ACG Remuera Early Learning School

1 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | 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 ACG Remuera Early Learning School are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

ACG Remuera Early Learning School is one of seven services within the ACG Education Group. The service is purpose-built and has three separate areas for different age groups of children. A newly appointed centre manager supports 11 qualified teachers, and eight other staff. Most of the children enrolled are from diverse cultural backgrounds and a small number identify as Māori. This is the service first ERO review since a change of ownership in 2021.

3 Summary of findings

Children’s sense of belonging at this service is underpinned by reciprocal and responsive relationships between children, teachers, and parents. Teachers interact with children in respectful and caring ways. They foster trust and support children’s positive curriculum experiences.

Teachers provide children with regular opportunities to lead their own learning. These approaches support children’s creativity, curiosity, problem-solving and social skills. Infants and toddlers experience a calm and unhurried environment where they are treated with dignity and experience individualised care. Teachers and leaders foster equitable access to learning opportunities for all children, in sensitive and intentional ways.

The service is beginning to embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi through partnerships, plans, and practices. The centre environment reflects aspects of te ao Māori (the Māori world), and teachers use bicultural resources and te reo Māori in the curriculum. The cultural diversity of children and teachers is valued and promoted. Teachers are responsive to children’s home languages and cultures. They model children’s home languages and intentionally weave early literacy and numeracy into children’s play.

Leaders and teachers have developed positive partnerships with parents. Their aspirations, knowledge and ideas for their children’s learning are regularly sought and used by teachers to influence the curriculum provided. Assessment and planning records celebrate the learning progress of individuals and groups of children. Leaders and teachers now need to continue improving their shared understandings of how to effectively document children’s assessment and curriculum evaluation. This includes recording information about the impact of the curriculum and teaching practices on children’s learning.

Relational trust supports effective team collaboration. Leaders and teachers are provided with a range of professional development and mentoring opportunities. This has helped to grow their professional knowledge, expertise and cultural competence to design and implement the service’s curriculum. 

A well-established internal evaluation process is in place that supports improvements to systems and practices. Improving the teaching team’s collective capacity to do and use evaluation for continued improvement is a priority. 

4 Improvement actions

ACG Remuera Early Learning School will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Continue to strengthen leaders and teachers shared understandings of assessment, planning and evaluation to support positive outcomes for all children.
• For leaders and teachers to continue to foster collective capability to do and use internal evaluation processes that result in continuous improvement.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of ACG Remuera Early Learning School 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.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

24 June 2024 

6 About the Early Childhood Service