38 Devon Street, Stoke, Nelson
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 Nurture@Home Tahi are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whakaū Embedding Whakaū Embedding |
This is one of three homebased services under shared ownership. The owner and visiting teachers are qualified early childhood teachers who provide guidance and support to educators, children and their families. Most educators have completed a relevant qualification. Nearly a quarter of children who attend are Māori. As part of this evaluation, ERO visited a sample of educators’ homes in Nelson.
Children experience calm, unhurried, engaging learning environments. They follow their interests, learn in small groups, and regularly visit the local community with their educator. Children who require additional resources are well supported to meet their individual goals.
Visiting teachers coach and mentor educators to develop an understanding about how children learn, and the importance of assessment, planning and evaluation for learning. A more clearly defined process is required to support educators to document children’s learning. As a group, visiting teachers plan and provide regular larger group learning-based play opportunities that support children’s social and emotional skill development. They support educators well through monthly visits to homes and ongoing specific communication.
Educators and visiting teachers incorporate learning dispositions and some learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, into assessment documentation to show children’s increasing capabilities and development. There is some variability in learning documentation as visiting teachers work alongside newer educators. Children’s languages, cultures and identities are somewhat visible through the documented curriculum.
The leadership team creates close relationships with educators, children and whānau. They place strong emphasis on developing shared understandings about providing a local, bicultural curriculum. This work is helping to build visiting teachers’ capability. It is now timely to use this knowledge to support educators to increase their use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in their everyday practices.
Leaders engage in regular internal evaluation that improves systems and practices. Clearer steps to make the process more manageable, with a stronger emphasis on the key outcomes for children when monitoring and evaluating, is required.
Nurture@Home Tahi will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Nurture@Home Tahi 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:
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.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
25 July 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | Nurture@Home Tahi |
| Profile Number | 46540 |
| Local | Nelson |
| Service type | Home-based service |
| Number licensed for | 80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
| Service roll | 69 |
| Review team on site | May 2024 |
| Date of this report | 25 July 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, September 2018 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Nurture@Home Ltd. is a privately-owned, home-based care and education service. The owners are two early childhood qualified teachers who are also the visiting teachers. They are responsible for a number of educators who take care of not more than four preschool children, at one time, in their own homes.
The owners provide ongoing support and training opportunities for the educators. They also support nannies who care for children in the children's home. The service is licenced for a total of 80 children.
The owners have set a clear vision for the direction of the service. They believe in the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships within the service and in partnership with families, for the benefit of children. A strong programme focus is children’s engagement with and exploring nature.
This is Nurture@Home Ltd.'s first Education Review.
The owners at Nurture@Home Ltd. have high expectations for children's care and education. They carefully select educators and nannies who understand the importance of positive, caring relationships within a professional context. They are building a strong sense of family within the service, with a focus on working together to provide the best possible outcomes for children.
Since opening the service, the owners have established effective systems to support teaching and children’s learning. These have included policies, procedures and monitoring systems that guide practice across all aspects of the service.
Educators receive effective support and guidance. Visiting teachers are clear about the learning they see as important for children. They provide helpful information and useful resources on a regular basis, to ensure educators provide programmes that extend the learning of each child in their care. There has been significant work within the service to ensure educators understand the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki and how to use it in their daily practice. The owners have established a wide range of processes for communicating with parents, to keep them informed and involved in their child's learning.
Educators are encouraged to pursue early childhood qualifications. The owners provide both internal and external professional development opportunities to continually build the knowledge and skills of educators and nannies. The expectation for all involved in the service to build on their te ao Māori knowledge and implement bicultural practices, is visible across a range of practices. These practices and the involvement of parents in supporting and building culture, is contributing to children's success as Māori.
Children up to the age of two are carefully matched with educators with the skills and knowledge to work with the families’ home routines and provide appropriate care and learning experiences. The small group size within a safe, homely environment facilitates close interactions.
To ensure all children have equitable opportunities to develop and learn, the owners have established a system to closely monitor the learning of priority children and those with diverse needs. This has been established to support educators to develop intentional and effective strategies appropriate for each child. This is a work in progress and has yet to be fully implemented, monitored and evaluated.
The owners have a good understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities. They effectively separate their governance role from that of visiting teacher. They have established effective links with support agencies in the community and are involved in a cluster of education professionals within a local Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL).
The owners have established a strong culture of continuous improvement across the service. They understand the value and importance of regular reviews of practice. The internal evaluation processes undertaken to date have contributed to improvements that support positive outcomes for children. A useful appraisal process is also helping to guide ongoing development in the visiting teachers' and educators' practice.
ERO and the owners agree that the key next steps are to:
Further develop, monitor and evaluate:
action planning to support the strategic goals and strategic priorities
new initiatives that support priority learners
how adults enhance children's language, culture and identity
ways to integrate Māori perspectives and bicultural understanding across all aspects of the service
internal evaluation processes to ensure the focus is on improving outcomes for all children, especially in relation to the vision, philosophy and valued outcomes.
Before the review, the staff and management of Nurture@Home Ltd. completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
The next ERO review of Nurture@Home Ltd. will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
10 September 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 |
Stoke, Nelson |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
46540 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 30 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
79 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Gender composition |
Girls: 40 Boys: 39 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
9 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
3 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
August 2018 |
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Date of this report |
10 September 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
First ERO review for this service |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
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.