4 Taniwha Street, Glen Innes, Auckland
View on mapBumblebees Childcare Centre
Bumblebees Childcare Centre
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 Bumblebees Childcare Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
2 Context of the Service
Bumblebees Childcare Centre is a privately owned service. A qualified manager leads a team of 11 qualified teachers and four unqualified staff. A board is responsible for governance of the service. Children who attend the service are from diverse cultural backgrounds. A small number are Māori or have Pacific heritages.
3 Summary of findings
Children demonstrate positive social and emotional skills that help them to build friendships and confidently work with, and alongside other children. They have very good opportunities to learn through play. Children’s engagement with the wide range of resources and experiences supports their exploration, creativity and thinking.
Service leaders and teachers provide a warm and welcoming environment for children and their families. Teachers’ relationships with infants and toddlers are warm and nurturing. They sensitively respond to infants’ cues and expressions. Older children’s resilience and independence is deliberately fostered by skilled teachers.
Aspects of te ao Māori are embedded in the service’s curriculum. Teachers often include te reo Māori in routines and in their daily interactions with children. They have sustained respectful relationships with families attending and the culturally diverse local community.
Teachers implement an inclusive curriculum that is responsive to children’s interests and learning dispositions. Intentional teaching approaches respond to the needs of each child. Teachers carefully plan experiences that extend children’s mathematical, literacy, and science learning. They are considering ways to document culture and identity in each child’s assessment and learning.
Staff wellbeing and supporting professional learning are high priorities for service leaders. An external mentor/coach provides relevant support that helps teachers to grow their professional practice. Teachers’ frequent access to professional development contributes to their increased knowledge and fosters leadership skills.
Service leaders collaborate and make decisions that enhance positive learning outcomes for children. A strategic plan clearly guides service improvements. Operational processes and practices are a strength of the service.
4 Improvement actions
Bumblebees Childcare Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
- Explicitly document how teaching practices and the curriculum celebrate and respond to each child’s language and culture.
- Strengthen responsive partnerships with the wider community, including schools and iwi, that could contribute to improved learning outcomes for children.
5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Bumblebees Childcare Centre 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.
Phil Cowie
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
9 August 2021
6 About the Early Childhood Service
Early Childhood Service Name |
Bumblebees Childcare Centre |
Profile Number |
46922 |
Location |
Glen Innes, Auckland |
Service type |
Education and care service |
Number licensed for |
70 children, including up to 19 aged under 2. |
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
Service roll |
81 |
Ethnic composition |
Māori 3, NZ European/Pākehā 63, Asian 4, other European 4, other ethnic groups 7 |
Review team on site |
June 2021 |
Date of this report |
9 August 2021 |
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review, February 2018 |
Bumblebees Childcare Centre - 02/02/2018
1 Evaluation of Bumblebees Childcare Centre
How well placed is Bumblebees Childcare Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Background
Bumblebees Childcare Centre is a new purpose-built centre in Glen Innes licensed for 59 children. The centre manager is new to the role and is supported by a head teacher. Together they lead a staff of seven qualified teachers, a cook, and one administrator.
The centre's philosophy is underpinned by the principles of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers, working in partnership with whānau, provide a learning programme that caters for all children's unique interests and capabilities.
Centre leaders are in the process of building better links with local primary schools and Kahui/Ako (Communities of Learning).
This is the centre's first ERO review report.
The Review Findings
Children are happy and settled in the centre, have trusting relationships with teachers, and respond positively to adult support for play. They work well alongside their peers, take turns and work cooperatively with others, and engage readily in activities that interest them. Children benefit from the centre's culturally inclusive curriculum that successfully fosters their sense of belonging and wellbeing.
Teachers prompt children to explore resources and the environment. They encourage children to extend and develop their social competency. Teachers use mat time activities, singing and story reading to support children's language acquisition and their development of literacy and numeracy skills. They are also helping children to use and know about te reo and tikanga Māori.
There is good provision for babies up to two years of age. They are cherished and cared for in a nurturing environment. Teachers have respectful interactions and conversations with babies to support their language development.
Teachers use regular planning meetings to discuss their observations of children's play, and plan activities to extend their learning. Assessment portfolios are available for children to revisit their learning, and for parents to enjoy and contribute their comments. Parents are able to access digital communication about their children's learning, and this is helping to strengthen learning partnerships with parents and whānau.
The centre is well managed by the centre manager who is supported by a board of directors. They work collaboratively to implement long-term strategic goals, and provide ongoing professional development for staff. The centre manager shares leadership responsibilities with the head teacher. They are continuing work to refine appraisal processes. Together they develop programmes to foster the professional growth of all teachers. This is helping to build consistency in the quality of the teaching teams' support for children's learning across the centre.
Clear strategic planning guides the direction of the centre. Directors and the manager are focused on ongoing improvement and building the capability of teachers. Teachers undertake planned and spontaneous internal evaluation that results in positive changes for children. Leaders agree that the next stage is to more systematically evaluate and document progress towards strategic goals.
Key Next Steps
To enhance existing good quality practices leaders agree they could:
-
evaluate and continue building the curriculum to support children's interests and capabilities
-
make better use of regular internal evaluation to contribute to documenting and evaluating progress towards broader strategic goals
-
rationalise centre policies and procedures.
Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Bumblebees Childcare Centre 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 Bumblebees Childcare Centre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
2 February 2018
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 |
Glen Innes, Auckland |
||
Ministry of Education profile number |
46922 |
||
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
Number licensed for |
59 children, including up to 19 aged under 2 |
||
Service roll |
60 |
||
Gender composition |
Girls 32 Boys 28 |
||
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
October 2017 |
||
Date of this report |
2 February 2018 |
||
Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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.