49-53 Luckens Road, West Harbour, Auckland
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 |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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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.
West Harbour Christian Kindergarten is a privately owned centre that operates in facilities provided by West Harbour Alliance Church. The owner leads a team of four qualified teachers, one of whom is a recently appointed centre manager. The children enrolled at this service have culturally diverse heritages.
Adults providing education and care engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The curriculum is inclusive, and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences.
Consistent implementation and monitoring of practices is required to meet regulatory standards.
A key next step is to:
strengthen the extent to which information documented about children’s learning reflects their identity, languages and cultures.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence to show the following non-compliances have been addressed:
Ensuring heavy fixtures and fittings that could topple and cause injury are appropriately secured (HS6).
having an emergency plan that includes a list of safety and emergency supplies and how these will be maintained, and a communication plan for families and external support services (HS7).
Ensuring that adults providing education and care are familiar with relevant emergency drills and carry out each type of drill with the children (as appropriate) on at least a three-monthly basis; and a record of emergency drills carried out is maintained (which includes an evaluation of these drills has informed the annual review of the service’s emergency plan) (HS8).
Having a procedure for monitoring children’s sleep that ensures they are checked for warmth, breathing and general wellbeing and that they have no access to food or liquid while in bed (HS9).
ensuring hazards to the safety of children are eliminated, isolated or minimised (HS12).
having a record of excursions that includes evidence of parental permission and approval of adult: child ratios for regular excursions (HS17).
maintaining a record of each component of staff safety checking requirements, including recording the date on which each step was taken and that the risk assessment is completed and dated after all relevant information is obtained. Every children’s worker must be safety checked every three years (GMA7A).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
18 October 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
West Harbour Christian Kindergarten |
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Profile Number |
46098 |
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Location |
West Harbour, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
37 children over 2 years of age |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
22 |
|
Review team on site |
August 2023 |
|
Date of this report |
18 October 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Akanuku | Assurance Review, July 2021 |
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.
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 Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.
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 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:
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 certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
As part of an Akanuku | 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.
ERO’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.
West Harbour Christian Kindergarten is a privately owned centre, working as an outreach to the community. It operates in appropriate facilities provided by West Harbour Alliance Church. The owner is supported by three qualified teachers, a centre manager and head teacher. The children attending the service are from the culturally diverse local community.
The curriculum acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children. Information and guidance are sought when necessary from agencies/services to enable adults providing education to work effectively with children and their parents.
The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. A sufficient variety of (indoor and outdoor) furniture, equipment and materials are provided and are appropriate for the learning and abilities of the children attending.
Leaders and kaiako must monitor that policies and procedures are followed in premises and facilities, health and safety and governance, and management and administration practices to meet all aspects of regulatory compliance.
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliance:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
19 July 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | West Harbour Christian Kindergarten |
| Profile Number | 46098 |
| Location | West Harbour, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
37 children, including up to no aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
|
Service roll |
32 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 6 |
|
Review team on site |
May 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
19 July 2021 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2018 |
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 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
The West Harbour Christian Kindergarten is licensed to provide education and care for up to 37 children of diverse ethnicities aged 2 years and over. The kindergarten has been operating for five years in appropriate facilities provided by a West Harbour church.
Since the kindergarten's first ERO review in 2014, the service provider has appointed a number of new staff, including a new manager and head teacher. Together they have reviewed the learning programme and established a collaborative culture of inquiry focused on outcomes for children.
The kindergarten's philosophy is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and is complemented by the centre's own Christian curriculum. All current teaching staff are fully registered teachers. The licensee ensures that staff have access to good quality professional development to support positive outcomes for children.
Teachers provide a warm welcome to individual parents and children each morning. Children move confidently to indoor and outdoor activities that teachers have set up for them. Teachers know children well, and value the relationships they have formed with parents and whānau.
Children select from a good range of equipment that is attractively stored and displayed. They make deliberate choices about their play and engage purposefully with the learning activities. Teachers ensure that children have opportunities to sustain their play, work cooperatively and develop friendships. They clearly aspire for each child to be a capable and competent learner.
Teachers' planning is becoming more responsive to children's interests, enabling children to contribute their ideas to the programme. Teachers introduce concepts such as sustainability and guardianship that align with centre values and learning. Group times, where all children are able to participate actively in action songs, music and storytelling, are enjoyable and culturally affirming.
Teachers communicate openly and frequently with parents. They document centre activities and outings that occur throughout the year, both in on line feedback and in children's portfolios. Parents are appreciative of this information. As teachers reflect on the use of these systems they should place greater emphasis on documenting children's individual learning dispositions and learning progress.
Professional learning planned for 2018 is designed to improve teacher appraisal systems. This should enable all teachers to reflect on their practice and further develop child-led learning approaches. It should also provide opportunities for teachers to critically examine how well they are providing complex play opportunities to extend the learning of older children.
Staff demonstrate an increased commitment to biculturalism, resulting in a growing appreciation of tikanga Māori. Appropriate displays, resources and signage in te reo Māori are positive developments that affirm Māori children as tangata whenua and enhance the significance of language, culture and identity for all children and staff.
New centre leaders are ably supported by an actively involved service provider. Together they have documented a strategic direction and consulted staff about annual management plans. A process for systematically updating and rationalising policies, and providing accountability for evaluating ongoing improvements should be included in these plans.
ERO and centre leaders agree that priorities for further development include:
Before the review, the staff and management of West Harbour Christian Kindergarten 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.
In order to improve practice:
Centre leaders at West Harbour Christian Kindergarten have agreed to rationalise the centre's policy framework, word policies more concisely, and demonstrate clearly how policies and procedures align with current legislation, particularly those relating to the Vulnerable Children's Act 2014 and requirements of the Education Council.
The next ERO review of West Harbour Christian Kindergarten will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
19 March 2018
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 |
West Harbour, Auckland |
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|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46098 |
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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 |
37 children, over 2 years of age |
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|
Service roll |
30 |
||
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Gender composition |
Girls 19 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
4 |
|
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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 |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
February 2018 |
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Date of this report |
19 March 2018 |
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|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
November 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:
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.