Petone Kindergarten 18/01/2012

Petone Kindergarten Education Review

1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation 2 Review Priorities 3 National Evaluation Topic 4 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements 5 Recommendation 6 Future Action About the Centre 18 January 2012 To the Parents and Community of Petone Kindergarten These are the findings of the Education Review Offices latest report on Petone Kindergarten. Petone Kindergarten is affiliated to the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association (the association). The association has a governing board and a general manager. The general manager is the licensee of the kindergarten. The association employs a team of senior teachers, one of whom is responsible for leading the professional support and advice and guidance to the teaching team. She also liaises with the kindergarten community. The teaching team is now stable after some years of change. The team, ably led by the head teacher, is beginning to provide each other with critical feedback and through professional discussion, improve practice. There is a calm settled tone. Childrens interactions are mutually respectful. Individuals demonstrate confidence in approaching staff for assistance, support and comfort. Purposeful play is a feature. Teachers affirm and celebrate childrens abilities and achievements and are supportive of childrens interests and emotional and physical needs. Parent partnerships are valued. Staff encourage parents to spend time at the kindergarten and value their contributions. The environment and programme are highly supportive of literacy and mathematical development. Teachers work closely with groups and individuals to build on childrens emerging interests. Routines are well established and effectively used to develop 4 6 10 11 12 13 13

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independence and affirm self management skills. A commitment has been made to recognising the importance of Mori perspectives in the programme. Displays and learning stories are increasingly reflecting the multi cultural backgrounds of children. Attractive profile books with a balance of individual and group stories and photographs, provide whnau with a good record of their childs time and learning at the kindergarten. Teacher and child voice are well included. Frequent links between stories clearly show childrens development. Strengthening self review remains an appropriate focus for the teaching team. The teams review process has identified a number of aspects of assessment, planning and evaluation for further development and review. The use of te reo Mori is also seen as an area to be strengthened. EROs evaluation agrees with these directions.

Future Action
ERO is likely to review the service again in three years. When ERO has reviewed an early childhood centre we encourage management to inform their community of any follow up action they plan to take. You should talk to the management or contact person if you have any questions about this evaluation, the full ERO report or their future intentions. If you would like a copy of the full report, please contact the centre or see the ERO website, http://www.ero.govt.nz. Kathleen Atkins National Manager Review Services Central Region

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT REVIEWS

About ERO
ERO is an independent, external evaluation agency that undertakes reviews of schools and early childhood services throughout New Zealand.

About ERO Reviews

ERO follows a set of standard procedures to conduct reviews. The purpose of each review is to:

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improve quality of education for children in early childhood centres; and provide information to parents, communities and the Government. Reviews are intended to focus on outcomes for children and build on each centres self review.

Review Focus
EROs framework for reviewing and reporting is based on four review strands. Quality of Education including the quality of the programme provided for children, the quality of the learning environment and the quality of the interactions between staff and children and how these impact on outcomes for children. Additional Review Priorities other aspects of the operation of a centre, may be included in the review. ERO will not include this strand in all reviews. National Evaluation Topics This strand contributes to the development of education policies and their effective implementation. The information from this strand is aggregated by ERO for its national evaluation reports. Topics for investigation are changed regularly to provide up-to-date information. Compliance with Legal Requirements assurance that this centre has taken all reasonable steps to meet legal requirements.

Review Coverage
ERO reviews do not cover every aspect of centre performance and each ERO report may cover different issues. The aim is to provide information on aspects that are central to positive outcomes for children and useful to this centre.

Review Recommendations
Most ERO reports include recommendations for improvement. A recommendation on a particular issue does not necessarily mean that a centre is performing poorly in relation to that issue. There is no direct link between the number of recommendations in this report and the overall performance of this centre. Disclaimer Individual ERO school and early childhood centre reports are public information and may be copied or sent electronically. However, the Education Review Office can guarantee only the authenticity of original documents which have been obtained in hard copy directly from either the local ERO office or ERO Corporate Office in Wellington. Please consult your telephone book, or see the ERO web page, http://www.ero.govt.nz, for ERO office addresses.

