New Shoots Children's Centre - Hobsonville

1 ERO’s Judgements

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 are the basis for making judgements about the effectiveness of the service in achieving equity and excellence for all learners. Judgements are made in relation to the Outcomes Indicators, Learning and Organisational Conditions. The Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform ERO’s judgements about this service’s performance in promoting equity and excellence. 

ERO’s judgements for New Shoots Children’s Centre - Hobsonville are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

This service is part of the New Shoots Children’s Centre group. Children play and learn in one of six rooms, sharing an outdoor playground. A governance team guides centre operations. A centre director leads a large teaching team. Serving a multicultural community, a small number of children identify as Māori. 

3 Summary of findings

Children experience a play-based curriculum supported by caring relationships between adults and their peers. Infants’ and toddlers’ learning and care needs are well responded to within a calm and unhurried learning environment inspired by Magda Gerber’s RIE philosophy of caregiving. Older children experience a curriculum that positively promotes their independence and decision-making. Shared outdoor learning spaces support children to participate fully in the curriculum provided. Tuakana-teina relationships between older and younger children are evident as children teach and learn from each other.

Teachers provide children with opportunities to hear and speak te reo Māori whilst actively growing their knowledge and understanding. Leaders have identified and are putting into place steps to further enhance cultural practices for Māori and children of other cultures who attend the centre.   

Leaders and teachers have strong reciprocal relationships with families. Multiple methods of communication are in place to support families to contribute to the curriculum. Parents’ aspirations for their child’s learning are sought, and systems are implemented to facilitate the sharing of home information and children’s learning at the service. Children with additional learning needs are supported by parents working alongside teachers to provide individualised approaches. 

Leaders and teachers have increased their use of learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to inform curriculum planning, assessment and evaluation processes. Deepening leaders and teachers’ collective understandings and use of Te Whāriki is an area for further refinement. 

Teachers and leaders share their learning and actively contribute to each other’s professional growth. Processes of teacher inquiry, reflection and review contribute to children’s learning and the centre’s improvement goals. Leaders and teachers have increased their use of learning outcomes from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, to inform curriculum planning, assessment and evaluation processes. Continuing to build collective understandings around these remains an area for ongoing improvement. 

Effective, improvement-focused governance and management processes include a well-considered strategic plan and relevant systems that intentionally guide improvement across the New Shoots group. Resources are purposefully allocated to achieve identified priorities for children’s learning. Collaborative, targeted, ongoing professional learning builds leaders’ and teachers’ capabilities. Successful initiatives support children to access an inclusive curriculum. 

4 Improvement actions

New Shoots Children’s Centre - Hobsonville will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:

• Continue to build a culturally responsive curriculum in partnership with whānau, children and teachers.
• Continue to work towards a shared understanding regarding use of learning outcomes in evaluation and assessment practices, to better understand the impact of changes to teaching practices in improving outcomes for individuals and groups of children. 

The New Shoots governance group has indicated it will include the following in its Quality Improvement Planning, to ensure that all services are working at a consistent level: 

• Provide support for service leaders to build teachers’ collective capability and shared understandings of using all aspects of effective evaluation to guide improvement. 

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of New Shoots Children’s Centre - Hobsonville completed an ERO 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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
• relevant evacuation procedures and practices.

All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

 4 June 2024 

6 About the Early Childhood Service