Pokeno Child Care Centre

1 ERO’s judgement of Pokeno Child Care 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

Pokeno Child Care Centre is one of four family-owned services based across the wider Waikato region. A qualified centre manager is responsible for daily operations and leads the curriculum. The diverse teaching team provide education and care for children to school age in three aged-based rooms. The service’s philosophy places emphasis on lifelong learning where children learn through play.

4 Progress since the previous ERO report

The service's 2021 ERO Akanuku | Assurance review showed that they met all aspects of regulatory requirements. Specific areas for improvement were not identified. The service demonstrates continued compliance with regulatory standards.

5 Learning Conditions

The learner and their learning | He Whāriki Motuhake

Children experience a responsive curriculum that promotes their developing social competence, emotional well-being and cultural connectedness in play-based contexts.

• Older children benefit from opportunities to learn in well-resourced learning environments where intentional teaching practices promote pre-literacy, numeracy, and thinking skills. Children under the age of two learn predominately indoors, through responsive nurturing care that supports their oral language acquisition.
• Curriculum assessment and planning processes are well embedded. Documentation for older children reflects their interests, skills and learning styles; whilst younger children’s more narrowly focuses on their developmental stages. 
• Children’s learning is supported by learning-focused partnerships where the goals parents have for their child’s learning are gathered and responded to. There are multiple opportunities for parents to give feedback and be involved in cultural celebrations and events in the centre. 

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

Leaders and teachers are continuing to build their professional knowledge and expertise to design a rich curriculum that responds to all children.

• Teachers engage in relevant professional learning opportunities that respond to identified needs and support internal evaluation processes. 
• A system supporting teachers’ professional growth is well developed and regular. Documentation somewhat reflects the impact of shifts in teacher practice on children’s learning outcomes.
• Teachers continue to build upon their growing knowledge and developing cultural competencies. Many children’s home languages are naturally integrated into the daily curriculum.

6 Organisational conditions

Leadership fosters collaboration and improvement | Kaihautū

Leaders work collaboratively to enact and embed Pokeno Child Care Centre’s vision, plans and priorities for improvement.

• Leaders support professional practice and have built relational trust across the team. Internal and external expertise is utilised to grow the collective capability within the teaching team.
• Leaders have developed processes and practices that identify, support and foster continuity and succession planning. Professional networks are in place, enabling new leaders to develop the relevant knowledge and skills required to lead the teaching team. 
• Leadership takes increasing accountability for the well-being and learning of children and their families, monitoring both teaching and curriculum implementation. Mentoring of teaching practices is somewhat documented.

Stewardship through effective governance and management | Te Whakaruruhau

Governors use a range of information when making decisions that prioritise children’s holistic development and organisational sustainability.

• Strategic planning and the review of this process is embedded, enabling governance to be well informed of service progress towards identified priorities for children.
• Children’s learning and well-being are considered in resourcing and decision-making processes. Higher teacher to child ratios and other equity measures are in place to support children’s ongoing progress and development.
• Positive working conditions and suitable induction processes for new staff support consistency of care and learning for children and their families. 

7 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Pokeno Child Care 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?

Pokeno Child Care Centre will include the following actions in its quality improvement planning:

• Extend planning and assessment to encompass the varied ways younger children learn, and increase for older children the focus on working theories and higher thinking skills, to further enrich curriculum experiences.
• Increase the documented processes in improvement practices to more strongly reflect the benefits, impacts and outcomes of changes in teachers practices on children's learning.

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

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

7 October 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).