- ERO evaluates and reports on the education and care of children and young people in early childhood services and schools.
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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.
Methven Playcentre is located in a tourist town and farming community. It is well established and supported by the local community. The playcentre provides a family-like environment that supports children and adults to play, have fun and learn together. It provides four morning sessions a week for children from birth-to-school age. Parents stay and play alongside their children.
The sessions are led by two experienced, paid supervisors and playcentre members. All playcentre parents are gaining playcentre qualifications through an adult-education training programme provided by the Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association.
Infants and toddlers are the immediate responsibility of their parent when attending playcentre. There is an area provided with some resources for this age group, however very young children freely explore all areas of the playcentre and join in the activities. The parents and supervisors have planning underway to further develop the outdoor area to be more interesting and accessible for infants and toddlers.
Methven Playcentre is one of seven playcentres in the Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association. The association is made up of a group of dedicated paid and elected members. The association provides a framework for centre management and operations, as well as parent-education programmes and personnel to support centre members.
The Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association is experiencing a time of change as all playcentre associations throughout New Zealand merge with the New Zealand Playcentre Federation to reduce duplication and make cost savings. This restructure will mean significant changes at the local association level.
ERO's 2012 report for the Methven Playcentre noted a number of areas for review and development. These included strategic and annual planning, assessment and planning, and self review. ERO found good progress has been made in all these areas.
This review was part of a cluster of seven playcentre reviews in the Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association.
Methven Playcentre provides a warm and welcoming environment for parents and their children. New families are made to feel welcome. Children settle quickly on arrival, and confidently make choices about what they want to do.
Many children start attending the playcentre as babies, resulting in a strong sense of belonging in the centre. Parents work closely with their own and other children. They follow their lead in play and support them to develop their interests.
Children play and learn in well-resourced indoor and outdoor areas. The resources and experiences provided, such as toy tractors and farm sets, reflect the home lives of children. Important cultural events are regularly celebrated including Matariki and Fathers' Day. Positive aspects of the programme that support children's learning include opportunities for:
regular outings into the community and visitors to the playcentre
learning skills for turn taking and sharing through group experiences, such as baking
learning early mathematics and literacy concepts
open-ended exploration, science and creativity
developing leadership by helping adults with daily routines.
The supervisors and parents are taking meaningful steps to make Māori perspectives more evident in the programme and practices. Through internal evaluation, they have identified what they can do and should continue to work on this aspect.
The supervision team has a purposeful discussion before each session to set the direction for the day. After sessions they discuss what the children were interested in and what activities should be continued in the next session. These discussions and the written notes that are kept, need a greater focus on learning. The supervisors and parents have identified that the next step is to find better ways to plan for individual children and show how children's learning progresses over time.
The Methven Playcentre philosophy strongly reflects the shared values and beliefs of the parents and the unique locality of the playcentre. Centre documentation and conversations ERO had with parents showed that adults have clear ideas about what the desired learning outcomes are for their children. When the philosophy is next reviewed these desired learning outcomes should be included and then linked to aspects of planning and self review.
Leaders and parents have made good use of self review to make improvements to important aspects of the playcentre programme and practices. They could strengthen and refine self review by using evaluative questions and by developing and using relevant indicators (criteria showing what good practice looks like) at all the stages of the review. The useful annual plan identifies key priorities and guides their work.
Parents meet regularly to oversee the smooth running of the playcentre and monitor progress towards meeting their key priorities. They work well together in all aspects of decision making. They have made collaborative links with other early childhood services in the town and support other playcentres in the region.
The Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association responded well to the issues and trends emerging from the 2012 ERO review reports for each playcentre. The board is very supportive of the playcentres and provides additional support for playcentres in response to their needs. It should ensure it receives evaluative reporting on key aspects relating to centre support and supervisor support roles.
The board has a strategic plan with purposeful actions to help guide the association work. This should be more formally monitored. Board members meet regularly to discuss key aspects of the smooth running of the association. They are working proactively to assist the smooth transition through the New Zealand Playcentre Federation changes. The board has an expectation that each playcentre will have its own annual plan, however these are not always in place. The association appraisal system for the supervisors has been reinstated and needs to continue to be embedded.
Key next steps for the association are to:
monitor the board's annual plan and support all playcentres to prepare annual plans
ensure it receives evaluative reporting on key aspects of playcentres' operations.
The playcentre supervisors and parents with the support of the Mid Canterbury Playcentre Association, need to:
review the playcentre philosophy to include their desired outcomes for children
refine aspects of planning, assessment and evaluation and self review.
Before the review, the staff and management of Methven Playcentre 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 Methven Playcentre will be in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern
1 November 2016
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 |
Methven |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
70088 |
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Licence type |
Playcentre |
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Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
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Number licensed for |
20 children, including up to 10 aged under 2 |
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Service roll |
42 |
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Gender composition |
Boys 22 Girls 20 |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori Pākehā Asian European |
2 37 1 2 |
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Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80% Based on funding rates |
Parent Led |
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Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:1 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Over 2 |
1:5 |
Better than minimum requirements |
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Review team on site |
August 2016 |
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Date of this report |
1 November 2016 |
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review |
June 2012 |
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Education Review |
March 2009 |
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Education Review |
September 2001 |
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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:
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 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.