Mighty Minds Educare Mt Wellington

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 ​Mighty Minds Educare Mt Wellington​ are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Mighty Minds Educare Mt Wellington is one of three centres under the same ownership. A qualified centre manager/owner leads a team of fifteen registered teachers, and sixteen additional staff which includes a centre administrator and chef. Several children attending are of Māori heritage. The centre is culturally diverse.

3 Summary of findings

Children experience responsive and respectful relationships with teachers. The teaching team provide an unhurried and flexible routine which supports uninterrupted time for children to engage in meaningful play. The curriculum is influenced by the Montessori philosophy and enables children to explore, problem solve, be creative and imaginative. Through meaningful learning opportunities their independence and agency is encouraged. As a result, children appear happy and confident with a sense of belonging and wellbeing.

Leaders and teachers are beginning to plan for individual children’s learning. They intentionally weave literacy, and numeracy throughout the daily curriculum. Increasing information about children’s progress over time is required to strengthen assessment practice in relation to the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki, early childhood curriculum.

Leaders and teachers use Māori kupu, waiata and karakia in daily practice. Parent aspirations are valued and used to inform curriculum decisions. Children’s home languages are used by teachers and cultural events are celebrated. This supports children to be confident in their own culture and provides them with opportunities to learn about other cultures.  Diversity is valued at this service.

Leaders and teachers are beginning to engage in a professional growth cycle to support ongoing improvements to their practice.  As a new team, they are working collaboratively to build shared understandings. They enact the centre philosophy with an aim to promote positive outcomes for children, families, and the local community.

Review and internal evaluation processes are improvement focused. Leaders and teachers are beginning to work collaboratively to build their evaluative capability. Ongoing monitoring and review processes have been developed which ensure the service consistently meet regulatory requirements.

4 Improvement actions

​​Mighty Minds Educare Mt Wellington​ will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Improve assessment, planning and evaluation processes to include clear information that shows individual children’s progress in relation to the learning outcomes of Te Whāriki.
• For leaders and teachers to monitor the implementation of improvement actions and evaluate how changes have impacted positively on children’s learning.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of ​Mighty Minds Educare Mt Wellington​ 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.

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

​​12 June 2024​

6 About the Early Childhood Service