45 C Everitt Road, Otara, Auckland
View on mapAkarangi | 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 Akarangi Quality 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 Otara Community Preschool are as follows:
Outcome Indicators |
ERO’s judgement |
|
What the service knows about outcomes for learners |
Whāngai Establishing |
Learning Conditions |
ERO’s judgement |
|
|
Whāngai Establishing |
Organisational Conditions |
ERO’s judgement |
|
|
Whāngai Establishing |
Otara Community Preschool is governed by the Multicultural Christian Education and Sporting Trust, a not-for-profit organisation. A centre manager leads a team of five staff, including two qualified teachers. All the children enrolled are of Samoan or Tongan ethnicity.
Children learn through an inclusive curriculum that is based on Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum. Kaiako are respectful and responsive to children’s languages and cultures. They engage children in meaningful conversations, often in their home language. Resources, displays and equipment reflect the cultures of the children and community. Cultural knowledge shared by families contributes to the curriculum.
Children’s emotional wellbeing is supported through caring and responsive relationships with teachers. They are familiar with teachers’ use of te reo Māori and aspects of tikanga Māori that are regularly woven into the curriculum. Kaiako respond to children’s interests and support their engagement in play. The learning environment is welcoming and well resourced. This helps children to make choices and to develop independence.
Kaiako have worked collaboratively to establish a responsive curriculum for children. Assessment documentation shows children’s cultural heritage and strengths as learners. Kaiako are aware they could improve how they record the evidence of children’s progress, and continuity of learning over time is not yet embedded into assessment practice.
Service leaders have developed useful organisational systems and processes. They:
model professional accountability and collective responsibility for children’s wellbeing and learning
foster collaboration and relational trust among the teaching team
regularly review policies and procedures
are establishing a process of curriculum evaluation focused on continual improvement
demonstrate an organisational commitment to realising the aspirations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Service leaders are aware that further work is needed to strengthen staff understanding and use of internal evaluation to have a clear focus on providing equitable outcomes for children.
Otara Community Preschool will include the following actions in its Quality Improvement Planning:
Continue to develop teachers’ understanding of ways to show evidence of children’s developing capabilities in relation to the outcomes of Te Whāriki.
Improve internal evaluation processes by monitoring the impact of change and action over time on children’s learning. This includes evaluation of progress towards strategic goals and centre priorities.
Before the review, the staff and management of Otara Community Preschool 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.
Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki
9 May 2022
|
Early Childhood Service Name |
Otara Community Preschool |
| Profile Number | 25283 |
| Location | Otara, Auckland |
|
Service type |
Education and care service |
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80-99% |
|
Service roll |
16 |
|
Ethnic composition |
Samoan 11, Tongan 5 |
|
Review team on site |
February 2022 |
|
Date of this report |
9 May 2022 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, August 2018; Education Review, October 2015 |
|
Not well placed |
Requires further development |
Well placed |
Very well placed |
ERO's findings that support this overall judgement are summarised below.
Otara Community Preschool is licensed for 100 children, including up to 15 under the age of two years. It operates in a new purpose-built building. The majority of children attending are from the local community and some have had siblings previously in the centre. The majority of children are Samoan or Tongan. There are smaller groups of Māori and children from other Pacific backgrounds.
The preschool is owned and governed by the MultiCultural Christian Education and Sporting Trust, a not-for-profit organisation. Trustees have a range of skills that can support the trust board's strategic direction, whānau and communities. A centre manager is contracted to oversee preschool operation and management. The centre manager provides detailed reports at trust meetings.
Day-to-day administration and curriculum management is delegated to the centre supervisor. She is well supported by an experienced administrator. Four of the teaching team, including the newly appointed supervisor, are registered teachers. Most of the staff are new to the centre since the 2015 ERO review.
The preschool's philosophy promotes a Christian ethos. It embraces bicultural and multicultural respect, positive partnerships with parents and a commitment to supporting children to become confident learners. Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum, guides the daily programme and teachers' practice.
The 2015 ERO report recommended that the Ministry of Education (MoE) reassess the preschool's licence. The report identified several areas for improvement in relation to governance and management, programme management, teachers' appraisals and strategic planning. Good progress has been made in these areas and improvements are resulting in increasingly effective performance. The preschool was placed back on full licence in 2017.