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1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

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1 The Education Review Office (ERO) Evaluation

Confirmed Education Review Report:Petone Kindergarten
Petone Kindergarten is affiliated to the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association (the association). The association has a governing board and a general manager. The general manager is the licensee of the kindergarten. The association employs a team of senior teachers, one of whom is responsible for leading the professional support and advice and guidance to the teaching team. She also liaises with the kindergarten community. The teaching team is now stable after some years of change. The team, ably led by the head teacher, is beginning to provide each other with critical feedback and through professional discussion, improve practice. There is a calm settled tone. Childrens interactions are mutually respectful. Individuals demonstrate confidence in approaching staff for assistance, support and comfort. Purposeful play is a feature. Teachers affirm and celebrate childrens abilities and achievements and are supportive of childrens interests and emotional and physical needs. Parent partnerships are valued. Staff encourage parents to spend time at the kindergarten and value their contributions. The environment and programme are highly supportive of literacy and mathematical development. Teachers work closely with groups and individuals to build on childrens emerging interests. Routines are well established and effectively used to develop independence and affirm self management skills. A commitment has been made to recognising the importance of Mori perspectives in the programme. Displays and learning stories are increasingly reflecting the multi cultural backgrounds of children. Attractive profile books with a balance of individual and group stories and photographs, provide whnau with a good record of their childs time and learning at the kindergarten. Teacher and child voice are well included. Frequent links between stories clearly show childrens development. Strengthening self review remains an appropriate focus for the teaching team. The teams review process has identified a number of aspects of assessment, planning and evaluation for further development and review. The use of te reo Mori is also seen as an area to be strengthened. EROs evaluation agrees with these directions.

Future Action

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ERO is likely to review the service again in three years.

2 Review Priorities
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2 Review Priorities
The Focus of the Review
Before the review, the management of Petone Kindergarten was invited to consider its priorities for review using guidelines and resources provided by ERO. ERO also used documentation provided by the centre to contribute to the scope of the review. The detailed priorities for review were then determined following a discussion between the ERO review team and the management and staff. This discussion focused on existing information held by the centre (including self-review information) and the extent to which potential issues for review contributed to positive outcomes for children at Petone Kindergarten. All ERO education reviews in early childhood focus on the quality of education. For ERO this includes the quality of: the programme provided for children; the learning environment; and the interactions between children and adults. The Centre managers also suggested and ERO agreed to consider: association support EROs findings in these areas are set out below.

The Quality of Education

Background
Since the April 2008 ERO review, the kindergarten has developed and implemented an action plan to address the identified areas for improvement from the report. The teaching team is now stable after some years of change. One teacher is new at the kindergarten this year. The team, ably led by the head teacher, is beginning to provide each other with critical feedback, through professional discussion, in order to improve practice. Environmental upgrades have been made as part of an ongoing property development plan. An office area has been enlarged and decking and a large covered area constructed in the outside area. Further renovation of the inside environment is planned.

Areas of strength
Childrens interactions are respectful. Friends support and provide help for each other and

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family relationships are well developed. Children demonstrate confidence in approaching staff for assistance, support and comfort. Purposeful play is a feature. There is a calm settled tone. Teachers work well with children and listen with care. Positive guidance strategies are a strength. Teachers affirm and celebrate childrens abilities and achievements and are supportive of childrens interests and emotional and physical needs. Tuakana/Teina is highly evident. Parent partnerships are valued. Staff encourage parents to spend time at the kindergarten and value their contributions. Whnau are warmly welcomed and farewelled with valuable exchanges of information occurring at these times. Teachers are interested in and acknowledge the holistic development of each child. They know them and their families well. The outdoor and indoor environments are spacious and inviting. Children regularly engage in cooperative activities for long periods. The arrangement of activity areas recognises children as capable and confident learners. Resources are accessible to children and presented in such a way as to promote interest, inquiry and self choice. Children are encouraged to access materials and equipment for their own creative activities. Some areas are left as a work space only to encourage children to identify and request material for their own play. Outdoor equipment promotes physical activity and motor skill development. Teachers provide environment and programme provisions that are highly supportive of literacy and mathematical development. Children see themselves reflected in photos and name tags and there are many opportunities to recognise and record their own symbols. Reading to, with and by, children is a frequent occurrence. Opportunities arising from play are well used to foster counting, shape and colour recognition. Teachers work closely with groups and individuals to build on emerging interests. Routines are well established and effectively used to develop independence and affirm self management skills. A commitment has been made to recognising the importance of Mori perspectives in the programme. There is some use of te reo Mori during the programme, including waiata at mat time. Displays and learning stories are increasingly reflecting the multi cultural backgrounds of children. Teachers use Te Manawa, the associations criteria for curriculum implementation, to more effectively document learning and planning for children. The team have developed a useful tool (Whats on Top) to enable them to contribute to discussions about the learning that is occurring for groups and individual children. Attractive profile books, with a balance of individual and group stories and photographs, provide whnau with a good record of their childs time and learning. Teacher and child voice

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is well included. Frequent links between stories clearly show childrens learning and development. Children often dictate stories to teachers. These are recorded and included in profile books and are being well used to promote imagination and capture childrens thinking.

