185 College Street, Palmerston North
View on mapLovely Lotus Childcare
Lovely Lotus Childcare
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 Lovely Lotus Childcare are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding |
2 Context of the Service
The service provides education and care for a multicultural community in the suburb of Awapuni. Small groups of Māori and Chinese learners attend, with a wide range of other ethnicities also enrolled. The philosophy promotes tamariki at the heart of teaching in a fun, safe and respectful family like atmosphere.
3 Summary of findings
Children’s interests and strengths strongly influence the curriculum. They engage in meaningful experiences that promote sustained play. Infants and toddlers have the time and space to lead their own learning, building trust and security. Teachers of younger children intentionally respond to children in a calm, settled and nurturing environment. Children and their families experience a sense of belonging and wellbeing.
Children’s languages, cultures and identities are celebrated and affirmed. They experience a curriculum that includes incorporation of some te reo Māori, supported by whānau Māori, and well-integrated te ao Māori concepts. Children from a range of ethnic backgrounds hear and see their first languages in the daily environment. All children benefit from opportunities to experience the range of cultures promoted by the ethnically diverse teaching team.
Teachers and leaders work in learning-focused partnerships with parents and whānau to support children’s inclusion in the curriculum. Responsive processes enable effective transitions of children, parents and whānau into, through, and out of the centre. Assessment for learning consistently celebrates success and challenges, reflecting children's progression of learning over time. The teaching team is working on building a collective understanding of intentional teaching strategies and how these influence children’s learning outcomes.
Relational trust between teachers and leaders contributes to the enactment of the philosophy. Evaluation and review focuses on improvement, leading to changes in practice and growth for teachers. Teachers are yet to consistently evaluate the impacts of these improvements for children. Leaders are beginning to align established strategic goals and other systems, processes and practices that promote improvement to enhance equitable outcomes for all children.
4 Improvement actions
Lovely Lotus Childcare will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
-
Continue to build a shared understanding of intentional teaching strategies and consistently show the impact of these on outcomes for children.
-
Further focus internal evaluation processes on outcomes for children, in particular for individuals and groups.
5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Lovely Lotus Childcare 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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
8 March 2023
6 About the Early Childhood Service
Early Childhood Service Name: |
Lovely Lotus Childcare |
Profile Number |
45946 |
Location |
Palmerston North |
Service type |
Education and care service |
Number licensed for |
42 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
Service roll |
42 |
Review team on site |
January 2023 |
Date of this report |
8 March 2023 |
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Akanuku | Assurance Review, June 2019; Education Review, October 2017 |
Lovely Lotus Childcare - 10/06/2019
ERO’s judgement
Regulatory standards |
ERO’s judgement |
Curriculum |
Meeting |
Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
Health and safety |
Meeting |
Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Background
Lovely Lotus Childcare is privately owned. A service manager leads the team, including two recently appointed head teachers, four qualified teachers and one teacher in training. The October 2017 ERO report identified that the service required further development. The service has made sufficient progress in responding to these development areas.
Summary of review findings
Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, informs the philosophy and service programme. Assessment and planning processes demonstrate an understanding of individual children’s interests, strengths and parent aspirations. Cultural experiences and respect for the cultures of others are encouraged. Children have access to a range of activities and experiences within the centre and the wider community.
Self-review processes help the service to maintain and improve the centre’s performance. The newly implemented appraisal system supports teachers and managers to improve the quality of education and care for children attending the service. Sound management systems and processes guide centre operation.
Next ERO Review
The next ERO review is likely to be an Education Review.
Phillip Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region
10 June 2019
Information about the service
Early Childhood Service Name |
Lovely Lotus Childcare |
||
Profile Number |
45946 |
||
Location |
Palmerston North |
||
Service type |
Education and care service |
||
Number licensed for |
42 children including up to 15 aged under 2 |
||
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 - Better than the regulatory standards |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 - Better than regulatory standards |
||
Service roll |
45 |
||
Gender composition |
Males 31, Females 14 |
||
Ethnic composition |
Māori 9 |
||
Review team on site |
May 2019 |
||
Date of this report |
10 June 2019 |
||
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
October 2017 |
|
Education Review |
May 2014 |
General Information about Assurance Reviews
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 Home-based Education and Care Services 2008
-
the Licensing Criteria for Hospital-based 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.
ERO undertakes an Assurance Review process in any service:
-
having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation
-
previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’
-
that has moved from a provisional to a full licence
-
that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership
-
where an Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
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:
-
curriculum
-
premises and facilities
-
health and safety practices
-
governance, management and administration.
As part of an Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated 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:
-
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 certification; ratios)
-
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
As part of an Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
-
discussions with those involved in the service
-
consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems
-
observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.