208a Church Street, Onehunga, Auckland
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 Our Kids Early Learning Centre - Onehunga are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whakatō Emerging Whakatō Emerging |
Our Kids Early Learning Centre - Onehunga is one of four services under the same ownership. The owner, business manager and newly appointed area manager support a centre manager. They lead a team of six qualified and three unqualified teachers, an administrator and a cook. Several children enrolled are Māori or of Pacific heritages.
Children benefit from a play-based curriculum that empowers them to make choices about their learning. This is supported by teachers who use appropriate strategies to encourage children to take the lead and co-create activities with their peers.
Infants and toddlers experience a calm, unhurried environment. Intentional teaching practices foster flexible routines. As a result, warm, reciprocal relationships between teachers and children are evident. Transitions into, within and from the service are considered and aim to meet the individual needs of children and whānau.
Planning and assessment documentation aims to make visible children’s learning against the strands and goals of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The team is in the early stages of implementing individual development plans to better reflect each child’s own learning journey. Leaders have identified a need to develop teachers’ shared understanding of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to enable them to document children’s learning progress in relation to the learning outcomes.
Teachers provide opportunities for children, parents and whānau to celebrate different cultures though service-wide cultural events. Children's home languages are respected. Basic te reo Māori and some aspects of tikanga Māori are integrated in daily teaching practices. Leaders and teachers participate in regular professional learning opportunities to support them to increase capability within the team. They are yet to evaluate the impact of this professional learning.
Systems and practices for internal evaluation have been developed. Increasing the capability of all teachers to undertake service-wide evaluation for improvement is now a priority. Leaders have begun to develop the relational trust needed to support team collaboration. Those responsible for governance allocate time and resources for managers across the organisation to meet regularly to share information, knowledge and build the capability of staff.
Our Kids Early Learning Centre - Onehunga will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Our Kids Early Learning Centre - Onehunga 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)
5 July 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | Our Kids Early Learning Centre - Onehunga |
| Profile Number | 47274 |
| Location | Onehunga, Auckland |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 70 children, including up to 18 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 55 |
| Review team on site | April 2024 |
| Date of this report | 5 July 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Akanuku | Assurance Review, October 2019 |
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.
Dynamic Kids serves a diverse community in Onehunga. Children are grouped according to age in three spacious rooms. This is the first ERO review on its new site.
The manager leads a teaching team that includes a lead teacher in each room and a team of qualified teachers. Programmes for children reflect Reggio Emilia and Magda Gerber philosophies.
Governance, management and administrative practices ensure that all requirements are met. All practical steps are taken to ensure children’s health and safety.
Philosophical approaches respect children as capable learners. The curriculum is informed by assessment, planning and evaluation that demonstrate teachers’ understanding of children’s learning. The design of the centre supports the provision of different types of play, including quiet spaces, physically active play, and individual and group experiences. Regular opportunities are provided for whānau/parents to share information about children’s progress, and to be involved in decision-making concerning their child’s learning. The curriculum is inclusive, language-rich and includes practices that affirm Māori as tangata whenua.
Next steps include continuing to:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Education Review.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
25 October 2019
| Early Childhood Service Name | Dynamic Kids Onehunga |
| Profile Number | 47274 |
| Location | Onehunga, Auckland |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 70 children, including up to 18 aged under 2 years |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80%+ |
| Reported ratio of staff to children under 2 | 1:3 - Better than regulatory standards |
| Reported ratio of staff to children over 2 | 1:8 - Better than regulatory standards |
| Service roll | 45 |
| Gender composition | Boys 25 Girls 20 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 4 NZ European/Pākehā 16 Chinese 6 other ethnic groups 19 |
| Review team on site | August 2019 |
| Date of this report | 25 October 2019 |
Most recent ERO report(s)
| First ERO review of the service. |
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.
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:
As part of an 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:
As part of an Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through: