27 Stanners Street, Eltham
View on mapNature's Wonder
Nature's Wonder
1 ERO’s Judgements
Akarangi | 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 Nature’s Wonder are as follows:
Outcome Indicators(What the service knows about outcomes for learners) |
Whakaū Embedding |
Ngā Akatoro Domains |
|
Learning ConditionsOrganisational Conditions |
Whakaū Embedding Whakaū Embedding |
2 Context of the Service
Nature’s Wonder is a privately owned centre. The service philosophy emphasises nature, beauty and relationships. At the time of this ERO review a fifth of enrolled children identified as Māori. The managing director, supported by two head teachers, leads teaching teams across two aged-based spaces.
3 Summary of findings
Children’s learning and development is supported through caring, respectful and reciprocal relationships that enhance their developing social competence and emotional wellbeing. Children experience an environment where they can be curious, develop working theories and explore language and literacy. Independence is promoted and children are encouraged to work with and alongside others. Children engage as capable and confident communicators and learners.
Infants and toddlers experience a curriculum that maintains a calm, slow pace and allows them to lead their own learning. Relationships provide the basis for supporting children with additional learning needs. Te reo and tikanga Māori are meaningfully integrated into the daily curriculum. Leaders and kaiako are intentional in their focus on growing culturally relevant knowledge which has led to strengthening te ao Māori.
Assessment practices are working towards consistently building a picture of children’s learning identity and making the centre priorities visible. Leaders and kaiako seek the views of parents and whānau which contribute to learning focused partnerships. Kaiako know children and families well, including their cultures. Leaders and kaiako are yet to further develop strategies for responding to and reflecting culturally valued knowledge.
Leaders collaboratively develop and enact the service’s philosophy, vision, goals and priorities, and align resources accordingly. Children’s learning and well-being are the primary considerations in decision making. Internal evaluation is not yet focused on outcomes for children.
4 Improvement actions
Nature’s Wonder will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
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Explore the centre priorities for learning with an increased focus on culturally specific knowledge relevant to the local area.
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Deepen understanding of individual children’s language, culture and identity and use this knowledge to inform curriculum, planning and assessment.
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Monitor the implementation of improvement actions and evaluate their impact on outcomes for children.
5 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Nature’s Wonder 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:
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curriculum
-
premises and facilities
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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; safety checking; teacher registration; ratios)
-
relevant evacuation procedures and practices.
All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
6 Actions for compliance
During the review, the service provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the following non‑compliances:
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equipment, premises and facilities are checked on every day of operation for hazards to children [HS12].
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
5 October 2022
7 About the Early Childhood Service
Early Childhood Service Name |
Nature’s Wonder |
Profile Number |
47134 |
Location |
Eltham |
Service type |
Education and care service |
Number licensed for |
44 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
Service roll |
64 |
Review team on site |
August 2022 |
Date of this report |
5 October 2022 |
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, November 2018 |
Nature's Wonder - 28/11/2018
1 Evaluation of Nature's Wonder
How well placed is Nature's Wonder to promote positive learning outcomes for children?
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Background
Nature's Wonder is a privately owned, early learning service located in Eltham. It was purpose-built and opened in late 2016. Over its two years of operation, rolls have grown to full capacity. The service is licensed for 44 children, including 12 aged up to two years. The service philosophy emphasises nature, beauty and relationships. Twenty percent of children enrolled are Māori.
The managing director is qualified in early childhood education. She divides her time between teaching and oversight of centre operation. She is supported by two head teachers, appointed in 2017. The teaching team includes a mix of in-training, provisionally registered and more experienced teachers. Most are fully qualified.
Infants and toddlers have dedicated resources, teaching staff and indoor and outdoor spaces, adjoined to those of the older age group. They transition between learning environments around two years of age.
The service is part of the Central Taranaki Kāhui Ako.
This is the first ERO review for Nature's Wonder.
