129 Awapuni Rd, Victoria, Gisborne
View on mapERO’s Akanuku | Assurance Review reports provide information about whether a service meets and maintains regulatory standards. Further information about Akanuku | Assurance Reviews is included at the end of this report.
Regulatory standards | ERO’s judgement |
| Curriculum | Meeting |
| Premises and facilities | Meeting |
| Health and safety | Not meeting |
| Governance, management and administration | Not meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified areas of non-compliance with regulatory standards that are an unacceptable risk to children.
Awapuni Early Learners is a community-based early childhood service. There have been some staff changes since the last ERO review, including a new kaiwhakahaere (centre leader). The centre’s values emphasise the importance of whānau and community, where children have fun and grow through play within a child centred environment.
The new leader has begun to strengthen some systems and processes. Clear prioritisation of improvements is required to meet and maintain compliance with regulatory standards.
The service curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. A range of resources and experiences extend children’s learning and development. The service acknowledges and reflects the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua. Children develop knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritage of both parties to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Regular opportunities are provided for parents to communicate with staff about their child and be involved in decision making.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008; HS7, HS8, HS12, HS17, HS28, HS29, GMA7A.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)
11 February 2025
| Early Childhood Service Name | Awapuni Early Learners |
| Profile Number | 55217 |
| Location | Victoria, Gisborne |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 40 children, including up to 8 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
Ethnic composition (%) Using rounded percentages | Māori 51%; NZ European/Pākehā 42%; other ethnic groups 8% |
| Service roll | 59 |
| Review team on site | November 2024 |
| Date of this report | 11 February 2025 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Akarangi | Quality Evaluation, October 2021; Education Review, June 2017 |
All services are licensed under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The legal requirements for early childhood services also include the Licensing Criteria for Education and Care Services 2008. Services must meet the standards in the regulations and the requirements of the licensing criteria to gain and maintain a licence to operate.
ERO will consider undertaking an Akanuku | Assurance Review when it becomes evident that half or more of the licensing criteria ERO has checked indicate a systemic failure.
In particular, ERO looks at a service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
Additionally, one or more of the following criteria will also be evident:
All early childhood services are required to promote children’s health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements. Before the review, the staff and management of a service 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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 (PDF 3.01MB) are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. The Akarangi Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric (PDF 91.30KB) derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence.
ERO’s judgements for Awapuni Early Learners are as follows:
Outcome Indicators | ERO’s judgement |
| What the service knows about outcomes for learners | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | ERO’s judgement |
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning | Whakaū Embedding |
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability | Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement | Whakaū Embedding |
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management | Whakaū Embedding |
Awapuni Early Learners is led by a centre manager who works with another leader to enact management responsibilities and lead teaching practice. They work together with teachers across all age groups. The centre philosophy highlights relationships as a core value in the care and education of children.
Tamariki experience responsive care and attention. They display a growing sense of security and trust. Their verbal and non-verbal cues are responded to in meaningful ways. Child agency is fostered as teachers promote independent exploration of the environment.
Strong relationships underpin children’s learning experiences. Collaborative relationships between teachers, parents and whānau assist with identifying priorities for children’s learning. Infants, toddlers and young children experience positive connections with each other and teachers. Children’s individual care needs are based on parents’ identified priorities. Transitions within the centre are unhurried and focused on children’s individual needs and preferences.
Te reo and tikanga Māori are integrated into the programme. Children’s culture, language and identity is valued. Links between home and centre contribute to their sense of belonging and identity as a learner.
Teachers continue to build their capability to use internal evaluation for improvement. The team collaborate to critically reflect on the curriculum and teaching and identify how this influences children’s learning. They are yet to clearly identify indicators of what quality education and care looks like; to evaluate the effectiveness of their practice and to understand how well they are achieving equitable outcomes for children.
Through governance and management the implementation of policies and procedures continue to be monitored. Service personnel have not yet evaluated their effectiveness in relation to quality education and care and health and safety. As a result of enrolling children under three years, it is timely that teachers revisit the service’s philosophy to ensure there is a shared understanding of this in relation to the vision, goals and priorities for children’s learning in relation to this younger age group.
