34 Tonkin Drive, Glenfield, Auckland
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 |
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Curriculum |
Meeting |
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Premises and facilities |
Meeting |
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Health and safety |
Meeting |
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Governance, management and administration |
Meeting |
Since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed non-compliances and is now taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Sunnynook Pre-School is privately owned and has been operating under the current ownership since 2013. The owner, along with the head teacher, leads a long-serving teaching team of four registered teachers and two unqualified staff members. Children come from culturally diverse backgrounds. A small number of Māori and Pacific children attend the service.
The service curriculum is inclusive and responsive to children as confident and competent learners. Children’s preferences are respected, and they are involved in decisions about their learning experiences. Teachers engage in meaningful, positive interactions to enhance children’s learning and nurture reciprocal relationships.
The service provides children with a range of experiences and opportunities to enhance and extend their learning and development. Teachers provide a language-rich environment that supports children’s learning. Positive steps are taken to respect and acknowledge the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their children.
Consistent monitoring and implementation of policies, procedures and practices is required to maintain regulatory standards.
During and since the onsite visit, the service has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non-compliances:
Ensuring any areas of glass accessible to children are made of safety glass or covered by an adhesive film (PF7).
Heavy furniture, fixtures, and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured (HS6).
Ensuring a written emergency plan ensures supplies and resources are sufficient for the age and number of children and adults at the service, details of how these will be maintained and accessed in an emergency, and evidence of review of the plan on at least an annual basis and implementation of improved practice as required (HS7).
Maintaining a procedure for monitoring children’s sleep is displayed and implemented, and a record of children’s sleep times is kept, and checks made by adults during that time (HS9).
Equipment, premises, and facilities are checked daily for hazards to children that include all considerations of hazards required under this criterion (HS12).
Evidence of parental acknowledgement that medication has been administered to their child by the service (HS28).
Processes for human resource management that include a definition of serious misconduct (GMA7).
Risk assessment for every child’s worker is required to be completed after all relevant information is obtained (GMA7A).
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
8 February 2023
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Early Childhood Service Name |
Sunnynook Pre-School |
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Profile Number |
20162 |
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Location |
Glenfield, Auckland |
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Service type |
Education and care service |
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Number licensed for |
35 children over the age of two years |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
100% |
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Service roll |
24 |
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Review team on site |
November 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
8 February 2023 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2019, Education Review, March 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 regulatory 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; safety checking; teacher certification; ratios)
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
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.
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Sunnynook Pre-School is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Sunnynook Pre-School in Glenfield, is privately-owned and has been operating for nearly 45 years. The centre offers full-time and sessional education and care for 35 children over two years of age. Children come from culturally diverse backgrounds. Many children, families and teachers speak more than one language.
The centre manager heads a long-serving teaching team that consists of four registered teachers and one unqualified staff member.
The centre's philosophy promotes an environment that nurtures trusting relationships and a sense of belonging and wellbeing. It makes links to Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum.
Areas for development identified in the 2015 ERO report are being addressed. These included planning, assessment and evaluation, as well as bicultural practice and the use of te reo and tikanga Māori.
Children are articulate, confident learners. Social and self-management skills are supported through teachers' daily practice. Children participate in a structured routine that values indoor play, and they confidently make choices from prepared resources. The outdoor environment offers further play and exploration opportunities for children to develop their imagination and physical skills.
Teachers provide a welcoming, attractive and calm environment. Children experience literacy, science and mathematics learning in the centre's well-resourced environment. Children with additional needs are well provided for, and teachers work with outside agencies when appropriate to support these children.
Displays promote and celebrate children's cultures. Respect for biculturalism is evident in the environment. Teachers are building their knowledge and understanding of te ao and tikanga Māori. Some teachers use words and phrases in te reo Māori with the children, and speak to children in their own languages. These approaches support children's cultural identity and language development.
Teachers continue to develop their planning assessment and evaluation practices. Portfolios and an online tool enable parents to contribute to their children's learning records, and share these with the wider family.
The service enjoys high levels of support from its parent community. Parents express their appreciation of teachers' support for children's developing social skills and academic learning in a programme that includes structured teacher-led times and play-based learning. It is timely now for the manager and teachers to re-evaluate their longstanding traditional programme. Stronger emphasis should be placed on teachers facilitating child-led learning, in a programme that is more clearly responsive to children's interests and strengths.
Teachers' professional development is currently focused on developing their knowledge of Te Whāriki, the revised early childhood curriculum. Developing planning systems and practices that are consistent with current research and practices in early childhood education would help teachers to deepen children's learning with more challenging investigations and meaningful inquiries.
The manager and owner work collaboratively. Centre operations are guided by a good framework of policies and procedures. A strategic plan outlines long-term goals. Internal evaluation is beginning to contribute to centre improvements and positive learning outcomes for children.
Key next steps for centre development and ongoing improvement include:
reviewing and refining the philosophy in response to the revised Te Whāriki
implementing a process of programme planning that recognises and responds to children's emerging and sustained interests, and invites children's contributions to decision making about the programme
continuing to strengthen the quality of leadership in the centre through professional learning.
ERO recommends that the centre manager and teaching team use the examples of learning and development, and questions for reflection contained in Te Whāriki, particularly in relation to the Exploration strand, to evaluate their curriculum practices. This evaluation should help teachers to identify ways to adapt their practices so they are more consistent with current research, theory and practices in early childhood education.
Before the review, the staff and management of Sunnynook Pre-School 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.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
8 March 2019
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 |
Glenfield, Auckland |
||
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Ministry of Education profile number |
20162 |
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Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
35 children aged over 2 years |
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|
Service roll |
42 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 24 Girls 18 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
1 |
|
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
December 2018 |
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Date of this report |
8 March 2019 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review |
March 2015 |
|
|
Education Review |
February 2012 |
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|
Education Review |
October 2008 |
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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 will depend on how well the service promotes 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.