Magic Sparks Kāpiti Ltd

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 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 Magic Sparks Kāpiti Ltd are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Magic Sparks Kāpiti Ltd is one of four early childhood education services under common private ownership. The owners have oversight of operation, teaching and learning. Responsibility for day-to-day management is undertaken by a recently appointed centre manager. There have been significant recent staff changes.  The centre serves a multicultural community. Over twenty percent of enrolled children are Māori.

3 Summary of findings

Infants, toddlers and young children’s learning is promoted through engaging in a play-based curriculum, attentive interactions with their teachers and well-resourced learning environments. Teachers encourage children to make choices about their learning and extend their emerging interests. Children’s wellbeing and sense of belonging is promoted through reciprocal and respectful relationships.

Te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are valued and are an integral part of teaching and learning. The use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are evident within the programme and at times within documentation. All children, including Māori have an opportunity to gain an understanding of te reo Māori as a living and relevant language.

The new teaching team are at the early stages of working collaboratively together to develop shared understandings and use of high-quality planning, assessment and evaluation practices. Documentation does not yet consistently show:

• how the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki inform curriculum design and priorities for learning

• children’s progress over time in relation to the learning outcomes

• teachers seeking and responding to parents’ aspirations for their children’s learning

• children’s languages cultures and identities.  

The owners and Leaders are improvement focused, work well together and as a priority are building the collective capability of the team. Leaders and teachers are the early stages of developing their understanding and use of effective internal evaluation to support decisions about change and improvement. 

The centre is well governed and managed. There are well-established systems and processes to support practice and operation and guide the future direction of the service. Further opportunities for teachers and families to work together to contribute to the organisation’s philosophy and identify localised curriculum priorities are yet to occur.

4 Improvement actions

Magic Sparks Kāpiti Ltd will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• collaborate with parents to determine the priorities for learning in this service

• build the teams’ shared understandings and use of high-quality assessment practices.  

• build collective capacity across the team to engage in deliberate and systematic internal evaluation.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Magic Sparks Kāpiti Ltd 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.

Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Acting, Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

14 February 2023 

6 About the Early Childhood Service