 |
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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 20 aged under 2 |
||
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Service roll |
40 |
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Gender composition |
Males 22, Females 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2020 |
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Date of this report |
11 May 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
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|
Education Review |
June 2014 |
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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.