Nurture@Home Rua

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 found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.

Background

Nurture@Home Rua is one of two home-based care and education networks under the ownership of Nurture@Home Ltd. The owner and two visiting teachers are early childhood qualified teachers. They are responsible for several educators and nannies who provide care and education for up to four preschool children, within home-learning environments.   

Summary of Review Findings 

The curriculum is informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation that demonstrates an understanding of children’s interests and opportunities for learning. Children experience different types of indoor and outdoor educational activities in the home and local community. If infants and toddlers or children not walking attend, there are safe and comfortable spaces for them to lie, roll, creep, crawl, pull themselves up, learn to walk and to be protected from more mobile children.

Leadership and management systems and processes, policies and procedures support the selection and induction of educators, and the health and safety requirements, within home premises.   

Improvement Actions 

Next steps are for visiting teachers to support educators to make:

• greater use of the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum in assessment documentation to show children’s progress of learning over time 

• the language, culture and identity of children more evident in learning documentation. 

Next ERO Review  

The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.

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

31 March 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 home-based 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 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 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 Home Based Education and Care 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 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 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 

• visits to educator homes, selected by ERO.