42 Tom Parker Avenue, Marewa, Napier
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 |
| Curriculum | Meeting |
| Premises and facilities | Meeting |
| Health and safety | Meeting |
| Governance, management and administration | Meeting |
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Tom Parker House is one of two early childhood services governed and managed by Birthright Hawke’s Bay Child and Family Care (Birthright). Almost half of the children enrolled are Māori. Most two-year-old children transition to Swinburn House, Birthright’s second service.
The service curriculum is responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Teachers engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences and care moments.
The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences appropriate to the ages and abilities of the children attending.
Consistent implementation and monitoring of health and safety, as well as governance and management systems are required to ensure the regulatory standards are maintained.
Next steps include:
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008 PF7, GMA7A, HS12
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
9 May 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | Tom Parker House |
| Profile Number | 46018 |
| Location | Marewa, Napier |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 15 children aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 100% |
| Service roll | 17 |
| Review team on site | March 2024 |
| Date of this report | 9 May 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Akarangi | Quality Evaluation, January 2021; Education Review, September 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 regulatory 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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 (PDF 3.01 MB) 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 91.30 KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence. Information about Akarangi | Quality Evaluations can be found here.
ERO’s judgements for Tom Parker House are as follows:
Outcome Indicators | ERO’s judgement |
| What the service knows about outcomes for learners | Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | ERO’s judgement |
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning | Whakaū Embedding |
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management | Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Tom Parker House is one of two community-based services operating under the umbrella of Birthright Hawke's Bay Child and Family Care. The organisation works with other agencies to provide practical help and support to families. The centre manager has oversight of both centres, supported by a senior teacher in each.
Children lead their own learning within a calm, slow paced environment. The centre philosophy increasingly guides practice. Strong relationships between kaiako, parents and children are well established. The service works collaboratively with external agencies to reduce challenges to children’s participation in learning.
Consistent routines and attentive caregiving enhance infants’ and toddlers’ sense of security. Their verbal and non-verbal cues are responded to in meaningful ways. A variety of learning experiences encourage early language development. Te reo and tikanga Māori are becoming more consistent throughout the curriculum.
Staff inquire into their practice and make appropriate changes to promote culturally responsive care, particularly for Māori children. Leaders have identified that developing learning-focused partnerships with whānau should further support kaiako to build knowledge of each child’s cultural and learner identity. As a part of this work, strengthening the response to children’s cultural identity is needed to enrich the delivery of the curriculum.
Kaiako are beginning to explore children’s learning and progress in relation to the intended outcomes of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Currently, they are investigating ways to better capture children’s progress of learning overtime. Further strengthening this process should improve kaiako understanding of how children are progressing against the service’s priorities for learning.
An increased use of internal evaluation is identifying actions for improvement. Teachers are developing their understanding of internal evaluation. Better use of appropriate indicators of high quality and identification of actual outcomes for children as a result of the evaluation is needed. This should provide greater insight into how well changes in practice are contributing to desired outcomes.
Tom Parker House will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Tom Parker House 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.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
25 January 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Tom Parker House |
| Profile Number | 46018 |
| Location | Napier |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 15 children, including up to 15 aged under 2. |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80%+ |
| Service roll | 15 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 11, NZ European/Pākehā 1, Other ethnic groups 3. |
| Review team on site | December 2020 |
| Date of this report | 25 January 2021 |
Most recent ERO report(s)
| Education Review, September 2017; Education Review, October 2014. |
Not well placed | Requires further development | Well placed | Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Tom Parker House is a community-based education and care service operating under the umbrella of Birthright Hawke's Bay Child and Family Care (Birthright). Its priority is to meet the diverse needs of very young children and their families. Birthright works with other agencies in providing practical help and support to centre families.
Opened in late 2012, the centre continues to be well supported by its community. It is licensed for 15 children, including up to 15 children aged up to two years. Of the 19 children enrolled, 18 are Māori and most are aged under two years.
The centre's philosophy embraces the cultural identities of children and their whānau placing emphasis on their wellbeing and sense of belonging.
The teachers at Tom Parker House are qualified early childhood teachers.
Birthright trustees are responsible for the centre's governance. Birthright also manages nearby Swinburn House for children aged two to five years where many children transition to.
The vision and philosophy of the trustees and the service are effectively implemented in practice. The centre is improvement-focused and well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
Children experience a welcoming, inclusive environment with a calm and peaceful tone. They confidently lead their own learning as independent and collaborative explorers and communicators. The programme is responsive to individual interests, needs and preferences.
Respectful, nurturing relationships are visible in the responsive interactions that occur between children and teachers. Encouraging self-managing skills is prioritised. A wide range of quality resources invites children's investigation and participation.
Te ao Māori is strongly woven through centre practices. Te reo Māori is promoted through rituals and learning experiences. Incorporating Māori values, cultural events and celebrations are part of the centre’s way of knowing, doing and being. This supports Māori children's sense of belonging and wellbeing.
Planning for learning highlights individual children's interests, needs and preferences. Useful goals are developed for each child. Three monthly evaluations of progress against these goals occurs. Learning stories assessment incorporates Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and captures the progress of children over time. A next step is to develop group planning that identifies and evaluates teaching strategies and learning outcomes.
Parents and whānau are encouraged to contribute to their children's learning in a variety of ways. An online programme has been introduced and is promoting further communication and supporting relationships between families and teachers.
A considered transition process is in place to support children and families into the centre and on to the neighbouring Swinburn House through visits and sharing of information.
The leader and the teachers work collaboratively and liaise closely with Birthright trustees through regular monthly reporting. Centre meetings take place to share ideas about teaching and learning practices. Improving the depth of these discussions to better focus on high quality early childhood education is needed.
The recently revised appraisal system is contributing to teacher professional growth. Greater use of formal observations of practice and increased management and mentoring support for the head teacher's appraisal and all staff should strengthen the process.
Self review and programme evaluations provide insights into teaching practices. Evaluative capacity is being developed through professional learning. The manager is fostering collaborative review that is leading to positive change and improvement. Ensuring deeper analysis and sense-making of evidence collected within evaluations should strengthen this process.
The centre's next steps are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Tom Parker House 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.
The next ERO review of Tom Parker House will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
26 September 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.
| Location | Napier | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 46018 | ||
| Licence type | Education & Care Service | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 15 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 19 | ||
| Gender composition | Boys 12, Girls 7 | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori Pākehā | 18 1 | |
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates | 80% + | ||
| Reported ratios of staff to children | Under 2 | 1:4 | Better than minimum requirements |
| Review team on site | August 2017 | ||
| Date of this report | 26 September 2017 | ||
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review | October 2014 | |
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.