160 Lyalldale Rd, St Andrews
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 |
At the time of the review, ERO found the service was taking reasonable steps to meet regulatory standards.
Childsplay Homebased Education Service is owned by two directors who are qualified early childhood teachers. The owners are also the visiting teachers for eight educators that provide education and care in their own homes The October 2018 ERO report found the service practices required further development. The service received a full licence in January 2020. ERO visited four educator homes as part of this review.
Educator premises are resourced to provide for the learning and abilities of the children attending. Local excursions and playgroup extend the in-home curriculum and provide for wider social interactions. Recent professional development for leaders and educators has provided children with opportunities to develop an understanding of the dual cultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. Health and safety checklists and supervision plans for children are completed by educators and monitored by visiting teachers. A policy framework and annual planning guide service operations.
Next steps are for visiting teachers to:
The next ERO review is likely to be an Akarangi | Quality Evaluation.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
3 March 2021
| Early Childhood Service Name | Childsplay Homebased Education Service |
| Profile Number | 70137 |
| Location | Timaru |
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Service type |
Home-based service |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2. |
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Service roll |
34 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori 9, NZ European/ Pākehā 19, Pacific 3, Other ethnic groups 3. |
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Review team on site |
December 2020 |
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Date of this report |
3 March 2021 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, October 2018; Education Review, July 2013. |
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.
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 the service completed an ERO Home-based 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO assesses whether the regulated 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:
As part of an Akanuku | Assurance Review ERO also gathers and records evidence through:
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Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
Childsplay Homebased Education Service is a home-based service that is made up of two networks in South Canterbury. Childsplay philosophy states that children will learn through play, working together in a happy, play-focused learning environment.
This review found concerns relating to:
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Childsplay Homebased Education Service is two services owned by two directors. They are also early childhood-qualified visiting teachers for a group of educators who educate and take care of not more than four preschool children at one time in their own homes. The directors purchased the service in 2015 and were the visiting teachers under the previous owner.
The services are both licensed for up to 80 children. Currently the roll is 56 children across the services.
The 2013 ERO review identified areas for further development. These included use of self review, bi-cultural practices, planning and records of learning, strategic planning, and appraisal. Some progress has been made but most remain as areas for further improvement.
The directors have shared values and beliefs that guide the development of the service. They have developed a comprehensive operations manual of policies and procedures for governance, management and administration, curriculum, and health and safety.
Directors, as visiting teachers, support educators to continually build knowledge and skills through regular forums and visits to educators' homes. They encourage and fund participation in external professional development. Visiting teachers and educators use playgroup and community events to build relationships between adults and children.
Directors try to match children under two years of age with educators who have the necessary knowledge and skills to work with them.
There is an expectation for all involved in the service to build on te ao Māori knowledge and bi-cultural practices. This is in the early stages of implementation.
Internal evaluation for accountability and improvement is not yet fully understood by the directors and is still in the early stages of development. However the directors are continually responding to improvement needs as they arise.
Directors/visiting teachers are still developing their understanding of roles and responsibilities in governance and management. They need to further strengthen this to ensure consistency in practices, to align with the service's policies and procedures, and find more robust to monitor educator practices with health and safety requirements.
In the visiting teacher role, some health and safety aspects discussed with educators on visits to the home have not been responded to promptly by the educator or followed up by the visiting teacher.
Since purchasing the service, the directors have been familiarising themselves with operational matters and with developing systems. They now need to apply an evaluative approach for continuous improvement to ensure sustainability and positive learning outcomes for children.
The key next steps for the directors are to:
Before the review, the staff and management of Childsplay Homebased Education 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:
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 service has a range of formal policies and informal systems for managing health and safety requirements. In order to improve current practice, the directors must ensure that the educators follow the required procedures in the policies that they signed in the Educator Agreement, and apply more rigour to health and safety systems to ensure compliance with all requirements.
ERO recommends that the service, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, develops priorities and planning to address the key next steps and actions outlined in this report.
The next ERO review of Childsplay Homebased Education Service will be within two years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
5 October 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 |
Timaru |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70137 |
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Licence type |
Homebased Network |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
80 children, including up to 80 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
39 |
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Standard or Quality Funded |
Standard |
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Gender composition |
Boys: 20 Girls: 19 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
10 |
|
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Number of qualified coordinators in the network |
2 |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:2 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
August 2018 |
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Date of this report |
5 October 2018 |
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Most recent ERO report |
Education Review |
July 2013 |
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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.