Fernside Preschool Limited

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 (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 Fernside Preschool Limited are as follows:

2 Context of the Service

Fernside Preschool Limited is a family-owned service that provides education and care for children from birth to five years in two separate areas on a rural site with farm animals. The majority of children and their families come from the surrounding districts. Most staff are registered early childhood teachers. The owners and assistant manager form the centre’s management team.

3 Summary of findings

A rich and inclusive curriculum fosters a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging for children. Building positive relationships is a priority for the teaching team. Each child has a key teacher who knows them and their family well. Teachers are becoming increasingly intentional about recognising each child’s unique learning abilities and design a responsive curriculum based on this knowledge.

The daily programme of experiences provides a calm, slow-paced environment where children make independent choices about their play and learning. Infants, toddlers, and young children experience minimum scheduled interruptions to encourage active exploration and independent decision making.

The indoor and outdoor environments are thoughtfully designed to foster children’s curiosity and promote risk-taking. The farm setting provides unique opportunities for children to learn about the natural world and responsibly care for animals.

Respectful learning-partnerships with parents’ support children’s developing social competence and emotional wellbeing. The principles and strands from Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, are effectively integrated into the daily programme. Developing a deeper understanding of the learning outcomes from Te Whāriki to strengthen the development of the service’s local curriculum is a key priority for sustaining curriculum development.

Teachers extend children’s language development using multiple languages and some New Zealand Sign language. Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori is increasingly integrated in the day-to-day teaching practice.

Assessment for learning practices actively involve children, parents and whānau and takes account of their perspectives and aspirations. Teachers are becoming more consistent in using assessment information and a wide range of teaching strategies to respond effectively to the diverse ways children learn.

Leaders and teachers engage in review and internal evaluation. They participate in relevant professional learning opportunities and draw on research-based knowledge to support children’s learning and development. Trusting relationships among leaders and teachers support collaboration, and openness to change. Leaders use well considered approaches to organisational change and delivery of the service through extensive conversations with their community.

4 Improvement actions

Fernside Preschool Limited will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning. Continue to embed:

• priorities for children’s learning using the outcomes from Te Whāriki in collaboration with the learning community
• teachers’ capability in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori so all children experience a culturally responsive curriculum
• the use of internal evaluation for ongoing improvement.

5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Fernside Preschool Limited 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.

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 (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

6 October 2021 

6 About the Early Childhood Service