Dreamers Nest Montessori Early Learning Centre

1 ERO’s judgement of Dreamers Nest Montessori Early Learning Centre is as follows:

For an explanation of the judgement terms used and of the evaluation process please refer to the last page of this report. These judgements are based on the evidence provided to ERO during the evaluation.

2 ERO’s Judgements

Akarangi | Quality Evaluations evaluate the extent to which early childhood services have 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 and Early Childhood Education (ECE) Improvement Framework (teacher led services) are the basis for making judgements about the quality of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Evaluations for improvement | Ngā Aronga Whai Hua is integrated across all of the above domains.

3 About the Service

Dreamers Nest Montessori Early Learning Centre provides all-day education and care for children from birth to school age. The learning environment is separated into three age-based learning spaces, with a fourth resourced and ready to open. In June 2022 the service, previously known as Bright Sparks Childcare Orewa, changed ownership and underwent rebranding. A qualified centre owner undertakes the role of centre director and is supported by a centre manager to oversee day-to-day operations and lead the curriculum. The service’s philosophy is strongly linked to the theories of Montessori teaching and learning. It promotes independence and exploration within clear limits and boundaries.

4 Progress since the previous ERO report

The May 2018 ERO report identified three key next steps for improvement related to the planning and assessment process, bicultural curriculum and the visibility of children’s languages, cultures and identities. After the service’s sale the new owner identified different improvement priorities. The team have been focused on building relationships, developing a shared understanding of the new philosophy and increasing their understanding of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Good progress has been made against these self-identified goals. As a result of their focus in these areas, the team has also achieved good progress in developing their assessment and planning processes. All children now have individual development plans and regular assessment shows children’s learning progression over time.

5 Learning Conditions

The learner and their learning | He Whāriki Motuhake

A well-developed, shared understanding of the service’s philosophy and priorities for children’s learning enable the team to enact a curriculum aligned to their vision and values.

• The Montessori curriculum is thoughtfully considered and woven with Te Whāriki to scaffold children’s learning. Children’s learning progression using the Montessori resourcing is well understood.
• The enacted curriculum is consistent across the service. This enables smooth transitions between the age-based learning spaces and provides children with opportunities to lead their own learning.
• Formal and informal opportunities are provided for parents to share goals for their children and contribute to the service’s curriculum. A formal process for using parent contribution to inform planning for individual children has not yet been fully implemented.

Collaborative professional learning and development builds knowledge and capability | Whakangungu Ngaio

Service leaders are establishing the conditions to support the teaching team to build their professional knowledge and expertise.

• Leaders prioritise teachers completion of the Montessori training required to implement a rich, responsive curriculum reflective of their philosophy.
• Levels of internal evaluation across the service support the team to critically reflect upon their teaching practice and subject it to ongoing inquiry. This does not yet contain a systematic approach for analysing relevant evidence to fully understand the impact of their teaching on children’s learning.
• Leaders and teachers are in the early stages of developing their cultural competencies to work with Māori and Pacific learners. Cultural celebrations and the use of children’s home languages are used to acknowledge children’s languages, cultures and identities.

6 Organisational conditions

Leadership fosters collaboration and improvement | Kaihautū

Relational trust supports the team to ensure increasing accountability and collective responsibility for collaboration and improvement.

• Shared leadership practices at this service promote a high level of professional accountability. Individualised support is provided to teachers to enable them to meet expectations and increase their capabilities.
• Since the change of owner, the team have focused on developing team relationships and their ability to work together. This enables relational trust which supports critical feedback and reflection.
• Internal expertise is beginning to be utilised to reduce current teacher variability in curriculum planning and assessment practices.

Stewardship through effective governance and management | Te Whakaruruhau

Consideration of children, their learning and wellbeing successfully supports quality improvement at the service

• Knowledgeable leaders recognise areas for growth and development to support change and improvement. Refinement of their strategic approach is needed to enable them to target change where it matters most.
• A positive working environment has been developed, enabling a low staff turnover and high percentage of Montessori trained staff. As a result, children experience consistency in their learning.
• Children with additional needs are well supported by a team who work in collaboration with relevant agencies and families to create appropriate individual development plans.

7 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Dreamers Nest Montessori Early Learning Centre completed and 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:

• curriculum
• premises and facilities
• health and safety practices
• governance, management and administration.

During the review, ERO looked at the service’s system for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children’s health and safety:

• emotional safety (including positive guidance and child protection)
• physical safety (including supervision; sleep procedures; accidents; medication; excursion policies and procedures)
• suitable staffing (safety checking of staff, ratios)
• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

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

8 Where to next for improvement?

Dreamers Nest Montessori Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its quality improvement planning:

• Continue to build the collective capacity of the team to consistently document children’s learning.
• Increase the team’s responsiveness to parent aspirations and contributions to the curriculum to strengthen learning-focused partnerships. 
• Systematically gather and analyse data within the internal evaluation process to deepen the understanding of change and improvement.

Further information about how ERO evaluates early childhood services is available here.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

24 September 2024

9 Information About the Service

Description around ERO’s judgement terms

ERO’s judgements are based on Te Ara Poutama and the Early Childhood Education Improvement Framework (teacher led services).