120 Warren Street, Wanaka
View on mapAkarangi | Quality Evaluations evaluate the extent to which early childhood services have 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 and Early Childhood Education (ECE) Improvement Framework (teacher led services) are the basis for making judgements about the quality of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Evaluations for improvement | Ngā Aronga Whai Hua is integrated across all of the above domains.
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 Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
|
What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
ERO’s judgement |
|
He Whāriki Motuhake The learner and their learning |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Whakangungu Ngaio Collaborative professional learning builds knowledge and capability |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Ngā Aronga Whai Hua Evaluation for improvement |
Whakaū Embedding |
|
Kaihautū Leaders foster collaboration and improvement |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
|
Te Whakaruruhau Stewardship through effective governance and management |
Whakawhanake Sustaining |
Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre is a community-based service in central Wanaka providing care and education for up to 40 children from birth to school. There is a separate area for infants and toddlers. The layout allows older and younger children to have frequent contact with each other. The centre is governed by a parent-led committee.
Tamariki learn in a secure home-like environment where play is valued and curiosity and risk taking encouraged to build confidence and resilience. Kaiako engage in considerate, caring interactions with tamariki to nurture their wellbeing and belonging in the context of family and community. Opportunities to make choices and play cooperatively in a rich learning environment support tamariki in developing a sense of agency and a strong learner identity.
Infants and toddlers experience calm and unhurried play that fosters exploration and promotes holistic development. Transitions into, within and onto school are responsive to meet the needs of tamariki and their whānau. Intentional connections with local schools strengthen learning.
Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum effectively underpins assessment, planning and evaluation and learning priorities. Kaiako deliberately use Te Whāriki learning outcomes to guide and show children’s progress and achievement over time. Kaiako work collaboratively with parents and whānau to understand and implement aspirations for their children.
Kaiako authentically integrate te reo Māori me ngā tikanga Māori and te ao Māori across the curriculum to reflect Māori children’s culture, language and identity. Building a culturally responsive curriculum based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi continues to be a priority for service leaders and kaiako.
Effective leadership and coherent organisational conditions are promoting an evaluative culture and the implementation of internal evaluation for continuous improvement and innovation. Kaiako are building their capacity and capability to do and use internal evaluation for the ongoing improvement of their practice.
Purposeful connections with outside specialist agencies, and other leaders in the wider education profession, enhance community wellbeing, kaiako capability and learner outcomes.
Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning
Before the review, the staff and management of Aspiring Beginnings 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
21 June 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre |
| Profile Number | 80009 |
| Location |
Wanaka |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 12 aged under 2. |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80%+ |
|
Service roll |
58 |
|
Ethnic composition |
NZ European/Pākehā 44, other ethnicities 14. |
|
Review team on site |
March 2021 |
|
Date of this report |
21 June 2021 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2016; Education Review, May 2013. |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Aspiring Beginnings is a community-based early learning centre in central Wanaka. The centre is governed by a capable parent committee, providing very strong support to teachers and their practices. They, the teachers and other staff have shared understandings about what is important for children’s learning. The centre values in the philosophy statement are clearly evident in centre practice. The service provides education and care for children of mixed ages. It has safe, separate inside and outdoor areas for infants and younger children.
The manager and teachers have made very good progress with the recommendations from the May 2013 ERO report. There have been few staff changes over this time. This has contributed to continuity and consistency in practice and has enabled strong relationships to develop between parents, teachers and children.
Teachers know the children very well. They place high importance on developing respectful and trusting relationships with the children, their families and as a teaching team. A sense of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga is evident. Working with parents to support children’s learning has been a recent focus for improvement with very good results. Teachers regularly seek parents' input when setting individual goals for children’s learning and discuss effective ways for these to be achieved.
Outdoor play is highly valued. The recently extended outdoor area is being developed with staff, children and the community contributing ideas and resources.
Children are confident, settled and play with enthusiasm either alone or with others. Teachers deliberately create and foster a calm, peaceful environment. They use well-considered strategies to help children cooperate at play and interact positively with one another.
The infant and toddler area provides well for their wide and varied needs. Children benefit from the care they receive in an unhurried setting where they enjoy nurturing relationships with their key teacher. Teachers value the daily conversations they have with parents. These relationships help teachers interpret and respond to the subtle cues of the infants and toddlers.
Other positive features of the service that contribute to children’s learning and wellbeing include:
A particular strength is the support for children with additional learning needs. Teachers work pro-actively to provide extra support whenever this is required. Teachers promote the idea of older children helping the learning of younger children, the tuakana-teina concept. They foster children’s leadership abilities through the concept of rangatiratanga.
The committee, manager and teachers value Māori culture and promote an understanding of key concepts and knowledge. Tikanga and te reo Māori are evident throughout the day and children’s knowledge in this area is growing. Teachers are aware of the need to continually build on this knowledge and understanding over time. They have some processes in place to support this.
The teachers have identified what they consider 'critical learning'. While they have yet to specifically plan and evaluate how they promote and extend this particular learning, there is good evidence of children’s learning growing in complexity over time. The teachers meet weekly to look deeply at children’s learning. They also meet daily to discuss parent communications, health and safety, and the care and learning needs of children. They prepare a useful summary of each child’s learning at key transition points.
The centre manager is a capable leader. She has established a sense of camaraderie within her team and a strong culture of continuous improvement. Her team shares responsibility for the centre, and values one another’s strengths and abilities. Teachers have many opportunities within the programme to use their many and varied skills. The online appraisal system ensures teachers reflect regularly on their practices and many share aspects of their development with others. The manager is aware that the appraisal system needs to be updated in line with the new Education Council expectations and this has been planned for.
Children benefit from the high level of regular, effective and relevant professional development teachers receive. The parent committee strongly supports teachers to build their knowledge and skills in this way. The teachers embrace new learning with enthusiasm and the ideas are immediately implemented. Changes in practice are maintained through regular discussions within the team.
Self review results in positive change and improved outcomes for children. Reviews undertaken are focused on improving the quality of learning programmes and teaching practice. Leaders have identified that a more evaluative approach would strengthen the process and a more comprehensive schedule for review would ensure a wider coverage over time.
Leaders have also identified that aspects of group planning could be improved to ensure the learning intended is always explicit. They can see that they could further define their key priorities for children’s learning and better align group planning and self review with these. The review of the centre's policies and procedures to make them more robust is ongoing.
Centre-management systems are constantly evolving and there are useful reporting systems in place to ensure the committee is kept well informed. The parent committee is passionate about Aspiring Beginnings and very supportive of staff and the programme. Parents are determined to maintain the centre's low teacher-to-child ratios and retain their quality staff. The committee members have developed a useful strategic plan that identifies key priorities for development. They then monitor their progress against the goals.
Key next steps as identified above are to further define the centre's learning priorities and strengthen group planning, self review and the appraisal system.
Before the review, the staff and management of Aspiring Beginnings 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 Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre will be in four years.
Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
25 August 2016
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 |
Wanaka |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
80009 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
40 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
53 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys: 30 Girls: 23 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
6 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:3 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:7 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
July 2016 |
||
|
Date of this report |
25 August 2016 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
May 2013 |
|
|
Education Review |
April 2010 |
||
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.