Aranga Early Childhood Centre

ERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report. 

ERO’s Judgement 

​​Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.​

Background 

Aranga Early Childhood Centre is one of seven not-for-profit services operated by Taonga Education Centre Charitable Trust. An operations manager supports a qualified centre supervisor to lead a team of four registered teachers and four unqualified staff. More than half of children enrolled are Māori and approximately a fifth are Samoan, Tongan or Cook Island Māori. 

Summary of Review Findings 

The service curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The centre philosophy expresses the service’s beliefs, values, and attitudes about the provision of early childhood education and care. Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children.  

Adults engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships. The curriculum reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children have opportunities to develop an understanding of the cultural heritages of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences. Children have a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning. 

Key Next Steps 

Next steps are to: 

• strengthen the visibility of children’s languages and cultures throughout individual learning records 
• improve the extent to which assessment and evaluation records provide information and insight into the learning progress of each child, in relation to the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki. 

Actions for Compliance  

​​The service has provided​ ERO with evidence that shows the following non-compliances have been addressed:  

• Ensuring heavy equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage is secured (HS6). 
• Ensuring a record of all medicine (prescription and non-prescription) given to children attending the service includes the date and time medicine was administered and by whom, and evidence of parental acknowledgement they have been advised medication was administered to their child (HS28). 

Next ERO Review  

​​The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation. ​

​Patricia Davey​
​​Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)​

​​14 December 2023​   

Information About the Service 

General Information about Assurance Reviews  

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.  

ERO undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service: 

• having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation 
• previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’ 
• that has moved from a provisional to a full licence 
• that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership 
• where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate. 

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements 

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: 

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

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulatory 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: 

• 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 certification; ratios) 
• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.  

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through: 

• discussions with those involved in the service 
• consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems 
• observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.