Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough

Education institution number:
46731
Service type:
Education & Care Service
Total roll:
29
Telephone:
Address:

14 Kitchener Street, Martinborough

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Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough

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.

ERO’s Judgement

Regulatory standards

ERO’s judgement

Curriculum

Meeting

Premises and facilities

Meeting

Health and safety

Meeting

Governance, management and administration

Meeting

At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd is a privately owned service. A co-owner serves as the centre manager, working alongside an assistant supervisor and a small teaching team. The service has made good progress in the areas identified as requiring further development in the June 2020 ERO report.

Summary of Review Findings

The service curriculum is inclusive. The assessment, planning and evaluation framework aligned to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts. Kaiako promote the use of meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to support their interests and promote social competence. A policy framework and annual planning guide centre operations. Teacher appraisal and internal evaluation processes are established. Health and safety practices and premises and facilities are monitored to meet the relevant licensing criteria. 

Key Next Steps

Next steps include to:

  • continue to embed assessment, planning and evaluation processes, making visible children’s languages, cultures and identities in learning records, and evaluating the effectiveness of teaching on outcomes for children  
  • determine how teachers will work in partnership with parents, families, whānau Māori so their aspirations are evident in the philosophy, vision, goals and plans for children’s learning and wellbeing 
  • integrate places of significance to mana whenua Māori into the localised curriculum.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

24 June 2021 

Information About the Service

Early Childhood Service Name Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough 
Profile Number 46731
Location Martinborough

Service type

Education and care service

Number licensed for

22 children, including up to 10 aged under 2.

Percentage of qualified teachers

80%+

Service roll

30

Ethnic composition

Māori 9, NZ European/Pākehā 20, Other ethnicities 1.

Review team on site

May 2021

Date of this report

24 June 2021

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review June 2020, Education Review February 2017

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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.

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

  • 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.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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 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:

  • 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 certification; ratios)
  • evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

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.

Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough - 23/06/2020

1 Evaluation of Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough

How well placed is Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Not well placed

Requires further development

Well placed

Very well placed

Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough requires further development to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

Some progress has been made in strengthening the areas of practice identified as requiring development in the February 2017 ERO report. Targeted support, specifically tailored to centre needs, should be sought to further improve the new team's approach.

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

Background

Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough is a small privately-owned early childhood service. It is licensed for 22 children, including 10 aged up to two. Of the 32 children enrolled, nine are Māori.

The two owners of the service and a senior staff member make up the leadership team. Eight teachers are employed, six of whom are qualified and registered. There has been recent staff turnover.

The philosophy underpinning teaching and learning emphasises the importance of children having equitable opportunities for learning based on their interests and needs, respectful relationships, bicultural partnership, working with parents, and caring for the natural environment.

The February 2017 ERO report identified areas of practice requiring further development. These were: resourcing for learning; using parent aspirations in assessment; and internal evaluation. Some progress has been made in improving the range of centre resources.

The Review Findings

A strong sense of community is evident. The learning programme acknowledges the local environment, people and special occasions. Teachers and leaders know families well. Relationships between staff and children are positive and trusting. Children settle quickly into the routines of the day and are excited, active participants in the experiences provided.

Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are well integrated into the programme in meaningful ways, supporting children's developing understanding of their bicultural heritage. Teachers should work together to further develop their response to families' cultures, languages and identities. This should include increasing familiarity with Ministry of Education resources. The development of centre guidelines and expectations, linked to culturally responsive practice, should support the sustainability of the team's approach, and evaluation in terms of learner outcomes.

Toddlers are active participants in the programme, playing confidently alongside their peers. It is timely for leaders to develop clear guidelines for working with children aged up to two years to support shared understanding and a consistent approach across the team.

Children's transitions into and out of the service are carefully considered to support their wellbeing. A positive relationship with the local school has been established. The team should continue to seek ways of sharing information with new entrant teachers about individual children to support the continuity of their learning when they move on to school.

Aspects of the learning environment and programme require strengthening. These include:

  • the organisation of materials and equipment to better invite children's interest and participation and enable them to independently make choices linked to their interests

  • opportunities for children to make choices about their participation in the programme to support their self-management and empowerment as learners

  • some teachers' levels of engagement with children, including infants and toddlers, through the use of learning conversations and interactions that promote sustained play and interest

  • extending further opportunities for children to reflect on their learning and see themselves as learners through the use of photographic displays and access to their own assessment portfolios.

Leaders and teachers continue to develop their approach to planning for learning. An on-line programme is used well to inform parents about their children's participation and aspects of their learning. Parents' hopes and dreams for their children have recently been requested and are now celebrated through display. Leaders agree next steps for the new team are:

  • using parents' aspirations as a basis for planning and promoting partnership in learning

  • working with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and families and whānau, to further define key philosophical ideas and values as a basis for the programme

  • working more collaboratively to record individual children's learning journeys, taking into account their interests, ideas, working theories and developing learning dispositions

  • identifying and recording the actions they will take to extend those significant aspects of each child's learning

  • adding a cultural perspective to learning stories.

The owners/managers are responsive to issues and seek to find solutions. Progress has been made in supporting the team's understanding and use of self review. Some aspects of management require strengthening, including:

  • the rigour of the teachers' appraisal, and induction and mentoring processes, through improved feedback linked to teaching requirements and teacher goals

  • provision of more targeted professional learning opportunities for staff

  • understanding and use of internal evaluation to support better measurement of the impact of initiatives on child outcomes, and inform decisions about next development steps

  • guiding documents to ensure they all reflect current legislative requirements.

Key Next Steps

Priorities for development are to strengthen:

  • shared understanding of the philosophy guiding teaching and learning

  • aspects of the learning environment and programme

  • planning for learning

  • understanding and use of internal evaluation

  • guidance for meeting accountabilities and to support teaching and learning.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Bell St Early Learning Centre Ltd - Martinborough 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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to governance, and premises and facilities. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following areas:

  • ensuring children's access to the licensed space is not unnecessarily limited.
    [Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, PF2,]

In order to improve current practice, the service provider should ensure:

  • guidelines for the recording and reporting of serious accidents are clarified

  • risk assessment for excursions is sufficiently comprehensive

  • the programme is further developed to better support children's play when the weather is hot.

Development Plan Recommendation

ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops a plan to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

23 June 2020

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

Location

Martinborough

Ministry of Education profile number

46731

Licence type

Education & Care Service

Licensed under

Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008

Number licensed for

22 children, including up to 10 aged under 2

Service roll

32

Gender composition

Male 18, Female 14

Ethnic composition

Māori
NZ European/Pākehā
Other ethnic groups

9
20
3

Percentage of qualified teachers

80% +

Reported ratios of staff to children

Under 2

1:5

Meets minimum requirements

Over 2

1:6

Better than minimum requirements

Review team on site

January 2020

Date of this report

23 June 2020

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

February 2017

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

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.

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.