91 Thomas Road, Rototuna, Hamilton
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 Littlelees Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
Littlelees Preschool is privately owned and operated. The staff and community are ethnically diverse. A small number of Māori and Pacific learners are enrolled. The centre owner leads a small team of qualified and unqualified teachers. The centre philosophy is based on love and relationships where diversity is celebrated.
Children’s learning and development are enhanced by caring relationships with their teachers within a play-based curriculum. Children lead their own learning in a well-resourced learning environment. Teachers prioritise growing children’s social competence and emotional wellbeing. The curriculum for younger children promotes care as central to their experiences in the mixed-age setting.
Teaching strategies that recognise success for Māori children are at the beginning stages of being integrated into the curriculum. Leaders acknowledge the need to further strengthen teachers’ shared understanding of appropriate cultural practices for Māori, Pacific and children of diverse ethnicities.
Leaders and teachers have made some progress from the 2021 ERO review in relation to curriculum planning and evaluation. They are beginning to use the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, in planning.
Teachers and leaders share their learning, take responsibility for, and actively contribute to each other’s professional growth. Processes of teacher inquiry, reflection and review contribute to children’s learning and the centre’s improvement journey.
Those responsible for leadership and governance clearly understand and enact the values of the centre. They have established a culture of relational trust, where professional accountability and collective responsibility for children’s wellbeing and learning are understood. Children are the main consideration throughout self-reviews; however, the teaching team is in the early stages of understanding and implementing all the stages of a cycle of effective internal evaluation for improvement.
Littlelees Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Littlelees Preschool 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)
3 July 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | Littlelees Preschool |
| Profile Number | 46889 |
| Location | Rototuna, Hamilton |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 30 children aged over 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 25 |
| Review team on site | May 2024 |
| Date of this report | 3 July 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Akarangi | Quality Evaluation, June 2021; Education Review, February 2018 |
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 Littlelees Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators | ERO’s judgement |
| What the service knows about outcomes for learners | Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | ERO’s judgement |
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning | Whāngai Establishing |
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management | Whakaū Embedding |
Littlelees Preschool is a privately owned and operated care service. The staff and community are ethnically diverse. The teaching team is made up of three qualified teachers, and two teacher aides. The centre philosophy is based on love and relationships where diversity is celebrated.
There are many opportunities for parents and whanau to be involved and share information about their child. Children benefit from teachers who value care, relationships and whānau involvement as integral to what happens in the centre. Children learn in a calm and nurturing environment.
The centre leader has established responsive connections within the local community. This supports equity for diverse learners. The views of parents and whānau are informally sought on an ongoing basis. This promotes responsiveness to the language, culture, and identity of children. The leader and kaiako are building on these relationships to increase the focus on children’s learning.
Engagement with professional learning and internal evaluation is growing teachers’ understanding of curriculum. Leaders and kaiako have learned about Matauranga Māori to help support their developing cultural responsiveness. They are yet to explore the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki or build a shared understanding of their priorities for children’s learning in relation to these.
Kaiako are beginning to prioritise children’s learning dispositions and working theories through assessment. Information that identifies the learning outcomes to show the breadth, depth and complexity of children’s capabilities is yet to be realised. Current assessment documentation focuses on noticing children’s play and learning with some analysis of learning. Children and families are yet to see progress and continuity of learning consistently visible within documented assessment.
Teachers are in the early stages of providing and developing a learning environment that supports children’s independence and decision making. A focus on school readiness has become integrated and inclusive of all ages. Planning that guides the teacher led and an activity-based curriculum is limiting children’s ability to lead their own learning.
Littlelees Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Littlelees 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:
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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
11 June 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Littlelees Preschool |
| Profile Number | 46889 |
| Location | Hamilton |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 30 children aged over 2. |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80%+ |
| Service roll | 20 |
| Ethnic composition | Chinese 13, Other ethnic groups 7. |
| Review team on site | April 2021 |
| Date of this report | 11 June 2021 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, February 2018 |