Our centre received the top rating in our recent Education Review Office visit, stating the centre is“very well placed’ for providing learning experience for our children”. Less that 10% of ECE centres in Auckland, achieve this excellence in teaching.
Education Review Report February 2017
The Review Findings
Children settle quickly into the stimulating centre environment. They are familiar with routines and have good access to a wide variety of resources. Regular visits to Cornwall Park provide rich experiences that challenge and extend children's confidence, oral language and theories about the natural world.
Children enjoy trusting and respectful relationships with their teachers. They are confident explorers who direct their own play and relate well with their peers. Children connect socially with their peers through shared experiences. As a result, children are independent and develop friendships. They participate in imaginative and creative play opportunities with enthusiasm. Children display positive attitudes to physical activity.
The learning programme fosters curiosity and leadership. It promotes child-led learning. Teachers know children well and are responsive to their ideas. They skilfully work alongside children to negotiate and promote children's thinking and problem solving. There is rich conversation between children and teachers.
Bicultural approaches are evident in daily programmes. Tereo and tikanga Māori are incorporated into the programme. Sustainability, recycling and conservation concepts are key part of the centre's curriculum. Children develop a sense of themselves as kaitiaki of the environment.
Children's individual assessment journals clearly show how the programme and teaching practices contribute to their learning and progress over time. Teachers work together to identify children's emerging interests and use this information to plan individual programmes that extend children's learning. Parents add comments to journal records of their children's learning. Children revisit their journals to relive and extend experiences.
Teachers are open to learning. They have regular opportunities to strengthen their professional practice. This impacts positively on children's learning and wellbeing. Owners and teachers co-construct their appraisal goals, which are aligned to the centre's strategic direction. Leaders and teachers collaboratively evaluate programmes with a strong focus on ongoing improvement. Systematic internal evaluation includes teachers' research into current theory that is relevant to the centre's needs. Centre leaders present to and facilitate learning for others in the profession.
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