Northland Kindergarten Association

1 ERO’s Judgements

A Governing Organisation Evaluation evaluates the extent to which organisational conditions support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners in the organisation’s services. Te Ara Poutama- indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most is the basis for making judgements about its effectiveness. The Governing Organisation Quality Evaluation Judgement Rubric derived from the indicators, is used to inform the ERO’s judgements about this organisation’s performance. 

ERO’s judgement for Northland Kindergarten Association is as follows:

ERO’s judgement Organisational Conditions 

The organisation conditions encompass Ngā Akatoro | Domains of:

• Ngā Aronga Whai Hua | Evaluation for improvement
• Kaihautū | Leadership fosters collaboration and improvement
• Te Whakaruruhau | Stewardship through effective governance and management.

2 Context of the Governing Organisation

Northland Kindergarten Association (NKA) comprises 25 kindergartens from Kaitaia in the far north to Ruawai in the Kaipara. At the time of this evaluation all NKA kindergartens were on a full licence.

An elected board oversees governance. A chief executive, operations manager and leadership team are responsible for the administration and procedures of the association and its kindergartens. 

A professional practice manager (PPM) team provides curriculum leadership, mentoring and advice. There has been a recent restructure of their roles and responsibilities to implement a more collaborative approach to their support of individual kindergartens. 

Findings from ERO’s evaluation at the governance and organisational level included evaluating the extent to which Northland Kindergarten Association’s strategic intentions, quality improvement systems, processes and practices support the provision of a quality curriculum at individual service level.

3 Summary of findings

Conditions supporting the organisation to enact aspects of its mission, values, and strategic objectives include:

• prioritising the learning and wellbeing of all children as the central reason for all decision-making 
• ongoing relationships with local iwi, communities and whānau Māori that inform organisational priorities and support for tamariki Māori to achieve success as Māori
• an established and collaborative PPM team that positively fosters the collective responsibility of kindergarten staff to contribute to achieving the association’s strategic plan
• utilising findings from the PPM team’s internal evaluation process to inform governance initiatives and resourcing decisions that benefit children and families
• maintaining a strong commitment to and provision for children with additional needs, through resourcing initiatives that result in equitable opportunities for their learning at NKA kindergartens, 
• providing relevant, timely professional learning and development opportunities for staff.

Improvement strategies and initiatives that the organisation is implementing well include:

• targeting board resources, partnerships with community groups, and external professional providers to support the wellbeing of children and pro-actively remove barriers to children’s participation at NKA kindergartens
• leading the development and strengthening of the Enviroschools programme within kindergarten communities to champion sustainable practices
• resourcing qualified speech and language therapists to work collaboratively with teachers and whānau, to facilitate opportunities for children with moderate to mild oral language development and communication concerns
• drawing on internal and external expertise to support children with additional learning requirements to experience success within a rich and responsive curriculum
• recognising and celebrating outstanding achievements and exceptional leadership qualities professionally and personally, individually or in teams through the Kauri and Dean Martin scholarships, and the Lint award. 
• disseminating new knowledge and research where relevant, that builds capability across kindergartens and the association.

Policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and include consultation with parents, whānau and teaching teams. A systematic process for internal evaluation aligned to NKA’s strategic objectives and priorities is in place. Reliable data is gathered and analysed to inform ongoing change and improvement that has a positive impact on outcomes for learners.

PPMs have developed a quality practice template to support curriculum expectations. They are yet to use this document to monitor, measure progress and regularly report on improvements to teaching and learning within and across kindergartens. 

More formal monitoring and evaluation of NKA’s strategic objectives and priorities by the board, to determine what is and what is not working, and for whom (groups of children), is required. Reporting aligned to current strategic objectives would be more useful to the board to inform decision-making.

NKA have identified that working more effectively with children of Pacific heritages, their families and respective communities is an area for further development. They are yet to determine strategies to progress this goal. 

A new digital system to monitor and report health and safety requirements has been developed. It is too early to report on how effective this is. 

4 Summary of findings from visits to services

ERO visited a sample of 11 services to verify what Northland Kindergarten Association knows about the quality of each of the services’ learning conditions and to what extent the organisational conditions support service improvement. ERO selected the service sample. 

PPMs collectively have extensive knowledge of each kindergarten, including strengths and next steps. ERO was able to verify and validate this knowledge during the onsite sample service visits. 

All kindergartens in the sample are well established and reflect a localised curriculum within their respective communities, underpinned by Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Teachers are purposeful in the ways they present experiences and encourage children’s exploration. 

Conditions and strategies that promote positive outcomes for children include:

• te reo and tikanga Māori being integrated meaningfully for tamariki and whānau and authentic links to te ao Māori and kindergarten communities that result in a rich bicultural curriculum, including some kindergartens undertaking excursions to their local forest, to enhance children’s learning about te ao Māori within a nature-based setting
• most kindergartens embracing the Enviroschools programme that promotes learning for sustainability, respect for diversity, empowered learners, te ao Māori and sustainable communities
• a shared commitment and collaborative approach to supporting children with additional needs to experience success as learners
• nurturing social and emotional competencies of children, including those up to the age of three years through caring relationships that foster a positive sense of belonging.

Recognising and celebrating the languages, cultures, and identities of children of Pacific heritage is variable across teaching teams. 

Professional growth cycle inquiries to grow teacher practices are collaborative and well developed, aligned to service priorities. A focus on making changes to improve teaching and benefit children’s learning is strongly evident.

Some teaching teams are at the early stages of developing a shared understanding of internal evaluation processes and practices. PPMs provide regular feedback and guidance to build teachers’ understanding of the purpose and use of internal evaluation information to guide improvement.

5 Improvement actions

Prior to the next ERO evaluation Northland Kindergarten Association will progress the following actions through its Quality Improvement Planning. This includes:

• developing and implementing an association strategic approach to build leaders’ and teachers’ knowledge and understandings of the languages, cultures, and identities of children of Pacific heritages, their families, and respective communities
• PPM’s regularly using the key curriculum indicators to monitor quality of provision within and across kindergartens. This information about what is working, what is not working and for whom, needs to be provided to the board to inform decision-making 
• governance formally monitoring and evaluating the progress of its strategic objectives and priorities to determine and maintain a clear line of sight to what matters most for this association at this time.

6 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

As part of this review, a representative of Northland Kindergarten Association completed an ERO Governing Organisation Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist. In these documents they stated that the organisation has the systems, processes, and practices to be assured that service providers for licensed services within the organisation are meeting legal requirements related to:

• curriculum
• premises and facilities
• health and safety practices
• governance, management, and administration.

The licensed service provider/s of the sampled services listed at the end of this report also completed an ERO Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklist for their service. In these documents they attested that they have taken all reasonable steps to meet legal requirements, including those detailed in Ministry of Education Circulars and other documents, related to these areas. 

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

7 Actions for Compliance

During its visits to sample services ERO identified the following non-compliances:

Non-compliances

8 Next ERO Review

The next ERO review is likely to be in 14-18 months 

ERO will visit a different sample of services at that time.

Patricia Davey
Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE)

25 July 2024 

9 About the Governing Organisation 

10 List of sampled services

All sampled services are on a full licence.

Services sampled in this evaluation: