Magic Sparks Nature Preschool

1 ERO’s judgement of Magic Sparks Nature Preschool 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

Magic Sparks Nature Preschool, opened in March 2023, is one of four services owned by Magic Sparks Care and Learning Limited. A centre manager oversees the day-to-day running of both Palmerston North services. The owners and leaders of all four Magic Sparks services form a leadership team to support operations across the group. Teachers’ dual language capability enables them to connect with communities of diverse language learners. The philosophy is based on ‘respect for ourselves, respect for each other, and respect for the environment’.

4 Progress since the previous ERO report

This is the first report for Magic Sparks Nature Preschool.

5 Learning Conditions

The learner and their learning | He Whāriki Motuhake

Children engage well in a curriculum responsive to them as individuals, developed through learner-focused partnerships with parents.

• Children’s cultures and languages are richly interwoven throughout teaching and learning. Te ao Māori is reflected within the curriculum. 
• The natural environment offers children opportunities for wonder and creativity through sensory exploration. Sustainability and Papatūānuku rituals of planting and harvesting enrich children’s learning.
• A revised assessment, planning and evaluation process is being implemented to streamline systems and practices across all Magic Sparks services. This is intended to more clearly show parents’ goals for their children, children’s connections to their culture and languages, and their progression in learning over time.

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

Leaders provide conditions that increasingly support teachers to build professional knowledge and practice.

• With leadership support, a guiding framework enables teachers to inquire into the quality of their teaching practice through a professional growth cycle.
• Leaders and teachers work cohesively as a professional learning community through accessing professional development individually and as a group.
• An improvement-focused leadership team continues to build relational trust and professional practice to enact a rich, responsive curriculum for all children.

6 Organisational conditions

Leadership fosters collaboration and improvement | Kaihautū

Leaders and teachers collaborate to enact their goals and priorities for improvement.

• Internal and external expertise contributes to building capability and collective capacity aligned to the service’s strategic goals.
• Collective, collaborative and distributed responsibilities are enacted to ensure ongoing improvement.
• Leaders and teachers are building capability to do and use evaluation, to better understand the impact of improvement actions on individuals and groups of children.

Stewardship through effective governance and management | Te Whakaruruhau

Governance and management systems and processes are effectively guided by their philosophy, vision values and priorities for learning

• The learning and wellbeing of children and whānau are key in decision making. Leaders identify and act to remove barriers to children’s participation in the service.
• Implementation of the service philosophy is prioritised through processes and practices.
• Regular monitoring and review of practices promote the health and wellbeing of children.

7 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Magic Sparks Nature Preschool 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?

Magic Sparks Nature Preschool will include the following actions in its quality improvement planning:

• Continue to build capability to embed the revised curriculum assessment, planning and evaluation framework.
• Deepen internal evaluation processes to know what is working well, or not, and for which individuals and groups of children.

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

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

4 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).