32 McInnes Road, Weymouth, 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 The Wildlings In-Home Childcare are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whāngai Establishing |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
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Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
The Wildlings In-Home Childcare is a homebased service governed by the owner and an operations manager. The owner also has a visiting teacher role. With the owner, a second visiting teacher provides support and guidance to educators who work in their own homes. Educators provide education and care for up to four children each at any one time. Most of the children attending are Indian, and a small number of children have Māori or Pacific heritage.
Children are provided with a range of learning experiences in educators’ homes. They have opportunities to take part in community events and celebrations through play groups. Educators are carefully selected to match the needs of families, including consideration of their cultural identity, values and beliefs. Children’s learning is supported through caring, nurturing relationships with educators.
Educators respond to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues, and younger children are provided with time and space to explore. Children with additional needs are supported by strategies that are responsive to their individual needs and that acknowledge their preferences and interests.
Visiting teachers and educators are developing their practices to incorporate aspects of te ao Māori and tikanga Māori into their daily practices. Parent and whānau aspirations are acknowledged by visiting teachers and educators. These aspirations inform the curriculum and enhance relationships and continuity of learning for children. Educators use children’s home language/s in their conversations with children.
Visiting teachers support educators to develop an understanding of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and to contribute to assessment of children’s learning. They regularly visit homes to guide educators’ practice and document children’s learning. Visiting teachers could now work with educators to increasingly include children’s cultures into curriculum experiences and assessment of learning.
Systematic reviews of operational processes are completed. A professional growth cycle documents the ongoing progress of educators’ and visiting teachers’ practice. Leaders agree that internal evaluation processes could now focus on evaluating, monitoring, and documenting the impact of improvements on learning outcomes for children.
The Wildlings In-Home Childcare will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
To use internal evaluation processes to evaluate and monitor the impact of improvements on children’s learning over time.
To implement a curriculum that increasingly reflects children’s languages and cultures.
Before the review, the staff and management of The Wildlings In-Home Childcare 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:
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; safety checking; teacher registration; 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.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
27 January 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
The Wildlings In-Home Childcare |
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Profile Number |
47311 |
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Location |
Weymouth, Auckland |
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Service type |
Home-based service |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
58 |
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Review team on site |
October 2022 |
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Date of this report |
27 January 2023 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Previously reviewed as Stepping Stones In-Home Childcare: Education Review, April 2020 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Stepping Stones In-Home Childcare is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Stepping Stones In-Home Childcare is a small home-based service based in Opaheke, south of Auckland. The service is licensed for up to 50 children from infancy to school age. Children are from multicultural backgrounds and two are identified as Maori. This is the first ERO review of this service since it opened in 2017.
The owner/service provider is responsible for governance of the service and is also the visiting teacher. In her visiting teacher role, she has responsibility for the quality of education and care provided for children. She regularly visits educator homes to support educators to plan educational programmes for children. Educators provide education and care for up to four children each at any one time in their homes.
The in-home learning programme is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and
play-based learning approaches. Key aspects of the service philosophy include an emphasis on children's academic, social and developmental growth, through a variety of fun, enjoyable and interesting experiences in a home-based setting.
Educators keep good records of each child’s day and note activities that children enjoyed. This helps them to share the child’s routines and development with parents. Infants and toddlers benefit from nurturing, individualised care. Educators know the children in their care very well. They respond quickly to children's preferences and maintain their home routines.
Service records show that the learning programmes in home are inclusive and child focused. The use of te reo and tikanga Māori in homes is prioritised. The visiting teacher works closely with educators to provide a culturally responsive curriculum and authentic home and community-based learning experiences. Educators foster children's learning through planned and spontaneous play experiences that are meaningful to children.
Relationships between the service leader, educators and parents are positive and supportive. The visiting teacher uses an individualised approach to affirm and support educators practice. She is respectful of each family's beliefs and values and supports parents to find an educator who is the best match for them. Parents' aspirations and feedback are valued and responded to. They are also well informed about their child's progress through conversations with educators and online assessment records.
The service leader is proactive, and improvement focused with a strong commitment to social justice and equity. The service philosophy and vision are evident across all service practices and policies, including a rigorous system for recruiting new educators. Purposeful internal evaluation is becoming established and is supporting the service leader to review practices and target areas to develop further. Involving educators in the process would enrich evaluation practices.
The service provider needs to strengthen the monitoring of health and safety practices in educator homes to ensure that service expectations and licensing requirements are consistently being met.
Key next steps include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Stepping Stones In-Home Childcare completed an ERO Home-based Education and Care 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
7 April 2021
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.
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Location |
Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
47311 |
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Institution type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
50 children, including up to 50 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
15 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
1 |
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Required ratios of staff educators to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
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Review team on site |
November 2020 |
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Date of this report |
7 April 2021 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
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.