The Review Findings
The philosophy is strongly evident in practice. Learning spaces are attractive, inviting and thoughtfully arranged. The creative arts and nature exploration are strong features of the environment and daily programme. Children are engaged and confident. Teachers prioritise respectful relationships. They successfully promote children's social competence and friendship skills. They ask thoughtful questions and support children to follow their interests and passions. Active movement is encouraged. Events and excursions extend the curriculum.
Infants and toddlers benefit from warm, responsive interactions. They are calm and settled. They confidently explore the richly resourced environment at their own pace. Teachers work and play alongside these young learners, and are highly attuned to their preferences, interests and non-verbal cues. Care routines are unhurried and child-led. Toddlers' social and emotional competence is skilfully promoted with peaceful and respectful strategies.
Staff are appreciative of the key role parents play in children’s education. They purposefully build positive relationships with families, and have successfully created a welcoming, supportive climate of community in the service's two years of operation. This is a strength of the service. These good quality relationships should provide a strong foundation for the development of learning-focused partnerships. ERO and leadership agree that this is a next step for the service. This should include consistent reciprocal consultation practices, particularly around planning for learning, and philosophy and 'priority outcome' reviews.
Careful attention is paid to sensitively supporting children and their families as they transition into and through the centre. Teachers are building their relationships with local schools.
Children have increasing opportunities to see, hear and experience elements of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori within the daily curriculum. Teachers are committed to ongoing development of these practices, for all children, as well as to affirm the culture of tamariki Māori. They agree that their next step is to consult with local whānau Māori to tailor bicultural practices to their specific learning community. ERO's evaluation affirms that teachers should continue to explore and establish targeted practices that promote the success of Māori learners.
Teachers have been actively improving assessment, planning and evaluation processes. Children’s portfolios contain authentic, appreciative narratives and observations. Some good examples show how individualised teaching strategies have resulted in improved learning outcomes for children. Continuing to develop portfolio documentation, and establishing consistency of quality across the centre, is a priority next step. This should include consideration of how children's unique cultures, languages and identities inform teacher practice.
Children with additional learning needs are well supported to engage with the curriculum alongside their peers. Teachers liaise with parents and external agencies as appropriate. Improved assessment documentation should better support teachers to monitor the success of individual education plans.
Teachers collaboratively reflect on, research and review practices, to make well-considered changes that benefit children. Leaders agree that internal evaluation processes should be more focused on using clear evidence to measure the impact of practices on children's learning outcomes.
The newly-revised appraisal process does not yet include all good-practice appraisal components. Leaders are accessing Education Council resources to address this.
Management and teachers are engaged, enthusiastic and focused on promoting positive outcomes for children and whānau. A culture of collaboration and continual professional growth is evident. The managing director is actively growing distributed leadership. She effectively fosters a shared understanding of, and commitment to, the philosophy, vision and goals of the service.
Key Next Steps
Leaders have appropriately prioritised the building of effective relationships and shared practices within a newly-established centre and team. It is now timely to shift focus to developing:
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strong evaluative practices
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reciprocal, culturally responsive parent and community partnerships
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specific, targeted strategies for promoting the success of Māori learners.
Management Assurance on Legal Requirements
Before the review, the staff and management of Nature's Wonder 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:
- 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.
Next ERO Review
When is ERO likely to review the service again?
The next ERO review of Nature's Wonder will be in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
28 November 2018
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 Early Childhood Service
Location |
Eltham |
||
Ministry of Education profile number |
47134 |
||
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
Number licensed for |
44 children, including up to 12 aged under 2 |
||
Service roll |
74 |
||
Gender composition |
Girls 37, Boys 37 |
||
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
15 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers 0-49% 50-79% 80%+ Based on funding rates |
80% + |
||
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:4 |
Better than minimum requirements |
Over 2 |
1:8 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
Review team on site |
October 2018 |
||
Date of this report |
28 November 2018 |
||
Most recent ERO report(s) |
No previous ERO reports |
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 ERO’s Approach to Review in Early Childhood Services.
ERO’s Overall Judgement and Next Review
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:
- Very well placed – The next ERO review in four years
- Well placed – The next ERO review in three years
- Requires further development – The next ERO review within two years
- Not well placed - The next ERO review in consultation with the Ministry of Education
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.