Tawa Central Kindergarten

1 Evaluation of Tawa Central Kindergarten

How well placed is Tawa Central Kindergarten to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Tawa Central Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Tawa Central Kindergarten is situated in Tawa, Wellington. It is licensed for 42 children aged over two years. Of the 58 children on the roll, 13 identify as Māori, and five are of Pacific descent. The kindergarten serves a diverse ethnic community.

Since the June 2016 ERO review, the kindergarten's building has been extended. An acting head teacher led the team in 2018 and there have been changes in staffing. All teachers are qualified and registered.

The philosophy prioritises a warm, welcoming and fun learning environment where children, parents, whānau, community, the environment and Tiriti o Waitangi are valued and respected.

The 2016 ERO report identified assessment and evaluation, te ao Māori and internal evaluation as areas requiring further development. Progress is evident.

The kindergarten is governed and managed by He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Kindergarten Association (the association). The association governs 103 early childhood services which include a diverse range of kindergartens, all day education and care services, three Pacific kindergartens and a Pacific home-based service. A team of senior teachers oversee and support professional practice.

Progress has also been made by the association to improve support for individual kindergartens, the appraisal process, and teachers' capability to work with Māori learners.

This review was one of a cluster of eight in He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Kindergarten Association.

The Review Findings

Children are engaged, confident and competent learners. Thoughtfully chosen resources encourage them to make choices and decisions about their learning. Teachers are responsive to children's interests, discoveries and needs. They deliberately model social strategies and maximise opportunities to add challenge, complexity and authenticity to children’s play. Teachers thoughtfully review care routines for younger children to enhance their value as learning times.

Commitment by leaders and teachers to develop a strong bicultural philosophy and curriculum is highly evident. Children's carefully tended gardens promote respect for papatūānuku and kaitiakitanga, guardianship of the land. Planting, nurturing and harvesting vegetables from the māra, the kindergarten garden, teaches children about sustainable practices. Teachers who are skilful in weaving te reo me tikanga Māori into children's learning, consistently model these practices for their colleagues. Understanding of tataiako, cultural competencies, has been well supported by association-led professional learning and development. The head teacher respectfully seeks purposeful links with mana whenua, whānau Māori. Leaders, teachers and the wider community are continuing this journey through the development of a local curriculum that includes whakapapa, stories of the area and shared beliefs and values.

Highly responsive and inclusive practices are modelled by teachers. Teachers welcome and speak to whānau in their home languages. Strong partnerships with families support children’s progress and development. An online communication tool enables whānau to comment and share information about their child’s learning and interests. Children with additional learning needs are identified and effectively supported by the curriculum. Leaders and teachers work alongside family and whānau to access external agencies when required.

Assessment and planning are deliberately focused on improving outcomes for children. Whānau are invited to contribute, participate and feedback on group learning through thought provoking displays of photos, information and commentaries. Learning stories strongly demonstrate the teaching team’s commitment to developing learning partnerships with whānau. Close observations of children’s emerging interests and learning are regularly written in their home languages. ERO supports the leaders' focus on strengthening teacher's documentation and the use of intentional teaching strategies that improve children's learning outcomes. This should enable the teaching team to identify and extend significant learning for each child, better track progress and lead to a more focused approach to planning and teaching.

Transitions into the kindergarten are well supported by a collective team approach, based on individual children’s needs and facilitated in collaboration with parents. A local cluster group, recently established by the head teacher, is focused on strengthening transition to schools. A key focus on sharing information with schools should better support the continuity of children's learning journeys.

The head teacher, well supported by the senior teacher, deliberately builds the professional practice of the teaching team through a range of leadership opportunities. The teaching team is improvement focused and highly responsive to senior teacher feedback and annual review findings.

Self-review is valued and regularly undertaken. Leadership has identified the need to strengthen and align systems and processes to support consistent assessment, planning and evaluation practices. A new framework has been adopted to support a more evaluative approach. An important next step is for the team to develop a shared understanding of evidence-based internal evaluation that includes well researched indicators of quality. This should better enable leaders and teachers to review the effectiveness of their own practice and support positive learning outcomes for children.

The association provides effective professional development and ongoing support, to build the leadership capabilities of the head teacher and teaching team. Well-considered resource allocation enhances teaching and supports children’s learning and wellbeing. There is an established culture in place which values and celebrates children and their whānau.

A well-considered appraisal process continues to be reviewed and developed to better support teachers and leaders to inquire into the effectiveness of their practice. Work is ongoing to build and embed understanding of the association's expectations and processes.

Association leaders, including the senior teachers, work effectively together with shared commitment to the mission, vision, values and goals of the organisation. Strategic goals and objectives are focused on improvement for the benefit of children, whānau and community. Tūmanako, is providing high-level guidance for the association's future direction as a Tiriti o Waitangi based organisation. A range of effective tools is used well by senior teachers to monitor the quality of, and promote improvement to, individual kindergarten practice and operation.

Key Next Steps

ERO and senior leaders agree that priorities for teachers are to continue to strengthen and embed systems and practices for:

• assessment and planning

• internal evaluation.

The priority for the association is to:

• continue to build on and follow the strategic direction set through Tūmanako, Te Tiriti o Waitangi based Strategic Priority Framework.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Tawa Central Kindergarten 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.

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.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified areas of non-compliance relating to health and safety. To meet requirements the service needs to improve its performance in the following area:

• a record of written authority from parents for the administration of medication should be kept. This should include the name of the child, amount and name of medication given, date, time and by whom; and evidence of parental acknowledgement.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Services 2008; HS 28

The kindergarten took immediate action to address the action for compliance. It has provided sufficient evidence to ERO that demonstrates this has been addressed.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

8 June 2020

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Early Childhood Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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.

ERO’s Overall Judgement

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.

Review Coverage

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.