34 Mitchell Street, Invercargill
View on map|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Lindisfarne Kindergarten is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Lindisfarne Kindergarten provides education and care for 40 children aged two years to school age. Children from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds attend.
The philosophy is for children to learn through the values of 'whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, kotahitanga and ako'. These concepts aim to support learning that is centred on relationships and connections, caring for one another and the environment, and learning together.
This is one of 23 kindergartens within the Kindergartens South Association (KS). KS is managed by a board of governors and a general manager. The general manager and a team of senior teachers support head teachers and staff working within each kindergarten.
Since the May 2017 ERO report there have been a number of changes within the board of governors, across KS management and within the kindergarten. The report recommended that KS and the kindergarten clearly define the service's philosophy and vision and further develop systems to develop and improve the kindergarten's operations and practices. The KS, general manager and kindergarten leaders have made very good progress addressing most of these areas. Internal evaluation continues to be a next step.
This review was one of a cluster of seven kindergartens within KS.
Children benefit from a rich, responsive curriculum provided by a team of capable teachers who effectively promote their learning and development. Children competently work together and are confident to approach teachers for help to build their knowledge and skills.
The philosophy clearly states what teachers and the community value for children's learning. Te Ao Māori concepts provide an effective guide for teaching and curriculum development. The concept of ako is particularly evident within the daily programme. Whānau and teachers work well together to grow their knowledge and understanding of children's interests, strengths and abilities.
The development of key learning priorities has supported the integration of te reo and tikanga Maori, improved the level of participation of parents and whānau in the programme and is helping children with diverse needs to feel connected and included in the centre.
Other positive features of the kindergarten include:
culturally responsive teaching practices that encourage children to have a can-do attitude, be independent and build resilience
children's access to a wide range of resources and stimulating learning experiences that link well with the learning priorities and children's interests
regular communication with parents and whānau to inform planning for children's learning.
Teachers have developed effective systems to plan, implement and evaluate children's learning. They work in partnership with families to provide experiences that build and add complexity to learning. Teachers access external expertise for children needing additional support.
Leadership is effectively building a cohesive team and shared understandings about what the team want children to learn and how best to achieve it. The team is improvement focused and regularly reflects on the learning programme and teaching practice. Teaches are adaptable and open to change.
The initiatives developed recently to improve systems, teaching practice and children's learning are having a significant impact and are improving outcomes for children. Internal evaluation practices are informal. A next step is to formalise the process for internal evaluation and implement a schedule to ensure the regular review of the centre's key priorities. This will help teachers know how effectively the curriculum is providing the learning that is valued at the kindergarten.
KS leaders provide effective support and mentoring for the head teacher and teachers within the kindergarten. KS continues to make significant progress in improving the systems and process for the effective governance and management of the association.
ERO's evaluation confirms and kindergarten leaders and teachers agree that the next steps are to:
Next steps for the KS board and managers are to further develop and implement:
the KS strategic Intent and annual plan
the services guiding document Te Kaupapa mo nga akonga tatou
internal evaluation processes and practices.
Before the review, the staff and management of Lindisfarne 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:
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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
22 May 2020
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.
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Location |
Invercargill, Southland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
5521 |
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Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
40 children, aged over 2 |
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Service roll |
34 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 24 Boys 10 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
5 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
February 2020 |
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Date of this report |
22 May 2020 |
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Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
May 2017 |
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|
Education Review |
January 2014 |
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Education Review |
July 2010 |
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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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Lindisfarne kindergarten is licensed for 40 children aged from 2 years to school age. Children attend for a range of times between 8:30am and 2:30pm. Up to 30 children attend in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. The kindergarten offers a weekly playgroup to support children and their families become familiar with the environment before starting kindergarten.
The kindergarten is governed by Kindergartens South (KS). The kindergarten receives regular support from senior teachers. There has been stable staffing since the 2014 review. After the 2014 ERO review senior teachers supported the teachers to develop action planning to address the key next steps. The actions did not give sufficient guidance for the team to improve the implementation of effective evaluation. This remains an area for ongoing development.