Areas for development and review

Staff acknowledge and ERO agrees that they need to continue: to improve in-depth assessment including the identification of next learning steps for individuals and groups. This should then be documented more explicitly in individual learning stories increasing parent contributions to childrens profiles and learning stories increasing teachers approach to group planning in a collaborative way to ensure all team members are contributing raising their confidence in the use of te reo Mori so that it is evident in everyday conversation. Strengthening self review remains an appropriate focus for the teaching team. While a range of practices have been reviewed spontaneously, a planned in depth review cycle has yet to be completed by the current team. Appraisal overly focuses on self reflection at the expense of specific appraiser feedback to provide teachers with areas for improving practice. There is variability in clearly documenting outcomes of appraisal discussions.

Association Support
Background
The 2008 ERO review of the association identified several strengths, including the provision of professional development, sound operation plans, support for property development and the use of a range of communication strategies to keep teachers and communities informed. Areas for improvement included the quality and depth of the written feedback given to teachers by the senior teacher and strengthening the appraisal process. Since 2008, the association has led consultation with the community to modify session times and improve the ratio of teachers to children from 1:15 to 1:10 and maintained its policy of employing qualified, registered teachers in regulated permanent positions. The association provides expectations and guidance to the kindergarten through its strategic plan, policies and procedures and more recently, the professional development strategy Te Manawa: Criteria for Curriculum Implementation.

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Areas of strength
The association continues to provide high levels of guidance and support to teachers for the continuous improvement of teaching and learning. These include: the strategic plan setting expectations for participation, parent/whnau involvement and quality teaching practices clearly defined indicators of quality teaching and learning practice through Te Manawa a wide range of professional development opportunities ongoing support in property development, human resource management, finance and resourcing.

Areas for development and review

The association, senior teachers and ERO have identified areas where the association can strengthen its support for teachers. These include: further developing and supporting leadership, including a review of the appraisal process reviewing senior teacher documentation to show how teachers have improved their practice, as a result of feedback reviewing how kindergartens annual plans for teaching and learning could more explicitly show how teachers respond to the associations strategic priorities.

3 National Evaluation Topic

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3 National Evaluation Topic

Overview
ERO provides information about the education system as a whole through its national reports. This information will be used as the basis for long term and systemic educational improvement.

Inclusion of children with moderate to severe special needs

As part of this review ERO evaluated the extent to which: transitions ensure the continuing well-being, learning, and development of children with moderate to severe special needs children with moderate to severe special needs are supported to be confident and capable learners the service is inclusive of children with moderate to severe special needs

Areas of strength
The head teacher is an advocate for children with moderate to severe learning needs. Concerns are recognised and observations by appropriate external agencies to identify and confirm initial diagnosis are initiated. No child with moderate to severe needs has ever been refused a place at the kindergarten. Good use is made of external personnel such as the Educational Support Worker and occupational therapists to support all identified children. The teaching team gather detailed information about the childrens needs and medical backgrounds which they discuss at staff meetings. This information is used by teachers, parents and support workers to collaboratively prepare high quality individual plans for each child. These set child goals, teacher goals and strategies for meeting them. Progress is reviewed and reported on a regular basis.

4 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

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4 Management Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the staff of Petone Kindergarten 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: administration; health, safety and welfare; personnel management; and financial and property management. During the review, ERO looked at the services documentation, including policies, procedures and records of recent use of procedures. ERO also checked elements of the following areas that have a potentially high impact on outcomes for children: emotional safety (including behaviour management, prevention of bullying and abuse); physical safety (including behaviour management, sleeping and supervision practices; accidents and medication; hygiene and routines; travel and excursion policies and procedures); staff qualifications and organisation; and evacuation procedures and practices for fire and earthquake.

5 Recommendation
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5 Recommendation
ERO and the kindergarten leaders agreed that the priorities for development and review are those outlined in the report.

6 Future Action
ERO is likely to review the service again in three years. Kathleen Atkins National Manager Review Services Central Region

About the Centre

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About the Centre

Location Ministry of Education profile number Type Licensed under Petone, Hutt City 5376

All Day Kindergarten Education (Early Childhood Centres) Regulations 1998 40 children, aged over 2 72 Girls 36 Boys 36 New Zealand European/Pkeh 42 Mori 11 Other European 5 Pacific 5 Indian 2 South East Asian 2 Other ethnic groups 5 October 2011 18 January 2012 Education Review April 2008 Education Review September 2005 Accountability Review August 1998

Number licensed for Roll number Gender composition

Ethnic composition

Review team on site Date of this report Previous three ERO reports

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