271 Tweed Street, Invercargill
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 Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Service is one of two services under the same ownership. Owners provide governance and support. A centre manager and new leadership oversee a team of mostly qualified staff. Children attending are from diverse cultural backgrounds. Approximately a quarter of children are Māori, and a small number are of Pacific heritages. Progress is ongoing towards the key next steps identified in the 2019 ERO report.
Children benefit from a responsive curriculum, based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. It prioritises the fostering of children’s social and emotional competence, foundation skills for learning, independence and creativity. These priorities are evident in the way teachers involve children in decision making about their play and engage respectfully with them to support their learning. Children with additional learning needs benefit from the caring learning environment.
Infants and toddlers play and learn in a calm environment suited to their needs. Teachers’ interactions are respectful and responsive to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues. The outside area offers space and appropriate challenges to extend their learning.
A culturally responsive curriculum is developing. There are some opportunities for children to hear, see and speak te reo Māori. Cultural events are celebrated. However, there are limited opportunities for children of Pacific and other ethnic heritages to experience a curriculum that reflects and acknowledges their languages, cultures and identity.
Leaders and teachers are in the early stages of establishing practices for the assessment of, and planning for, children’s learning. They are beginning to explore Te Whāriki learning outcomes. There is some evidence of children's developing capability in relation to these outcomes. There is further work to be done in gathering parent and whānau aspirations and evaluating children’s learning and progress over time.
Leaders are improvement focused. Ongoing mentoring and coaching are growing leadership capability. There is a deliberate and collaborative approach to self-review. Continuing to develop leaders’ and teachers’ understanding of effective internal evaluation is an ongoing priority.
Those in governance provide for the learning and wellbeing of all those within the service. They allocate resources aligned to the centre's vision, values and goals with the aim of supporting all children to fully access the curriculum. Children are the primary consideration for their decision making.
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Leaders and teachers to develop a shared understanding of the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki and consistently include in assessment documentation how they use these to show children’s learning and progress over time.
Regularly gather parent and whānau aspirations and use these to inform planning for individual children.
Further develop and implement a curriculum that is responsive to children’s diverse languages, cultures and identities.
Build collective capability to do and use effective internal evaluation, to know what is, or is not, working well, and for whom.
Before the review, the staff and management of Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre 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.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Securing fixtures and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage (HS6).
Having the signature of the person responsible giving approval for excursions to take place (HS17).
Having consistent records for the administration of medicine that show written authority from parents, time medicine was administered and by whom, and evidence of parental acknowledgement (HS28).
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
21 June 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre |
|
Profile Number |
46046 |
|
Location |
Invercargill |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
90 children, including up to 40 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
94 |
|
Review team on site |
February 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
21 June 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, June 2019 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre is a privately owned full-day education and care service for children aged three months to six years. It is one of the owner's two purpose-built centres.
The current centre manager was appointed after the 2016 ERO review and has overall responsibility for day-to-day matters and the learning programme. There is a team leader in each of the four rooms: Koru, Toetoe, Kowhai and Rata. Children transition through the rooms as they grow and develop.
Some progress has been made in addressing the recommendations of the 2016 review. Developments include processes for induction of staff, support for beginning teachers and children's transitions in and through the centre. However, many of the recommendations continue to be works in progress.
Children and families show a sense of belonging to the centre. Teachers have friendly, welcoming, supportive relationships with children and their families.
Children respond well to the programme. The spacious well-designed outdoor area provides a range of opportunities for exploration and developing children’s physical abilities. Excursions and at times long-term projects further enrich the learning. Children explore available activities and resources and engage for sustained periods of time when they are able to follow their interests and are supported by teachers. Teachers now need to further develop the curriculum so it provides a richer and more responsive programme that gives children opportunities to choose the direction of their learning.
Infants and young children are well cared for. They play and learn in calm environments suitably arranged to support their learning and development. Teachers provide good support for continuity of care between the centre and home. They are responsive to these young children's interests and preferences.
Since the 2016 ERO review, the service has introduced an online system for documenting children’s learning and communicating with parents. The next step is to review the usefulness of the new system, to see how well it supports learning and teaching, and how useful it is for parents.