This review was part of a cluster of fourteen kindergarten reviews in the Southland Kindergarten Association (trading as Kindergartens South).
The head teacher and teachers actively encourage strong relationships that promote positive outcomes for children. Some families have a long history with the kindergarten spanning several generations. Teachers actively encourage parents and extended family to share their skills in the programme. They make good use of the local community to support children's learning and sense of belonging.
Teachers have used professional learning and development well to improve the way they support children's early literacy and mathematics learning. They use children's interests as a context for purposeful teaching and learning in these areas.
The teaching team provide a programme where children can make choices and have many opportunities for:
developing social skills
active exploration and physical development
learning to take care of their own health and wellbeing
learning about science concepts and the creative arts.
The outdoor environment provides children with opportunities to challenge themselves and explore. Children have opportunities to hear and use te reo Māori, waiata and karakia and learn about legends.
Teachers have increased their focus on better supporting children to transition into the kindergarten and move to school. Teachers:
share some information about the child's interests, strengths and dispositions with the school
support children to take an active role in their transition to school and share their experiences with their peers.
The kindergarten's philosophy, vision, goals and systems are not sufficiently developed and used to guide teachers' work. Teachers do not have a good understanding of robust internal evaluation practices. The next step is for teachers to build their understanding and use of effective internal evaluation.
The kindergarten philosophy needs to outline the desired outcomes for children and show a commitment to the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The teaching team do not have effective long and short-term planning. This needs to be developed to include:
clear priorities and goals that are linked to positive outcomes for children
appropriate actions and resources to enable the goals to be achieved
systematic monitoring and evaluation of the progress towards the goals
reporting to the community and the KS with how well these goals have been achieved.
Systems for planning, assessment and evaluation for groups and individuals are not effectively supporting all children's learning. Teachers need to develop a shared understanding of effective planning, assessment and evaluation. They need to ensure guidelines reflect this. When planning for groups and individuals teachers need to:
consistently show in documentation how they respond to parents' wishes for their children's learning in a timely manner
show how they value and respond to children's language, culture and identity
identify the desired outcomes for children's learning
more clearly show the strategies and experiences to support the learning
evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies and experiences in supporting children's learning.
Teachers need to continue to find ways to improve assessment practices to show Māori children are actively engaged in their learning and are progressing well and succeeding as Māori. They need to develop detailed planning to enrich the bicultural programme.
Senior teachers need to find ways to better support teachers to make the improvements required. A new appraisal system is being introduced. Further development is required to include expectations for observations and explicit links to Tātaiako.
The kindergarten receives good support from KS. The KS board has a clear strategic vision that outlines key priorities for development. The next step is to ensure explicit alignment of these priorities to the planning of each kindergarten. The board has identified that internal evaluation practice is not strong at board level. The board needs to receive evaluative reporting of how well these plans and other initiatives have been enacted and the impact on children’s learning.
The key next steps for the head teacher and teachers, with the support of the senior teacher, are to further develop and embed the kindergarten philosophy, vision, goals and systems. These include:
long and short term planning
internal evaluation
planning, assessment and evaluation
showing how the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua is reflected in the curriculum.
The key next steps for the KS board are to:
ensure the appraisal system continues to be developed and embedded
develop and use rigorous internal evaluation practices
ensure explicit alignment of kindergarten planning to implement the KS strategic goals
receive evaluative reporting of progress towards the strategic goals.
Before the review, the staff and management of Lindisfarne 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:
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.
The next ERO review of Lindisfarne Kindergarten will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
24 May 2017
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 |
Invercargill |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
5521 |
||
|
Licence type |
Free Kindergarten |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children over 2 years |
||
|
Service roll |
32 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 16 Boys: 16 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
9 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
March 2017 |
||
|
Date of this report |
24 May 2017 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
January 2014 |
|
|
Education Review |
July 2010 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 2007 |
||
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:
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 and the timing of the next review will depend on how well placed a service is to promote positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:
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.