Queens Park Early Childhood Education

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.

ERO’s Judgement

At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.

Background

Queens Park Early Childhood Education is a privately-owned early learning service. It offers full-day education and care for children from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. A head teacher is responsible for the daily running of the service and is supported by the owner in a distributed leadership structure. This is the service’s first ERO review since returning to a full license in January 2021.

Summary of Review Findings

The curriculum aligns to the principles and strands of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.

Children's cultures are reflected through the use of their home languages and cultural celebrations. They have opportunities to play indoors and outdoors, individually and in groups. Excursions are a regular part of the curriculum. 

Premises and facilities are resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending. Centre leaders must ensure there is consistent implementation of some health and safety practices to meet compliance with regulatory requirements. Management implements suitable human resource practices.

Actions for Compliance

ERO found an area of non-compliance in the service relating to:

• consistent recording of all emergency drills carried out and evidence of how the evaluation of the drills has informed the annual review of the service’s emergency plan.

Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education & Care Services 2008, HS8.

Since the onsite visit the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:

• parents’ access to the most recent Education Review Office report regarding the service [GMA2]

• information provided to parents regarding the amount and details of expenditure of any Ministry of Education funding received by the service [GMA3]

• children’s workers who have access to children are consistently safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 [GMA7a].

Recommendation to Ministry of Education

ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.

Next ERO Review

The next ERO review will be in consultation with the Ministry of Education.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

21 April 2022 

Information About the Service

General Information about Assurance Reviews

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 undertakes an Akanuku | Assurance Review process in any centre-based service:

• having its first ERO review – including if it is part of a governing organisation

• previously identified as ‘not well placed’ or ‘requiring further development’

• that has moved from a provisional to a full licence

• that have been re-licenced due to a change of ownership

• where an Akanuku | Assurance Review process is determined to be appropriate.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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:

• curriculum

• premises and facilities

• health and safety practices

• governance, management, and administration.

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:

• 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 certification; ratios)

• evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:

• discussions with those involved in the service

• consideration of relevant documentation, including the implementation of health and safety systems

• observations of the environment/premises, curriculum implementation and teaching practice.

1 Evaluation of Queens Park Early Childhood Education

How well placed is Queens Park Early Childhood Education to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Queens Park Early Childhood Education is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

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

Background

Queens Park Early Childhood Education is privately owned, located in central Invercargill and provides education and care for children from birth-to-school age in a mixed-age setting. The centre is licensed for 36 children, including up to five children under two years of age. Children come from diverse cultural backgrounds and some children are English language learners.

The owner/manager often works alongside teachers. Other staff include a head teacher, qualified teachers, unqualified staff and teachers in training. Since the December 2016 ERO review, there have been changes in the teaching team.

The centre's philosophy states the importance for children learning in an inclusive, holistic environment, where they are happy and settled in their play. Teachers aim to foster: a culture of respect, including for the environment and our bicultural heritage; positive relationships with children and their families/whānau; confident children who are excited about learning; and children leading their own learning and becoming independent.

Leaders and teachers have made good progress in addressing the recommendations from the 2016 ERO report. There is now better inclusion of te reo and te ao Māori in the curriculum, and useful guidelines to support effective planning and assessment. Other areas such as, internal evaluation and refining the strategic plan continue to be work in progress.

The Review Findings

Children and their families benefit from respectful, caring and responsive relationships. Teachers take time to listen carefully, follow children's lead and respect their choices and decisions. The centre is very welcoming and inclusive, especially for children and families from different cultures.

Children show a strong sense of belonging to the centre. They settle quickly on arrival, confidently approach staff and know the centre routines and expectations. They play well alongside and with each other.

Infants and toddlers are very well supported in their learning and wellbeing. They benefit from the trusting and nurturing relationships they have with their primary caregiver. Numbers are intentionally kept low to enable a close relationship.

Teachers are confidently using Te Whāriki to guide their planning and work with children. The centre philosophy describes teachers' beliefs about how best to support children's learning and is evident in practice. However, leaders and teachers have not consulted with centre whānau as to what learning matters most for this centre.

The curriculum is broad and interesting. Children frequently go on excursions into the wider community, enhancing their sense of place. Trips have a strong learning focus. Other curriculum strengths include:

• a strong focus on supporting children to develop social skills and nurturing positive attitudes towards learning
• an appropriate balance between child-led and teacher-led learning
• regular opportunities to hear te reo Māori and to learn about te ao Māori
• rich early literacy experiences.

Teachers know the children well as individual learners and use this knowledge to inform individual and group planning. Children's learning stories describe significant learning and make visible for parents the teachers' role in supporting this. Parents' aspirations for their children's learning are gathered. Children's progress against their goals is reviewed.

The owner/manager and head teacher have intentionally built a collaborative teaching team, where all staff share collective responsibility for children's wellbeing and learning. They value teachers' strengths and empower teachers to take responsibility in areas of interest. The head teacher provides appropriate professional support for the teaching team.

To inform, guide and ensure ongoing improvements for children the owner and head teacher need to strengthen aspects of evaluation and management. There is little evidence of in-depth evaluation of teaching, learning or curriculum provision. The centre has a strategic plan. To strengthen staff ownership of this and achieve its goals, leaders and teachers need to develop useful annual plans. Teachers' appraisal requires improvement.

Key Next Steps

The owner, head teacher and ERO have identified that the next steps are to:

• identify, with whānau input, what learning matters most for this centre
• ensure understanding and implementation of effective internal evaluation
• develop an annual plan that shows how strategic goals will be achieved
• improve the appraisal process.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Queens Park Early Childhood Education 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

9 December 2019

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.