141 Burwood Road, Burwood, Christchurch
View on map
ERO’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 | Meeting |
| Governance, management and administration | Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Ready Steady Play is an early childhood centre which has had a change in ownership since its last ERO review in November 2015. It is now owned by Provincial Education Group. The service manager is supported by an area manager. The centre has specific areas for infants, toddlers and children over three years and supports a culturally diverse community.
The curriculum is consistent with Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, and resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending. Adults promote the use of positive interactions to enhance relationships and children’s learning. The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. Health and safety practices are monitored, and changes made when required. A policy framework and strategic and annual plans guide operations.
Next steps include:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
4 June 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Ready Steady Play |
| Profile Number | 65059 |
| Location | Christchurch |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 65 children, including up to 24 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80%+ |
| Service roll | 93 |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 17, NZ European/Pākehā 54, Other ethnicities 22. |
| Review team on site | April 2021 |
| Date of this report | 4 June 2021 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, November 2015; Education Review, June 2012 |
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.
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 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated standards are being met. In particular, ERO looks at a service’s systems for managing the following areas that have a potentially high impact on children's wellbeing:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
How well placed is Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre is a privately-owned, purpose-built centre. It is one of two centres operating within the same building and provides education and care for children from two years old to school age. Ready Steady Babies operates from the same premises. Each centre has two separate rooms. The centres work closely together under the same management and administration structure.
Most staff are qualified early childhood teachers. An administrator and housekeeper are employed to work across both centres.
Since the 2012 ERO review, there has been a change to the management structure of the centres with an assistant manager appointed in March 2015. The centre has made very good progress towards meeting the recommendations from the 2012 ERO report by developing very effective self-review processes.
This review was part of a cluster of two centres owned and administered by the same service provider.
Children experience caring, responsive, relationships and interactions with their teachers. Teachers use a range of effective strategies to support children’s learning. They provide many opportunities to develop and extend children’s ideas and thinking, including aspects of literacy and numeracy.
Children actively explore the very well-resourced learning environments and make good use of creative and imaginative play experiences. Teachers are very involved in children’s play. They focus strongly on providing a wide range of natural resources, activities and choices for children. Children are independent and confident in the centre environment.
Children are well supported to develop their oral language skills. They make appropriate use of external support to help children who need additional language support.
Teachers include te reo and tikanga Māori in children’s everyday experiences. They have made effective use of professional development to build their knowledge of bicultural concepts and practices.
Teachers plan the learning programme based on children’s interests. They encourage children to solve problems and take risks as part of their learning. Teachers have used self review to improve aspects of child assessment, programme planning and evaluation.
Transitions into and within the centre are carefully planned and well managed to meet the needs of individual children and their families.
Centre leaders and teachers support and include families very well. They build strong relationships with parents and provide good opportunities for parents to share information about their children. Leaders consult with families and value their contributions.
The managers share a strong commitment to ongoing improvement of learning and teaching and supporting teachers to further develop their teaching skills. They make good use of professional development to review and improve centre systems and practices and define their roles and responsibilities within the new management structure.
Managers and teachers effectively use self review to identify what is going well and where further improvements can be made. They carefully monitor improvements to ensure they result in positive outcomes for children.
The centre managers and ERO agree that the key next steps for improving outcomes for children include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre 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.
The next ERO review of Ready Steady Play Early Learning Centre will be in three years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
17 November 2015
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 |
Christchurch |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
65059 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
35 children, two years and over |
||
|
Service roll |
46 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls 25; Boys 21 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Ukrainian Thai Other European |
10 33 1 1 1 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
80% |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
September 2015 |
||
|
Date of this report |
17 November 2015 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports These are available at www.ero.govt.nz |
Education Review |
June 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2008 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2005 |
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 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.