98 Taieri Road, Roslyn, Dunedin
View on mapNot well placed | Requires further development | Well placed | Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) is privately owned and one of eight Little Wonder Childcare services across New Zealand. These services are currently in a transition phase to new ownership.
A centre manager has responsibility for the centre and is new to the role since the 2015 ERO review. She manages two Little Wonder Childcare services in Dunedin. Since her appointment staffing has been stable. The centre manager is supported by a team of head teachers who have day-to-day responsibility for the education programmes. The centre is full day and licensed for 100 children aged three months to five years. The children receive education and care across five classrooms.
Since the ERO review in 2015 the owner and leadership team have made significant improvements to the service and addressed all of ERO’s recommendations. These included management of staffing changes and establishing organisational expectations and systems to monitor the quality of centre processes and teaching practices.
A useful centre philosophy reflects the teachers’ values and beliefs and identifies the key learning priorities for children. Comprehensive strategic and annual plans identify the service's vision and goals. These plans have been carefully designed to build the service across all aspects of the operation.
Teachers work with intention and purpose, using a range of effective strategies, to affirm children and extend their thinking. They are collaborative and enthusiastic about their work. The learning programmes in each room are specifically planned to support children’s interests and engagement with learning. Teachers' shared understanding of the intended learning is building children’s confidence, independence, and social abilities.
Teachers enable children to learn through their interests. Children play and work for sustained periods of time alone, alongside others, or with teachers. They follow well-established routines and their teachers have clear expectations for behaviour. Children have positive relationships with one another and their teachers, and show a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging.
Other features that contribute to positive outcomes for children include:
Children in the infant and toddler rooms receive a high level of care. The calm, relaxed environments and nurturing relationships ensure children’s emotional needs are being met. Teachers work with parents to ensure routines are consistent with home life. Teachers are very responsive to young children's verbal and non-verbal cues. They use every opportunity to promote oral language, grow children’s independence and extend their social development.
Teachers value te reo Māori, and Māori knowledge, perspectives and tikanga. The centre environment, resources and programmes reflect this commitment. As a result, children have many opportunities to learn about New Zealand's bicultural heritage. Teachers see this as an area for ongoing development and learning.
The service is managed well by an able and collaborative centre manager. She has built leadership and teacher capability through provision of relevant professional development. She and the head teachers make good use of teachers' individual strengths and interests to enrich children's learning. Leaders and teachers show a sound understanding of effective internal evaluation. This has led to well-informed change and ongoing improvement in centre systems, practices and programmes.
The leaders have identified that they now need to consolidate the changes made. They are aware that their next steps are to continue to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) 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 Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
18 July 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 | Dunedin | ||
| Ministry of Education profile number | 46150 | ||
| Licence type | Education & Care Service | ||
| Licensed under | Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 | ||
| Number licensed for | 100 children, including up to 35 aged under 2 | ||
| Service roll | 109 | ||
| Gender composition | Girls: 60 Boys: 49 | ||
| Ethnic composition | Māori Pākehā Other | 9 87 13 | |
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates | 80% + | ||
| Reported ratios of staff to children | Under 2 | 1:3 | Better than minimum requirements |
| Over 2 | 1:9 | Better than minimum requirements | |
| Review team on site | June 2017 | ||
| Date of this report | 18 July 2017 | ||
Most recent ERO report
| Education Review | September 2015 | |
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Systems and practices at Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) require further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) is a new, purpose-built education and care centre in Dunedin. It opened in March 2013 and has experienced strong roll growth. It is one of eight Little Wonders centres in New Zealand.
The centre provides education and care for up to 100 children aged from birth-to-school age. Families attend from many parts of Dunedin, and appreciate the extended opening hours the centre provides. The children play and learn in five different rooms according to their ages. The centre provides meals for the children.
A priority for the manager since the centre opened has been to develop a philosophy that states what is important for children to learn at the centre. Teachers aim to foster respectful relationships with children and their families. They want children to have the skills to develop friendships, independence and communication and to have fun in their learning.
At the time of this review there were significant staff changes at the centre. This includes changes in the leadership and management team. A process was underway to seek and appoint a new manager. A range of experienced and beginning teachers are employed.
This is the centre’s first ERO report.
The manager, with the support of the teachers, has worked hard to establish this new centre. Teachers form positive relationships with children and their families. They have a variety of ways to communicate with parents about their children’s care, interests and learning. There are planned transitions for children into the centre and between rooms.
The children enjoy a range of learning experiences including art, visitors to the centre, and a focus on early literacy and numeracy for the older children. The manager has led ongoing staff development to ensure that profile books are an attractive record of the children’s learning and experiences at the centre. Guidelines now need to be developed to ensure this work continues.
The teachers are continuing to develop their planning and assessment practices. They still need to develop a centre-wide approach to group planning to ensure they help children achieve the outcomes expressed in the philosophy and identified needs within the centre. One such need is to help all children to develop their oral language capability.
The manager has developed a useful strategic plan. Many of the goals in this plan are in the early stages of being implemented. She has documented the many developments that have occurred in the centre since opening. It is timely now to review how well these developments contribute to the centre achieving its goals. The manager identified that teachers are still developing their use and understanding of self review.
While there is a network for the leaders of the eight Little Wonders centres to meet and provide mutual support, the owner has recognised that centre leaders and managers need more formal and intensive support to enable them in their roles. At the time of this review a contract to provide support had just been confirmed.
The owner provides a policy framework to guide the centre operations. The systems in place are not robust and comprehensive enough to confirm for the owner:
The key next steps for the centre owner is to improve the systems within the centre to give better guidance to ensure his expectations are met. This includes:
The owner needs to receive better evaluative information about how well the centre is operating. He needs to know:
The owner acknowledges the need to provide comprehensive support for the new manager and leaders during this time of change within the centre.
Leaders need to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) 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.
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.
ERO recommends that the service consult with the Ministry of Education and develop plans to address the key next steps outlined in this report.
The next ERO review of Little Wonders Childcare (Roslyn) will be within two years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
9 September 2015
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 |
Dunedin |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
46150 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 35 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
113 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 57 Boys: 56 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Other |
6 91 16 |
|
|
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 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
9 September 2015 |
||
|
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.