Growing Learners Childcare & Preschool

1 ERO’s Judgements

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 3.01MB) 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 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.

ERO’s judgements for Growing Learners Childcare and Preschool are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Growing Learners Childcare and Preschool is privately owned. The owner/centre manager is a qualified early childhood teacher who is supported by four qualified and three unqualified teachers. Children and staff reflect the multicultural community. The service provides education and care for up to 34 children from birth to school age.

3 Summary of findings

Children, including infants and toddlers, develop secure relationships with their teachers. They experience an environment that promotes their sense of belonging and wellbeing. Children confidently choose from a range of learning experiences to engage in and explore their surroundings.

Children and families are greeted warmly by teachers who are focused on building relationships that are responsive to children’s individual needs. Parents, who spoke with ERO, feel a strong connection to their culture through special celebrations, events, festivals, language and stories included in the centre’s programme.

Te reo and tikanga Māori are valued in the environment and visible for children and families to see and hear. Teachers promote tuakana/teina relationships where older children support and learn from and with younger children. Leaders have identified the service’s bicultural journey as an area for improvement. Cultural resources, phrases and songs affirm the languages, cultures and identities of Pacific children.

Teachers prioritise the development of oral language skills and recognise the importance of this in developing children’s social and emotional competence. Teachers actively seek support and guidance from external agencies for children with additional learning needs. They work in partnership with whānau, to help remove barriers to children’s participation in all aspects of the curriculum.

Teachers and leaders are reflective. They take collective responsibility in accessing professional learning opportunities. Induction and mentoring processes for new staff help to build a shared commitment to enacting the service’s philosophy.

Leaders are developing an understanding of how ongoing monitoring of policies and procedures leads to good quality and equitable outcomes for children. Leaders have agreed to review their systems to ensure ongoing evaluation occurs.

4 Improvement actions

Growing Learners Childcare and Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• build shared understandings of how teachers can respond effectively to the interests, strengths and capabilities of individual children
• develop shared understandings of the processes and purpose of internal evaluation that contributes to positive learning outcomes for children
• implement a system where documentation is reviewed and monitored to gauge its effectiveness.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Growing Learners Childcare and Preschool 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.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

11 June 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service

1 Evaluation of Growing Learners Childcare & Preschool

How well placed is Growing Learners Childcare & Preschool to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Growing Learners provides education and care services for up to 25 children, between the ages of three months and five years. Children are from Pacific, Māori and Indian cultural backgrounds, with the largest group being Samoan.

The centre opened in December 2014 and this is its first ERO review. One of the two centre directors/owners is a fully registered teacher. She manages staff, leads the teaching team and administers systems to support daily centre operations. The other owner manages property matters.

Three staff have provisional teaching certificates and a fourth is currently working towards provisionally certification.

The Review Findings

Children are settled and engage well in the inclusive programme. A number of children have other family members attending the centre and there are natural tuakana/teina relationships. Children explore the learning environment, and play contentedly alongside each other. The teachers support children's individual and group interests through programme planning. Many children are confident, articulate, independent, and curious learners.

Infants and toddlers are well cared for and are fully integrated into the mixed-age learning environment. Teachers interact with them during routines and play experiences according to their individual developmental stages. Language development is prioritised to help these younger children communicate with others. A core group of teachers fosters infants' and toddlers' emotional wellbeing through being consistently responsible for and available to them.

Strong relationships are developing between teachers and parents. Teachers have begun to gather parents' ideas about what they want for their children through surveys and daily conversations. Parents' suggestions and requests are used to plan programmes for children.

Excursions enable parents, children and teachers to enjoy new experiences and explore learning opportunities together. Parents appreciate the warm, friendly conversations that they have with teachers about their children's progress. Children's home languages and cultural identities are affirmed through centre programmes, celebrations and events.

The teaching director is committed to growing leadership in the team and models effective teaching practices. The director is initiating a professional network of leaders from local centres.

Organisational structures would be improved by linking the centre philosophy to quality practice indicators and more clearly linking health and safety policies to procedures. Appraisal is at the beginning stages of development and should be improved to meet the requirements of the Education Council. It would be worthwhile to establish longer term strategic planning.

Key Next Steps

Next steps include:

• strengthening teacher appraisal systems and mentoring programmes

• ensuring that the centre director is appraised regularly by an external appraiser

• evaluating strategic goals to show improved outcomes for children

• continuing to evaluate and improve centre policies and associated procedures

• ensuring that programme planning responds to children's learning dispositions and interests

• developing partnerships with parents that have a focus on children's learning.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Growing Learners Childcare & Preschool 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.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. 

Next ERO Review

When is ERO likely to review the service again?

The next ERO review of Growing Learners Childcare & Preschool will be in three years.

Violet Tu'uga Stevenson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

26 June 2017 

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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. 

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service 

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review

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:

• Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
• Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
• Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
• Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.