While some teachers' planning assessment and evaluation practices are well implemented, overall the quality of this across the service is variable. The next step is for the leadership team to developed guidelines that clearly set their expectations for the process and quality of assessment, programme planning and evaluation.
The service has a useful strategic plan, clear vision, centre values and a philosophy that states the centres aspirations for children. The recent review of the philosophy has helped the service identify its key learning priorities. Leaders are in the process of aligning these with Te Whāriki- the Early Childhood Curriculum and programme planning. Currently, each room has an additional vision and philosophy. Leaders need to be clear about the purpose of these and how they are to be used.
The centre owner values and is committed to supporting professionalism and quality teaching. With the support of the owner, the manager has identified areas for further development and improvement across the service and taken appropriate action to implement change. This includes establishing:
a leadership team supported by appropriate professional development opportunities
updated job descriptions that align with teachers' appraisal goals
responsibility for internal evaluation.
The leaders and teachers need to continue to develop and improve curriculum implementation. Each room needs to provide a rich curriculum that supports identified learning priorities for individuals and groups of children and responds to their language culture and identity. They need a planned approach to support treaty-based practices across the service including a system to monitor and evaluate progress so that gains are not lost.
Assessment planning and evaluation need to be strengthened. This includes:
The owner and manager need to embed the new leadership structure with guidelines for responsibilities and reporting expectations. They need to further develop and embed the new appraisal process and clarify the process for the manager's appraisal.
The understanding and use of internal evaluation needs further development across the service. This includes developing quality indicators to measure performance against. The schedule needs to show that all aspects of the service that impact most on children are evaluated for effectiveness over time.
Before the review, the staff and management of Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre 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.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
19 June 2019
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 |
Invercargill |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46046 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
75 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
92 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 52, Girls 40 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
20 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
April 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
19 June 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2016 |
|
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre opened in 2012. It is privately owned and purpose built to provide education and care for children from 3 months to 6 years of age. The children are cared for and learn in four different rooms, according to their age and development. The roll reflects the diversity of the community.
The centre’s philosophy is based around respect, excellent communication and relationships with children, staff, parents, whānau and community. Nearly all the teachers are qualified early childhood teachers or training to become early childhood teachers. The centre manager is responsible for the day-to-day running of the centre. The co-owners are also the directors and have a hands-on approach that supports their oversight of the centre’s operations.
This is the centre’s first ERO review.
Children are happy, secure and well settled. They have many opportunities to extend their learning and language either in a group or independently. Teachers encourage children to be confident and competent communicators. Children actively learn together and from each other. Older children greatly benefit from the rich learning experiences in and beyond the centre. They confidently lead their own learning and share experiences with their teachers and friends.
Children up to the age of two years are nurtured in a calm and unhurried way. Teachers readily seek advice and guidance from appropriate agencies in order to meet the special needs of some children. Priority learners are very well supported in the centre.
Māori children are able to hear and use te reo Māori often. Group activities where older children support and guide their younger peers, reflect Māori ways of learning. Teachers have begun using the home languages of other children. Parents are regularly invited to share aspects of their cultural background with staff.
Teachers plan a range of experiences to enhance children’s learning and development. Children have access to a variety of resources that extend their problem-solving skills. Transitions into and within the centre are flexible, child paced and well managed. Teachers of the older children have developed good relationships with the local school to help the children transition smoothly.
Parents are well informed of the activities and experiences planned to meet children’s needs and interests. They have good opportunities to contribute to their children’s learning stories. Managers arrange parent evenings where relevant and useful information about aspects of education and care is shared.
The centre is well managed and led. The centre manager uses the skills and experience of the staff to contribute to the centre’s shared leadership. The staff have developed an evaluative self-review process that is effectively targeted and focused on ongoing improvement.
The directors, centre manager and ERO agree some aspects of centre operations could be further improved. These include:
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 Wee Nippers Early Childhood Centre will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
17 February 2016
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 |
Invercargill |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46046 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
75 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
99 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 52; Boys 47 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Cook Island Tongan Asian Other |
20 67 1 1 5 5 |
|
|
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 |
|
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
December 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
17 February 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
||
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 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.