86 Elm Row, Dunedin
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 |
Meeting |
At the time of the review, ERO identified non-compliance with regulatory standards that must be addressed.
Pioneers Elm Row is a community-based service governed by a parent board. The day-to-day operations are led by the director who works alongside the centre team leaders. The service provides education and care in a mixed-aged setting which caters for a range of ages and abilities.
The service curriculum aligns to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. The learning environment provides a range of resources and equipment that promote exploration. Teachers engage in calm and respectful interactions with children to support their learning and development. Children’s cultures are respected and supported through collaboration with parents and whānau to develop links between their home cultures and languages.
The design and layout of the premises support the provision of different types of indoor and outdoor experiences. Governance and management systems ensure policies and procedures are in place for the operation of the service, however an increased level of monitoring of health and safety practices is required.
ERO found areas of non-compliance in the service relating to:
consistently monitoring and recording children’s sleep times
maintaining consistent records of all medicine (prescription and non-prescription) given to children attending the service that includes the specific symptoms for which medication is to be administered.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, HS9, HS28.
ERO recommends the Ministry follows up with the service provider to ensure that non-compliances identified in this report are addressed promptly.
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
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Pioneers Elm Row |
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Profile Number |
83014 |
|
Location |
Dunedin |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
45 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
47 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 8, NZ European/Pākehā 29, Other ethnic groups 10 |
|
Review team on site |
February 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
21 April 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, September 2018; Education Review, February 2015. |
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.
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.
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.
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Pioneers Elm Row is one of four centres under the Dunedin Community Childcare Association, trading as Pioneers. Pioneers is a not for profit organisation and has four centres and three home-based care networks. A governance board oversees the work of Pioneers. A director acts as the operational manager and leader of learning. Pioneers aims to ‘provide accessible, affordable and flexible quality education and care for families of Dunedin’.
Pioneers Elm Row (Elm Row) is a full-day service in central Dunedin. Children from birth-to-school age attend the centre and learn in a mixed-age setting. The centre has recently had major improvements to the indoor environment. The centre provides healthy food for the children.
Elm Row has a head teacher and assistant curriculum leader. The head teacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the centre. Since the 2015 ERO review, there has been little change in staffing. All teachers are qualified early childhood educators/teachers.
The centre philosophy states that the centre will be a 'safe, fun and exciting place'. It also refers to providing a purposeful, rich and inclusive learning environment, recognising each child’s uniqueness, valuing New Zealand’s bicultural heritage, and respecting and involving families.
The review was part of a cluster of four early learning services reviewed in the Pioneers (DCCA) organisation.
Elm Row is welcoming to all children and their parents and whānau. Relationships between teachers and children are responsive, caring and respectful. Children have a strong sense of belonging and settle quickly into well-known routines. They are empowered to have ownership of and make choices about their learning.
The family-like, mixed-aged setting provides a positive and supportive learning environment. Children experience tuakana-teina relationships where older children nurture and include younger children in their play. They enjoy learning (ako), through meaningful conversations with teachers.
Children are well supported in their learning. Leaders and teachers, particularly key teachers (the primary caregiver), know their children well as individuals and learners and communicate closely with their families. Children with additional learning needs are very well supported.
Teachers have improved planning and assessments for individual children and groups. This is guided by a useful template. In better examples of assessment and planning, links were made to parents’ aspirations and significant learning moments were recorded.
Infants and toddlers are well provided for. Key teachers have very close and nurturing relationships with their children and carefully align care routines with home and the wishes of parents. Teachers intentionally support children’s learning, including the development of gross motor skills and oral language.
Strong aspects of the curriculum include:
Teachers and leaders have a positive and collegial staff culture with a strong focus on what is best for children. They work collaboratively and are highly responsive to children’s needs.
The leaders have identified, and ERO agrees, that leaders and teachers need to continue to embed their new assessment, planning and evaluation practices. This includes making children’s cultures more visible, being more specific about the intended learning outcomes in group plans, and strengthening the evaluation of group and individual planning to know how effective teachers’ strategies have been.
Leaders and teachers need to:
Pioneers has sound governance practices. Board members have a good understanding of their governance role, and have relevant skills and work experience. With the director, centre leaders and teachers have developed well-considered strategic goals and useful long and short-term plans. Initiatives and practices across the centres are intentionally aligned to these. Teachers and leaders feel valued and very well supported by director and board.
The director has implemented useful systems and practices that contribute to the smooth operation of the centres through a period of significant change. Valuable relationships have been built with social and educational organisations beyond the association, with the intent of improving educational provision and children's wellbeing.
The director and ERO have identified that the next steps are to continue to:
extend quality assurance to further identify and share best practices across all centres so that any additional support required is identified
Before the review, the staff and management of Pioneers Elm Row 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.
The next ERO review of Pioneers Elm Row will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
6 September 2018
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 |
Dunedin |
||
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Ministry of Education profile number |
83014 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
45 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
47 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Girls: 23 Boys: 24 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
June 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
6 September 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review |
February 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
September 2011 |
||
|
Education Review |
September 2008 |
||
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.