Mill Road, Cust
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre is well placed to promote positive outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre operates as a parent cooperative under the governance and management of the Playcentre Federation, Upper South Island Region. This centre is licensed for up to 25 children, including 10 children under two. The centre is open three mornings a week. The Wednesday programme operates as an outdoor nature session to explore the wider community.
The playcentre employs a coordinator. Parents are rostered to help at each session. The Upper South Island Region employs a centre support person and an administrator who regularly visit the playcentre to support the parents and coordinator.
The centre's philosophy places a strong emphasis on the important role of parents in their children's learning and wellbeing. It identifies the significance of play for children to become confident and capable learners and leaders. It states that the centre should be visible in the wider community and have a 'strong sense of belonging to its community'.
At the beginning of 2019, a new centre coordinator was appointed. The parent cooperative has made good progress to meet the recommendations in the 2014 ERO report. This includes
a strong parent cooperative being established
internal evaluation has improved and is more useful
bicultural understandings and inclusion in the programme have increased.
The parent cooperative has still to make connections with the local Māori community and make use of external support for this area of the ECE curriculum.
This review was part of a cluster of eight playcentre reviews in the Playcentre Federation, Upper South Island Region.
Children are confident, respectful and inclusive of others. Adults effectively use a range of strategies to help children develop good social, listening and participation skills. Tuakana teina is evident in the interactions of older children with younger children.
Children are successful learners who know what they want to learn, where to seek support and the resources that they need. Adults encourage children to lead the learning. They regularly involve children in decisions about the programme. They often include children in evaluating what they have learnt and where improvements to learning and safety could be made. Parents empower children as learners by asking searching questions, joining their play as learning partners and promoting problem solving strategies.
Te reo and tikanga Māori are increasing in the programme. Internal evaluation has been used appropriately to identify where improvements can be made to improve the programme. To continue to improve their skills, knowledge and understanding of Māori language and culture the parent group should build relationships with local Māori. They should also participate regularly in professional development for this area of the curriculum.
Children's transition to school is well managed and appropriate for each child. Parents and children help to decide what skills, knowledge and understandings each child will develop further to ensure a smooth transition to school. The playcentre maintains a close relationship with the local primary school.
Children under two-years-old are well integrated into the programme. Appropriate resources are easy for them to access. The number of adults participating in each session ensures that children are well supported in their learning and physical wellbeing.
Assessment, planning and programme evaluation successfully involve parents and children and shows the:
indepth knowledge parents share about individual children
wide range of experiences and activities provided
close links between home and centre learning.
An increasing shared knowledge of the processes for assessment and planning should enable parents to be more involved in goal setting, evaluating learning outcomes, and capturing children's learning progress over time.
Internal evaluation is well used to collaboratively identify issues to increase understanding and make improvements. The parents now need to ensure they have a single process that is well understood by all members of the cooperative. More emphasis should also be given to the learning outcomes for children as a result of the improvements made.
The strategic plan is in the early stages of development. Goals have been identified and the change that could be expected if the goals were met. A process to monitor progress and to identify outcomes for children and adults has yet to be completed. This development should also help to make closer links between internal evaluation and the strategic plan.
The adults work effectively as a parent cooperative. Parents are valued for the skills and knowledge that they bring to the playcentre. Decision making and the operation of the playcentre involves all adults. Strong support from the Upper South Island Region and parents' commitment to the playcentre parent education programme ensures the playcentre philosophy is upheld. Best practices are evident in the programme and the operation of the playcentre.
The Upper South Island Region, the playcentre and ERO agree that the key next steps for the parent cooperative to continue to improve outcomes for children include:
There continues to be significant change occurring with the playcentre's governance and management at regional and federation levels.
Before the review, the staff and management of Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre 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 Te Tai Tini
Southern Region
8 August 2019
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 |
Cust |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70040 |
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Licence type |
Playcentre |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
24 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 15, Girls 9 |
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Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā |
24 |
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reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:1 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
June 2019 |
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Date of this report |
8 August 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
November 2014 |
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|
Education Review |
February 2012 |
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Education Review |
May 2008 |
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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 |
Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
This playcentre operates under the guidance of the Canterbury Playcentre Association. The playcentre is a parent cooperative. Parents are encouraged to be involved in all aspects of the programme and centre operation.
Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre has two morning sessions a week.
Since the February 2012 ERO review, the centre has made good progress towards addressing the recommendations from the February 2012 ERO report. There is a stronger focus on children’s learning and self review is ably led by the centre coordinator.
The centre has strong and close relationships with the community through the positive interactions with groups that share the community centre. The centre is a member of a learning cluster that includes local schools and other early childhood centres in the district. It promotes good working relationships that benefit learning outcomes for children and students.
This review was part of a cluster of 11 playcentre reviews in the Canterbury Playcentre Association.
Children experience strong and caring relationships with each other and with adults. Parents know the children well and respond positively to children’s requests for support with their learning. The centre’s programme has a strong focus on extending children’s interests. Adults build these interests as a way of supporting children’s learning and wellbeing.
Parents’ involvement is a positive feature of the learning programme. It includes a strong emphasis on encouraging parents to share their observations about the children’s learning at home with other adults at the centre.
These observations are the foundation upon which planning to extend children’s learning is based. Individual learning plans are developed for each child and learning and progress are assessed.
The indoor and outdoor learning areas are spacious, well resourced and well organised. Infants and toddlers have a specially designed area for them to play and explore the easily accessible resources. They are able to join the older children during session. This works well with the support of parents.
Self review is regular, and used to support the programme. The collaborative leadership is helping to build parents’ capability to sustain the centre into the future.
There are good systems in place to guide the operations. The playcentre philosophy is strongly evident in the practices.
The centre leaders have identified, and ERO agrees, the next steps for the centre to improve learning outcomes for children are to:
This is the third cluster review of a number of playcentres that ERO has undertaken in collaboration with the association. Each of the previous cluster reviews have identified emerging strengths from all the playcentres reviewed. This process has resulted in key next steps for the association to further support playcentres to improve learning outcomes for children.
The association has made some good progress in addressing the recommendations from the previous two cluster reviews. This includes:
Further work is required to develop a stronger understanding of the government’s focus on priority learners so that the association can better support parent groups to respond to these children.
There continues to be significant change occurring in the structure of governance and management at association and federation levels. This has had a major impact on the association’s positive response to ERO’s recommendation from the previous cluster review, to document future planning.
During this cluster review the association has identified, and ERO agrees, that the next steps for the association include:
Before the review, the staff and management of Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre completed an ERO Centre Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they attested that they select ‘have’ or ‘have not’ 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 Cust-West Eyreton Playcentre will be in three years.
Graham Randell
National Manager Review Services Southern Region
10 November 2014
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 |
Cust, North Canterbury |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
70040 |
||
|
Licence type |
Playcentre |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
25 children, including up to 10 aged under two |
||
|
Service roll |
34 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 19; Girls 15 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori NZ European/Pākehā South African |
1 32 1 |
|
|
Reported ratios of adult to children |
Under 2 |
1:1 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
August 2014 |
||
|
Date of this report |
10 November 2014 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
February 2012 |
|
|
Education Review |
May 2008 |
||
|
Education Review |
June 2004 |
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.