95 Park Road, Miramar, Wellington
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Tuatara Kids Tuakana are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whāngai Establishing Whāngai Establishing |
Tuatara Kids Tuakana is one of two privately-owned early childhood services. All staff have recently been appointed. A centre manager works across both services leading the curriculum. The culturally diverse roll includes a small number of Māori children, and those of Pacific heritages. Some progress has been made against the 2019 ERO report key next steps in relation to: ongoing learning related to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum and staff appraisal. Further work is required on assessment and planning and internal evaluation.
Children experience a purposefully designed well-resourced, mixed-aged learning environment that supports their interests, strengths and needs. Respectful teachers work alongside children to develop their literacy, physical and social and emotional skills. Choice and independence are fostered. Aspects of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori are integrated in daily routines. Older children have opportunities to learn and lead waiata and karakia kai. Children are seen as capable and confident learners.
Infants and toddlers experience a settled learning environment. Responsive teachers are attuned to their verbal and non-verbal communication cues. They allow them space and time to lead their own learning.
Assessment for learning has previously been identified by ERO as an area that required strengthening and is now a priority area for improvement. While useful assessment, planning and evaluation guidelines have been developed they are not yet always implemented. Documented information does not consistently show:
the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki being used as the basis for informing children’s assessment for learning
consideration of parent and children’s perspectives and aspirations
how children’s cultures, languages and identities are integrated through assessment
the evaluation of intentional teaching strategies and its use to adapt teacher practice and extend children’s learning over time.
It is timely, for leaders and teachers to develop authentic learning focused partnerships through meaningful engagement with the learning community. This includes determining with whānau Māori, and Pacific, what success looks like for their children.
Governance and management are improvement focused. They allocate resources that align with the philosophy and priorities of the service. A meaningful professional growth cycle is implemented to build teacher capability. A self-review process is in place and has been used to inform some improvements to the learning environment. Building a shared understanding, with the new teaching team, about the internal evaluation process to understand what is working well or not and to inform appropriate change is required.
Tuatara Kids Tuakana will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
establish learning-focused partnerships inclusive of children’s cultures, languages, and identities
develop a shared understanding of assessment and planning that is clearly aligned to Te Whāriki learning outcomes
develop specific guidelines to outline clear expectations for the internal evaluation process and use these to build capability at all levels of the organisation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Tuatara Kids Tuakana 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.
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance:
evidence of how evaluation of the emergency drills has informed the annual review of the service’s emergency plan.
[Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services, 2008, HS8].
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure non-compliances identified in this report are addressed.
Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Acting, Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
21 February 2023
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Tuatara Kids Tuakana |
|
Profile Number |
50073 |
|
Location |
Wellington |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
27 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
27 |
|
Review team on site |
December 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
21 February 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, July 2019; Education review, April 2016 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Tuatara Kids Tuakana is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Tuatara Kids Tuakana Early Learning Centre is a privately owned and operated centre located in Miramar, Wellington. It is licenced for 28 children, including six children up to two years of age. At the time of this review, three of the children enrolled identified as Māori.
Since the April 2017 ERO report, the centre has had changes of ownership, management and staff. A new centre director and team leader were appointed after a restructure in early 2018. Two thirds of the multicultural teaching staff are qualified early childhood teachers.
The centre philosophy emphasises the importance of partnership, respect and exploration. The service supports a diverse community of learners.
Children under two are catered for through a designated indoor space, as well as being able to access the areas available to older children.
The April 2016 ERO report identified assessment planning and evaluation, strengthening bicultural practices and improving appraisal as key next steps for improvement. Very good progress has been made with developing and implementing the bicultural curriculum with some success made in addressing the other key areas.
A high level of commitment to bicultural practice is apparent. Teachers value te reo Māori and effectively integrate this into the programme. Children confidently respond and use Māori words and demonstrate their familiarity with the centre waiata, pepeha and whakatauki. They enjoy the leadership opportunities that kotahitanga (mat) time presents.
