22 Kuaka Road, Oneroa, Waiheke Island
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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Tots on The Rock are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
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What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
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He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
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Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
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Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Tots on The Rock provides education and care for infants, toddlers, and children in the Waiheke Island community. Two sisters own and manage the service, one of whom is a registered teacher. A further six qualified teachers and four unqualified staff complete the teaching team.
The centre’s inclusive environment supports children to confidently engage in their play and learning. Teachers know children well, and they provide opportunities for them to explore in a well-resourced, stimulating environment. A sense of belonging is evident through the positive interactions between children and with adults. Children comfortably share their feelings and thoughts. Teachers work collaboratively with whānau to ensure the children’s individual needs are met.
Children’s diverse cultural backgrounds and languages are valued by the teaching team. Teachers use te reo Māori in waiata with infants, toddlers, and older children. Te ao Māori values are evident in curriculum planning as well as spoken language, karakia and the learning environment. Teachers foster tuakana/teina relationships where older and younger children play together and learn from each other.
The service has strong connections to their local environment. Engagement with the local community supports the service philosophy’s sustainability focus of children as kaitiakitanga. Leaders and teachers take ownership of the service’s philosophy and ensure it guides their practice. It is used as a living document, linked to the service’s strategic direction, and kept current through collective annual revision.
Children’s learning is actively supported by teachers as they promote children’s interests through questioning and engagement. Detailed planning and assessment processes inform each child’s next steps for learning. Teachers seek to include parents’ views and aspirations as they set learning plans for their children.
Children with additional learning needs are well supported by leaders and teachers to engage in the programme. The service actively facilitates collaboration with external agencies to access the best support for these children.
Staff take collective responsibility for implementing specific goals identified through internal evaluation processes. Leaders are in the early stages of embedding the conditions that enable ongoing improvement, such as the Professional Growth Cycle for individual teachers and planning more strategically professional learning opportunities.
Tots on The Rock will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Tots on The Rock 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
22 November 2021
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Tots on The Rock |
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Profile Number |
45915 |
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Location |
Oneroa, Waiheke Island |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
43 children, including up to 14 aged under 2. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers (delete if not applicable) |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
63 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 4, NZ European/Pākehā 50, other European 4, other ethnic groups 5 |
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Review team on site |
July 2021 |
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Date of this report |
22 November 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2017 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Tots on the Rock provides education and care for children and families from the local Waiheke community. It is licenSed for 35 children, including 10 children up to two years of age. It operates from a purpose-built facility close to the main shopping area. Most children are Pākehā, with small numbers of Māori children and some children from other cultural backgrounds. Staff include teachers of Argentinian and Māori heritage who willingly share their cultural and language backgrounds with children and their families.
The centre's organisation and resources cater very well for children. Babies and toddlers have separate indoor and outdoor play areas. They have regular contact with older siblings and other children during the day. All children are provided with healthy and nutritious meals and snacks. The owners have extended the outside deck, doubling the outdoor space for children. The outside areas are well covered and provide all-weather play opportunities.
The centre's philosophy promotes inclusive and collaborative approaches with whānau, and celebrates the bicultural status of Aotearoa New Zealand. It also promotes respectful and nurturing practices with children and incorporates environmental sustainability within the daily programme.
The centre continues to be owned and operated as a family business. The owners manage the daily running of the centre while the centre manager, an experienced early childhood educator, leads the teaching team. An experienced and qualified team of teachers lead the programmes for babies and toddlers and older children. They are well supported by a mix of qualified and unqualified teachers.
The 2014 ERO report was the first for this centre. It noted the positive and affirming interactions between teachers and children and the good quality learning programmes. The owners, manager and teachers have used ERO's external evaluation well, and have made good progress with all of the next steps identified in the 2014 report.
Since 2014, leaders and teachers have undertaken professional learning and support to improve practices at all levels of the centre, and to promote positive outcomes for children.
The centre provides high quality learning environments for children. Children are warmly welcomed by teachers at the start of the day are content and well settled. Older children are free to choose from varied activities in the indoor and outdoor areas and have good access to resources and equipment they need for their play and learning. They play collaboratively together, or individually as they prefer. Children are kind to each other and enjoy opportunities to play and learn with younger children. They experience positive interactions with their teachers.
Parents are comfortable in the centre. They appreciate the inclusive and community-focused approaches of the owners and staff, and value how well staff communicate with them about their children's care and learning. As a result of these and other good practices, children and their families have a strong sense of belonging in the centre.
Children benefit from a high quality programme. Teachers' relaxed and flexible approach provides children with good opportunities for uninterrupted play, and with the time and space required for them to problem solve and think critically. The unhurried pace supports children to work in their own way. Teachers recognise and plan well for the role they play in enhancing children's learning outcomes.
Babies and toddlers are particularly well served in the centre. Teachers promote respectful caregiving practices with babies and toddlers, following routines established at home. They also maintain good communication with parents. Younger children experience affectionate and nurturing approaches, including opportunities to explore independently alongside older children.
Teaching practices are sound. Teachers value and have good knowledge of children's individual interests, strengths and characteristics. Children's learning stories are used to plan for individual learning opportunities. Teachers skilfully use the 'notice, recognise and respond' approach to promote children's emerging and longer term interests. They encourage a curriculum that integrates literacy, numeracy and life science, and provideS children with ample opportunities for messy and imaginative play.
In line with the centre philosophy, teachers are continually designing learning programmes based around biculturalism and sustainability. Older children especially enjoy frequent trips out of the centre. Here they have good opportunities to connect with the local community and to contribute as kaitiaki to the Waiheke environment.
The owners and centre manager work collaboratively to promote positive professional leadership for the teaching team. The owner's commitment to improvement includes the ongoing employment of a specialist early childhood facilitator to support and guide management practices and systems. This is helping to build teacher and leadership capability, and contributes to promoting sustainable practices and relational trust throughout the centre.
Strategic planning and self-review are well understood, and meaningfully aligned to teachers' appraisals and professional learning. The appraisal process encourages teachers to inquire into and critique their professional practice. This reflective process includes a continual focus on improving teachers' bicultural practice and ensuring positive outcomes for children.
Centre leaders and ERO agree that a useful next step would be to extend teachers' and leaders' evaluation of the role that the teacher plays in promoting children's learning. This would link well to the centre's self-identified next step of enhancing leadership opportunities throughout the centre, and strengthening sustainable practice.
Before the review, the staff and management of Tots on the Rock 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.
The next ERO review of Tots on the Rock will be in four years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
7 August 2017
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 |
Oneroa, Waiheke Island |
||
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Ministry of Education profile number |
45915 |
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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 |
35 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
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Service roll |
45 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 23, Girls 22 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:6 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
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Review team on site |
July 2017 |
||
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Date of this report |
7 August 2017 |
||
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 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:
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.