19 - 21 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington
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 Kakapo Kids ECC are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whakatō Emerging |
Kakapo Kids ECC is a privately-owned service. An established owner is supported by ongoing external mentoring. There have been recent significant changes in leadership and staffing. A small number of children are Māori. Minimal progress has been made in relation to the previous 2017 and 2020 ERO reports which identified key next steps for assessment, evaluation, and appraisal.
A responsive curriculum enables all children to participate fully alongside their peers. Children experience a well-resourced, calm environment purposefully set up to extend their learning. Parents spend time alongside their children as they play and learn. Leaders and teachers intentionally support children to become confident and capable learners and build a positive sense of belonging.
Infants and toddlers are well-supported to learn at their own pace. Teachers are respectful and attuned to their individual needs. They provide well-considered opportunities that enable younger children to lead their own learning.
Teachers are in the early stages of implementing a responsive curriculum that is sufficiently focused on learning. Currently assessment information:
mainly shows children’s participation in activities provided
does not consistently reflect parent aspirations
shows limited reflection of children’s cultures, languages, and identities.
Teachers should be more consistent and intentional in providing opportunities for children to hear, speak and experience te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in meaningful learning contexts. There are aspects of te ao Māori in the programme. Children have opportunities to participate in karakia, waiata and read books about Māori pūrākau, and some teachers are using te reo Māori in their interactions with children.
Stronger leadership within the service is required to support ongoing improvement of teaching and learning. External mentoring continues to support the recent development and implementation of the professional growth cycle, internal evaluation, and policy review. Further work is required to build governance capability that enables:
succession planning
organisational sustainability.
Kakapo Kids ECC will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
make visible children’s learning, parent aspirations and their cultures, languages and identities in assessment documentation
build leadership capability to successfully lead the implementation of a responsive curriculum through targeted feedback to teachers about aspects of practice
continue to develop a system for improvement and sustainability, that enables service-wide monitoring and review of policies, procedures, and practices that meet the regulatory standards.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kakapo Kids ECC 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.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance:
evaluation of emergency drills to inform the annual review of the emergency management plan
an illness register that shows what actions taken and when parents have been informed.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS8, HS27.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
a written annual emergency management plan [HS7]
the daily hazard check list complies with the criteria specified and how to eliminate, isolate or minimise risk in a documented risk assessment system [HS12]
accurate recording of the time medication was administered, the name of the medication, and signature of witness [HS28]
a record of who provided the training and/or information provided to adults who administer medication to children. [HS29]
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Services (ECE)
16 May 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Kakapo Kids ECC |
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Profile Number |
45859 |
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Location |
Wellington |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
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Service roll |
27 |
|
Review team on site |
1 February 2023 |
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Date of this report |
16 May 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education review, April 2020; Education Review, February 2017 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Kakapo Kids ECC is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Kakapo Kids ECC is a privately owned, inner-city early childhood centre for children from nine months to school age. It is licensed as an education and care centre for 40 children, including up to 12 children aged up to two years. Of the 37 children enrolled, four identify as Māori.
The owner/manager is responsible for policy, systems and strategic direction. A part-time administrator is employed. Head teachers oversee teaching practice in the up-to-two and over-two areas. All teachers are fully qualified and registered.
The philosophy emphasises a 'warm and loving family environment where children are empowered and respected as they learn and grow'. Promoting environmental awareness and sustainability is an integral part of the daily life of the centre.
The February 2017 ERO report identified appraisal, assessment and internal evaluation as areas for further development. A well-designed plan has been a useful tool to document and track the progress of developments in these areas. Good progress has been made.
Children lead their learning and teachers support them to sustain and extend their play. Children's talk is encouraged, accepted and promoted. They are settled and have fun, secure within well-established routines. A well-resourced learning environment encourages exploration. Independence is promoted and children make decisions and choices about their learning.
Children up to two years of age experience attentive, responsive care and education in a calm, settled learning environment. Teachers maintain an unhurried pace enabling children to explore, investigate and problem solve. The holistic learning programme is responsive to children's interests, cues and needs. Teachers interact respectfully with infants and toddlers, offering them choices and space and time to lead their learning.
Children with additional needs are well supported in their wellbeing and learning. Teachers liaise effectively with families and external agencies. Ensuring that individual education plans are documented will strengthen this process.
Teachers make regular use of te reo Māori in their interactions with the children. Te ao Māori is reflected in centre routines and practices. Children's cultures are represented in the centre environment.
Teachers know children and their families very well. They purposely build warm and supportive learning-focused relationships with families, encouraging them to be meaningfully involved in the programme. A newly developed parent aspiration form should support teachers and families to focus on learning outcomes that matter most to this community. Regular collection and the inclusion of aspirations in individual children's planning is likely to strengthen this learning partnership.
The learning programme is appropriately based on individual children's and group needs and interests. Teachers regularly record focused observations of children's play and learning. These learning stories celebrate their growing friendships, skills and learning dispositions. Teachers notice, recognise and respond to evidence of prior learning and document intentional strategies to support and extend children's new learning. A next step is to more clearly identify the intended learning outcomes and align these to assess and evaluate children's learning. This should enable teachers to measure how effectively their teaching strategies impact on and improve learning outcomes for children.
Transitions to the centre are well considered and informed by consultation with parents. The key teacher system throughout a child's time at the centre, enables teachers to respond sensitively to each child's changing needs and preferences.
Appraisal was identified as requiring development in the 2017 ERO report. A sound process is now in place that is clearly linked to the Standards for the Teaching Profession and promotes ongoing improvement.
Leaders and teachers have begun to use internal evaluation to examine and improve centre practice. A useful evaluation model guides this work and leaders use a sound range of ways to investigate current practice. To strengthen the evaluation process, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of changes in relation to success indicators and outcomes for children.
The centre's strategic plan, philosophy, vision and values are all clearly aligned. Learning outcomes documented in the strategic plan should enable evaluation of progress towards the strategic goals.
The key next steps for the centre are to strengthen assessment, and evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Kakapo Kids ECC 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
28 April 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 |
Wellington |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45859 |
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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 |
40 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
37 |
||
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Gender composition |
Female 22, Male 15 |
||
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
|
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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 |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
January 2020 |
||
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Date of this report |
28 April 2020 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2017 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 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.