Teachers are aware of and respond to the languages, cultures and identities of all children. The environment includes a wide range of natural materials and meaningful cultural artefacts that reflect the cultural backgrounds and languages of children and their families and whānau. They view each family and its knowledge of their child as an integral part of the service’s learning community.
Positive relationships are developed with infants and toddlers and their families. They develop sensitive and responsive relationships with children. Interactions are warm and affirming. Well established routines provide a sense of security.
Children’s language development is effectively fostered. Their talk is encouraged, accepted and respected. Children are empowered to take increased responsibility for the wellbeing of themselves and others. Literacy and mathematics are highly valued and well integrated into the curriculum.
Transitions to school are supported by useful communication with schools in the Kāhui Ako. Time is given to support children through the transition process. A range of professional development (PD) has supported the service to develop their practices.
Teachers are increasingly working with the goals and strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Greater use of PD should support improved understanding and increase the focus on the curriculum learning outcomes. Staff have accessed and shared PD around engaging with Pacific learners using Tapasā - Cultural Competencies Framework for Teachers of Pacific Learners.
Curriculum design is adapted as the needs and ages of children in the centre change. Ongoing observation of children in everyday activities builds a picture of what children know, understand, feel, are interested in, and can do. These observations contribute to learning stories shared digitally and in portfolios. Assessment practices are used to identify children’s learning with portfolios proving a useful tool to gain parent and whānau feedback about each child’s developing interests. Portfolios show children's participation in the daily programme and at times demonstrate the increasing complexity of children’s learning. These records are available to the children and parents so that they can revisit aspirations, learning progress and share their learning with others.
The strategic plan usefully lists five key goals. These centre priorities are accompanied by well-defined performance indicators. The annual plan is a detailed calendar of events. Wording in policies should be reviewed to reflect current terminology.
With changes of centre governance and management, appraisal processes have been given a lesser priority and were not completed in 2017 and 2018. Appraisal is well underway in 2019 with individual staff goals established, observations and an inquiry focus to further develop teaching. Leaders are aware of the importance of completing end of year summaries for appraisal.
Internal evaluation needs strengthening to ensure shared understandings and consistent implementation of each stage of the evaluation process. Building staff capability should assist decision making to improve outcomes for children.
ERO and centre leaders agree that key next steps are to:
further strengthen assessment and planning processes
continue professional development for Te Whāriki
ensure that staff appraisal is fully implemented
strengthen internal evaluation.
Before the review, the staff and management of Tuatara Kids Tuakana 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:
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; police vetting; teacher registration; ratios)
evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
ERO identified an area of non-compliance in governance and management. The service provider must:
Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
4 July 2019
The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that, as part of its work, reviews early childhood services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. ERO’s reports provide information for parents and communities about each service’s strengths and next steps for development. ERO’s bicultural evaluation framework Ngā Pou Here is described in SECTION 3 of this report. Early childhood services are partners in the review process and are expected to make use of the review findings to enhance children's wellbeing and learning.
|
Location |
Wellington |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
50073 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
28 children, including up to 6 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
31 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Female 16, Male 15 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
50-79% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2019 |
||
|
Date of this report |
4 July 2019 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
April 2016 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2014 |
||
ERO’s overarching question for an early childhood education review is ‘How well placed is this service to promote positive learning outcomes for children?’ ERO focuses on the following factors as described in the bicultural framework Ngā Pou Here:
Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children
Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children
Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children
Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.
Within these areas ERO considers the effectiveness of arotake – self review and of whanaungatanga – partnerships with parents and whānau.
ERO evaluates how well placed a service is to sustain good practice and make ongoing improvements for the benefit of all children at the service.
A focus for the government is that all children, especially priority learners, have an opportunity to benefit from quality early childhood education. ERO will report on how well each service promotes positive outcomes for all children, with a focus on children who are Māori, Pacific, have diverse needs, and are up to the age of two.
For more information about the framework and Ngā Pou Here refer to ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
Very well placed
Well placed
Requires further development
Not well placed
ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.
ERO reviews are tailored to each service’s context and performance, within the overarching review framework. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to the service.