Village Kids Limited

1 Evaluation of Village Kids Limited

How well placed is Village Kids Limited to promote positive learning outcomes for children?

Village Kids Limited is well placed to promote positive learning outcomes for children.

ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.

Background

Village Kids Limited is a privately-owned home-based education and care service located in Nelson. It is a standard network, licenced, for 80 children from birth to school age. There are currently 36 children on the roll.

One visiting teacher and the manager, who are qualified early childhood teachers, regularly visit all children in educators' homes. They support educators to implement the policies and procedures of Village Kids Limited. The owner also manages the service and monitors processes for meeting legislative requirements.

The service's philosophy expresses a commitment to bicultural practice and positive relationships with all. It has a focus on supporting children’s independence, problem solving skills and positive dispositions to learning.

This is the service's first review.

The Review Findings

Documentation shows that children are provided with a variety of learning experiences that reflect the home-based context. These show secure relationships between the child, family and visiting teacher that promote the development of children’s positive sense of wellbeing and belonging.

Infants and toddlers are sensitively responded to by educators through routines and care moments. The individual strengths, interests and capabilities of all children are well supported within the home-based setting. Those with additional learning needs are identified, well supported and inclusive practice is promoted.

The service provides supplementary resources to complement the in-home curriculum, including resources that have a focus on science. There are many opportunities for children to be involved in meaningful experiences within and beyond the home. This includes participating in regular educator- led play groups.

Educators and visiting teachers regularly observe children’s play. The visiting teacher then reflects on this useful information to provide comprehensive records of children’s learning and progress. This information is shared with parents. Partnerships focused on children’s learning are developing.

Children’s profiles provide thoughtful insights into the home-based curriculum. They show children’s developing confidence, friendships and sense of belonging. This documentation also highlights how children’s learning opportunities are enhanced through excursions in the local community. Leaders have identified a need and are committed to strengthening educator's understanding of assessment for learning. Visiting teachers should further support educators to:

• clearly show, through documentation, how they are deepening and extending children’s learning over time

• better show how they are promoting all children’s cultures, languages and identities.

The manager and visiting teacher are experienced and knowledgeable early childhood teachers. They regularly visit each child in their homes where the care takes place. They provide educators with useful written feedback and guidance about how they can support children's care, development and learning. They effectively support them to access resources and provide guidance and advice on ways to promote children's learning. They also provide ongoing support and mentoring for educators and families through regular email and telephone contact.

Visiting teachers have identified that bicultural practice is developing in the network. They have purposefully created and promoted the use of resources to assist educators in their understanding of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. Future developments should also include visiting teachers reports better reflecting this approach and the use of te reo Māori.

Leaders have acknowledged that providing a more localised curriculum, including celebrating places of local significance for Māori, should better support educational success for Māori.

A useful framework for self review has been established. Leaders have undertaken reviews that led to a targeted approach to drive improvements in the network. Continuing to build their knowledge of evaluation and how it improves outcomes for children’s learning is a next step.

A highly effective appraisal process is in place and includes a robust critique of practice which usefully informs visiting teachers' continued development. A useful annual appraisal for educators includes self reflection and parent feedback. Providing specific feedback for educators, related to their goals, requires ongoing development.

Leaders are committed to improvement and providing high-quality care and education for all children. Collaborative ways of working are fostered for those involved in the service.

Key Next Steps

The service provider and ERO agree that key next steps are to strengthen:

• assessment, planning and evaluation

• bicultural practice and promoting educational success for Māori as Māori

• internal evaluation, including educator appraisal.

Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff and management of Village Kids Limited 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.

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.

To improve current practice the owner should ensure:

• documentation of police vetting of adults over 17 years of age is retained for audit purposes
• that medication records are consistently completed in accordance with the requirements.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

5 November 2019

The Purpose of ERO Reports

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.

2 Information about the Home-based Education and Care Service

3 General Information about Early Childhood Reviews

ERO’s Evaluation Framework

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:

Pou Whakahaere – how the service determines its vision, philosophy and direction to ensure positive outcomes for children

Pou Ārahi – how leadership is enacted to enhance positive outcomes for children

Mātauranga – whose knowledge is valued and how the curriculum is designed to achieve positive outcomes for children

Tikanga whakaako – how approaches to teaching and learning respond to diversity and support positive outcomes for children.

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 the draft methodology for ERO reviews in Home-based Education and Care Services: July 2014

ERO’s Overall Judgement

The overall judgement that ERO makes will depend on how well the service promotes positive learning outcomes for children. The categories are:

• Very well placed

• Well placed

• Requires further development

• Not well placed

ERO has developed criteria for each category. These are available on ERO’s website.

Review Coverage

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.