The Treehouse Private Kindergarten and Nursery

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 The Treehouse Private Kindergarten and Nursery are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

The Treehouse Private Kindergarten and Nursery is a privately-owned early childhood service. It is governed and managed by a qualified and experienced owner who leads a team of qualified teachers. A small number of children enrolled are from diverse cultural backgrounds. The philosophy values kind, respectful and positive relationships in an aesthetically pleasing and peaceful environment.

3 Summary of findings

Teachers know children and their family connections well. Children’s sense of wellbeing and belonging is promoted through their positive relationships with teachers. Their transitions into the service, between rooms and onto school are well supported. Learning environments are attractive and well-resourced. This is a feature of the service.

Older children have access to a range of experiences both indoors and out, to support their understandings of the world around them. Infants and toddlers experience care that is calm and unhurried. Their access to outdoor experiences is sometimes hindered because they are cared for by one teacher who cannot supervise indoors and outdoors at the same time.

Teachers use the principles, strands and goals in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to record children’s learning. Documented assessment for older children also recognises their learning dispositions and ways of making sense of the world. At the time of ERO’s onsite visit, there was minimal evidence that the service had unpacked the learning outcomes identified in Te Whāriki. The team is yet to fully consider how these outcomes relate to children’s increasing capabilities and the valued learning priorities for children at this service. 

Planning and assessment information acknowledges the interests of children. This includes how they engage with an environment that is intentionally set up by teachers to promote exploration and investigation. Planning for younger learners is yet to reflect their interests. Positive relationships with parents support regular informal information sharing between home and the centre. More formal goals for children’s learning are often determined by the owner or teachers.

All children have opportunities to experience the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. Teachers use Māori words and some phrases in centre routines, including waiata and karakia. They are yet to consistently include te reo Māori or tikanga Māori in their spontaneous interactions with children. Children experience events that acknowledge their diverse cultures and languages.

Changes are made as a result of undertaking self-review processes. Teachers report that their wellbeing is supported. Relational trust and collaboration within the new teaching team is evident. Useful processes to support teachers’ ongoing professional growth are in place. These are yet to intentionally focus on building teachers’ knowledge of how they can use the outcomes in Te Whāriki, to evaluate the impact of the curriculum and teaching practices on children’s learning.

4 Improvement actions

The Treehouse Private Kindergarten and Nursery will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Strengthen assessment, planning and evaluation practices to identify children’s learning over time in relation to the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki.
• Review the accessibility of learning environments to improve the learning experiences for infants and toddlers.
• In partnership with families, grow teachers’ knowledge of culturally responsive practices that recognise and respond to children’s cultures, languages, and identities. This particularly relates to providing a curriculum that more explicitly reflects the dual heritages of Aotearoa New Zealand.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of The Treehouse Private Kindergarten and Nursery 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.

6 Action for Compliance

Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence to show the following non-compliance has been addressed:

• Having evidence that relevant emergency drills are carried out with children on a three-monthly basis.
  Licensing Criteria for Education & Care Services 2008, HS8.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

28 May 2024

7 About the Early Childhood Service