Awapuni Early Learners will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of Awapuni Early Learners 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:
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
Shelley Booysen
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
5 October 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Awapuni Early Learners |
| Profile Number | 55217 |
| Location | Gisborne |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 40 children, including up to 8 aged under 2. |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 50 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 24, NZ European/Pākehā 22, Other ethnic groups 4. |
| Review team on site | July 2021 |
| Date of this report | 5 October 2021 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, June 2017; Education Review. March 2014; Education Review, February 2011. |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Awapuni Under Fives Community Preschool is a community-based early learning service in Gisborne that provides education and care for up to 30 children aged over two. It is situated within the grounds of Awapuni Primary School.
The centre is governed by a board made up of parents whose children are, or have been, enrolled. Day-to-day management of operation, teaching and learning is the responsibility of a leadership team comprising the head teacher and assistant head teacher. At the time of this report there were five qualified staff.
The centre philosophy emphasises the importance of relationships, respect and care for children's growth and development.
Centre staff have responded well to the next steps identified in the March 2014 ERO report.
The service's philosophy and values are evident in practice. There is a supportive and welcoming culture. Children engage in a programme that assists them to be confident and competent learners. Cooperative play and friendships are encouraged and positive relationships between teachers and children are evident.
The centre is well resourced to promote children's creativity and support their interests. Their sense of belonging is enhanced through displays celebrating them and their work. Literacy, numeracy, science and creativity are successfully integrated into the programme. Children have ongoing, supported opportunities for investigation, exploration and challenge.
Teachers are kind and respectful, engaging well with children to support them in their play. They should continue to identify and implement strategies that extend children's ideas and maximise opportunities for them to lead their learning and persevere in their play over time.
The curriculum is strongly based on children's interests and strengths. Teachers also plan activities to engage children and introduce new ideas. An online assessment tool is used effectively to communicate with families about the programme and centre events.
Children's journals are an attractive record of their participation and engagement in centre life. These provide a way for families to contribute to their children's learning programmes.
Teachers should continue to strengthen their approach to assessment, planning and evaluation. Further consideration should be given to:
Diversity is recognised and celebrated. Children's languages, cultures and identities are valued and acknowledged. Teachers have well-developed knowledge and understanding of te ao Māori.
Extensive links with the local and wider community have been developed which contribute to a range of learning opportunities for children. A close relationship with the adjoining primary school has been achieved. Teachers should continue to seek ways of sharing information about individual children's learning and early childhood practice with new entrant teachers to further strengthen their approach to support children's transition to school.
The centre is well managed and led by the head teacher. She has good support from board members who work collaboratively with the teaching team to improve outcomes for children, their families and whānau.
Leaders and teachers have participated in relevant professional learning and development (PLD) to support their roles. A new appraisal process has recently been developed that has the potential to build teacher practice to improve outcomes for children. This now needs to be implemented along with the programme of support for provisionally registered teachers.
Use of internal evaluation is at an early stage of development. Recent training has supported teachers' shared understanding. A next step is to support the team's ongoing use of the agreed evaluative framework to measure the quality and effectiveness of priority areas of practice and operation.
The governance board provides good support for centre operation. Trustees show a commitment to improving management systems. Parents and whānau are regularly consulted. Work has commenced on documenting expectations in relation to governance roles and responsibilities. Although some strategic priorities have been identified, further work should be undertaken to define desired outcomes, especially in relation to teaching and learning. These can then be used to support annual planning, the monitoring of progress towards goals, and decision making about PLD and planned internal evaluation. Increased collaboration with staff about long-term planning should support their ownership of the future the centre.
Leaders, teachers and ERO agree there is a need to continue to strengthen:
assessment, planning and evaluation
internal evaluation
the induction and mentoring programme for provisionally registered teachers
understanding of governance and management roles and responsibilities.
Before the review, the staff and management of Awapuni Under Fives Community Preschool 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.
In order to improve practice, systems should be put in place to ensure that resources, furniture and fittings are adequately secured and do not pose a high risk in the event of an earthquake.
The next ERO review of Awapuni Under Fives Community Preschool will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
26 June 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.
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Location |
Gisborne |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
55217 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
30 children, aged over 2 |
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Service roll |
40 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 21, Boys 19 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
17 |
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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 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
May 2017 |
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Date of this report |
26 June 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
March 2014 |
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Education Review |
February 2011 |
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Education Review |
December 2007 |
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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:
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.