1 Enterprise Drive, Henderson, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | 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 The Vines Early Learning are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) | Whakatō Emerging |
Ngā Akatoro Domains | |
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions | Whakatō Emerging Whakatō Emerging |
The Vines Early Learning is privately owned and operated. The service owner is involved in daily operations and supports a new centre manager. Together they lead a team of ten qualified teachers and thirteen unqualified staff. Children are from ethnically diverse backgrounds with small numbers of Māori or Pacific heritages. This is the first ERO evaluation under the current ownership.
Children experience a positive curriculum that is play-based and supported by caring and nurturing relationships with teachers. Teacher practices demonstrate that care is understood to be an integral part of children’s learning and development. As a result, children demonstrate a sense of security and belonging.
Leaders recognise the need to increase focus on the development of children’s education through scaffolded interactions, intentional planning, and purposeful evaluation. A new system for planning and assessment of the curriculum has been developed. Teachers are in the early stages of implementing this and valued learning in relation to the outcomes of Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, are not yet visible.
Leaders and teachers work with external agencies to identify and remove barriers to children’s full participation in learning. However, the intentionally collated voice of the community is not well utilised to design a curriculum that responds to individual needs.
New systems for internal evaluation and professional growth are currently being trialled. The focus of these has been on accountability and routines for teachers. The trial leaders aim to build the collective capacity of the teaching team to use evaluation for improvement. Consideration should also be given to how well these systems are addressing what matters most for children.
Those responsible for governance and management allocate resources in ways that align to their vision and philosophy. The new owners are yet to develop a strategic plan to identify what their priorities for learning are and create cohesive systems to progress these.
The Vines Early Learning will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Before the review, the staff and management of The Vines Early Learning 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:
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:
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)
22 May 2024
| Early Childhood Service Name | The Vines Early Learning |
| Profile Number: | 25413 |
| Location | Henderson, Auckland |
| Service type | Education and care service |
| Number licensed for | 125 children, including up to 35 aged under 2 |
| Percentage of qualified teachers | 80-99% |
| Service roll | 82 |
| Review team on site | April 2024 |
| Date of this report | 22 May 2024 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, January 2018; Education Review, December 2014 |
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Active Explorers Henderson provides all-day education and care for up to 126 children, including 35 under two years of age. Children enrolled come from mainly Pākehā and Chinese backgrounds, with smaller numbers of Māori and Indian children. They are grouped in six age-related rooms.
The centre’s philosophy recognises the importance of children learning through play in a respectful, caring and inclusive environment. The centre states its aim is to create "a safe place for children to express themselves, where they feel loved and they belong".
This centre is part of the Evolve Education Group, operating under the brand of Active Explorers. Evolve provides a policy and management framework, and a range of support systems to meet the needs of each service. The centre manager is delegated to oversee centre operations. Occasional cluster meetings with other Evolve centres provide a support network for centre leaders.
The centre manager leads a culturally diverse teaching team. Teachers are responsive to professional development, and have created a culture where children are valued, celebrated and affirmed. The centre has 12 registered teachers and four untrained staff.
ERO last reviewed the centre in 2014 under the name Leaps and Bounds. Since then a new centre manager and a head teacher have been appointed. Over this time, good work has been done to build teacher confidence in the use of te reo Māori, and documenting self review processes. Further work is required to provide sufficient resources and develop the outside learning area for younger children.
Teachers greet children warmly on arrival into the centre, and children settle well in their activities. Respectful and responsive relationships underpin a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing for children. Children transition well within the centre as they are developmentally ready.
Children are happy and engaged in their learning. They play cooperatively and have easy access to the outside learning areas beside their rooms. These areas provide opportunities to explore and be creative. It is timely to consider further ways to promote science and mathematics.
Teachers work alongside children. Older children are encouraged and supported to lead their own learning, based on their interests. There are good examples of teachers' questioning skills extending children’s thinking. The centre manager agrees that this good teaching practice needs to be consistent across the centre.
Children up to the age of two benefit from caring teachers who promote a calm and peaceful environment. Education and care routines are appropriately individualised. Younger children have easy access to a separate outside area for their own exploration and play. There is a need to ensure all younger children have access to sufficient resources outside to create their own play.
Children have many opportunities to celebrate their own and each other’s cultures. Culturally responsive teaching practices are highly evident in the centre and children’s languages and cultural identities are valued.
Teachers' commitment to the ongoing development of bicultural learning approaches is building children's understanding of te ao Māori. The bicultural nature of Aotearoa, New Zealand is reflected in the environment.
Teachers' planning is based on children's interests. Children's portfolios contain both group and individual learning stories. Storypark, an online tool, allows teachers to link children's learning visibly to the curriculum. It provides an opportunity for parents to extend and connect their child's home and centre interests. Teachers have identified the need to provide hard copy portfolios so that children can revisit special moments in their learning independently.
Children's inside learning areas are well resourced. While teachers display programme information about children’s learning, they could now review their displays to see if children have easy access to their learning and related activities.
The centre manager values a collaborative working approach, and promotes leadership opportunities for teachers and leaders. Staff meet regularly to plan activities and resources that promote a shared understanding of children's interests. Teachers could now deepen their evaluative thinking as they review their teaching and the learning outcomes for children.
The Evolve Education Group is in the beginning phase of developing processes and new branding of Leaps and Bounds centres under Active Explorers. The organisation is currently developing its curriculum framework in order to align its overarching philosophy for its Active Explorers centres. A strategic plan is under development that will then need to be aligned with the centre's strategic plans.
Centre leaders agree that key next steps for ongoing improvement include:
further reviewing and refining room philosophies to more closely align to the philosophies of the centre and the new Evolve Active Explorers
building teacher capability in questioning techniques that extend children's thinking
strengthening the use of indicators against the centre's own strategic plan, to measure the quality of progress over time.
To ensure continued centre improvement, Evolve managers should place a stronger focus on ensuring high quality support for the centre manager.
Before the review, the staff and management of Active Explorers Henderson 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 Active Explorers Henderson will be in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
18 January 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 |
Henderson, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
25413 |
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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 |
126 children, including up to 35 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
105 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 55% Girls 45% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10% |
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Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:10 |
Meets minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
November 2017 |
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Date of this report |
18 January 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Previous Education Review as Leaps and Bounds Henderson |
December 2014 |
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Previous Education Review as Leapfrogs Early Childhood Centre 1 |
November 2011 |
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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 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.