Children are well settled in the centre and show a sense of belonging and wellbeing. They enjoy friendly relationships with teachers and their peers and are busily involved in the programme. Children are familiar with routines and have opportunities to develop appropriate self-help skills. Children show a growing awareness of the needs of others.
Affirmed by teachers’ incidental use of their first languages, children enthusiastically sing and participate during devotion time. Teachers have a culturally responsive and caring approach and promote an inclusive environment that fosters a strong sense of belonging in children.
Infants and toddlers have separate indoor and outdoor play areas and benefit from good periods of uninterrupted play and independent choice. Teachers are caring and attentive towards children.
Teachers encourage children to participate in the programme. They support children’s choices, praise their efforts and work confidently with groups. Teachers encourage children’s involvement in play, frequently sharing friendly interaction and humour. They share stories with children, initiate conversations about play, and foster interest in the resources and photos on display.
Children would now benefit from further learning challenges. As staff develop better strategies for working as a team and build on their well established relationships with children, they could develop higher expectations of children’s abilities and:
increase the complexity of interactions to further promote children’s thinking and exploration of ideas
increase children’s access to a greater variety of good quality, open-ended and challenging resources to more effectively support their learning
improve the ways they foster children’s interests and further involve parents in their children’s learning and show children's progress and continuity of learning.
Teachers are developing a shared approach to teaching and learning and have opportunities to participate in professional development. They are making good progress in planning programmes based on child interests and community events. They record participation in the programme in individual portfolios. Teachers are beginning to evaluate the quality of children’s learning.
Teachers are developing links with the community and getting to know families and children. Parents and whānau support the centre. They actively engage in centre events. Parents express appreciation for the quality of relationships and the cultural opportunities children enjoy.
The new building has considerably enhanced the learning environment, which is spacious and functional. Children have much better access to a significantly improved playground. There are useful spaces for teachers to complete administrative work and take breaks. Staff can now consider ways to make these areas more attractive and welcoming. The Trust plans to further develop the adventure playground. This will be an opportunity to work with teachers and parents to design a functional playground that promotes physical challenges, creativity and imaginative play.
Good progress has been made by trustees and the manager to improve governance and management. They have worked well to develop operational systems, policies and procedures that guide practice and help to improve outcomes for children. They should now review the human resource policy and procedures to more clearly reflect good employer practices.
Centre leaders agree key next steps for teachers should include:
extending professional knowledge, education practices and skills to enhance quality teaching and learning for children up to the age of two years
ensuring that transition to school practices align with Te Whāriki
improving the use of te reo Māori and recognition of the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand in the programme
strengthening internal evaluation processes so that it leads to ongoing improvements in all areas of centre operations.
To improve governance practices, trustees should:
use internal evaluation to inform future planning
develop clear roles and responsibilities for trustees based in the centre
strengthen strategic planning and align this with annual action plans
ensure that teacher appraisal processes meet the requirements of the Education Council.
Before the review, the staff and management of Otara Community Preschool 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.
To improve current practice, managers should:
record and evaluate emergency drills to inform the annual review of the emergency plan
report the use of equity funding to parents and the community.
Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education and Care Centres 2008, GMA3, HS7.
The next ERO review of Otara Community Preschool will be in three years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
14 August 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.
|
Location |
Otara, Auckland |
||
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
25283 |
||
|
Licence type |
Education & Care Service |
||
|
Licensed under |
Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 |
||
|
Number licensed for |
100 children, including up to 15 aged under 2 |
||
|
Service roll |
38 |
||
|
Gender composition |
Boys 24 Girls 14 |
||
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
3 |
|
|
Percentage of qualified teachers |
80% + |
||
|
Reported ratios of staff to children |
Under 2 |
1:5 |
Meets minimum requirements |
|
Over 2 |
1:9 |
Better than minimum requirements |
|
|
Review team on site |
May 2018 |
||
|
Date of this report |
14 August 2018 |
||
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Category 1 Education Review |
Otober 2015 |
|
|
Category 2 Education Review |
July 2013 |
||
|
Education Review |
February 2010 |
||
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.