Community Ownership: Parents likely have a strong say in how the service operates and what happens to children, all money earnt stays within it, and teachers may be paid better and childcare charges may be lower compared to most (but not necessarily all) private and corporate owned services. (Ask: Is it an Incorporated Society? Does it also have charitable status?)
Small Boutique Centre: Centres with 50 or fewer children make it easier for staff to provide a warm and nurturing environment, for children to have their individual needs met and skills, knowledge, and competencies extended. (Ask: For continuity of care and relationships, do children stay with the same group of children and teachers throughout their time at the service?)
100% Qualified Teacher Funded: All staff counted toward meeting the minimum adult-child ratio requirement must hold a practising certificate as a teacher if the service receives this level of Ministry of Education funding. (Ask: Does the service count teachers trained in the ECE of children birth to 5 years and not primary or secondary school trained teachers?)
Men Included on Teaching Staff (as at last year): There are strong benefits of having both men and women on the teaching team for the quality of care and education a service provides to children. Additionally, gender bias in staff recruitment and employment is not generally acceptable in society today. (Ask: How many teaching staff are employed and what proportion are men?)
(as at last year):
Clean Licence Record (last year and the year before): To be licensed a service must comply with regulations that help ensure children’s safety, care, and a suitable standard of education. When requirements are breached the Ministry of Education may downgrade a service’s licence to provisional or issue a suspension. (Check the lists of services placed on a provisional or suspended licence https://oece.nz/public/information/standards/ published each year)
(last year and year before):
Recommended Highly by 80% or More Families: At least 80% of families recommend the service and rate it as being very good to excellent on a range of aspects of quality. (Note that a response rate of at least 51% families on the OECE parent survey https://oece.nz/public/information/resources/parent-survey/ research instrument within the last three years is necessary here)
1 Review on “Greenwood Kindergarten”
Greenwood Kindergarten Has Exceeded My Expectations in the 3 years since my twin Girls started there, knowing something wasnt quite right Head Teacher Sandy quickly noticed and advised me to seek advice from my gp for possible autism and helped me get help to find out what was going on, Since that day myself and all the teachers of greenwood kindergarten went on a journey i dont think any of us were prepared for, Two highly functioning girls on two ends of the spectrum with lots of sensory overloads and qwirks, Sandy & the team have helped me along my journey got me involved with a local parenting course with other parents with neurodiverse children , They have helped me seek help with different kinds of people n support to help get the girls where they need to be, its been overwhelming at times and i think we have all learnt a great deal, Anyone who has children wired differently and not sure where to send them or what school will accept them i hands down recommend Greenwood all the staff are well trained with neurodiverse children and care for every child like there own, Thank-You Team as we draw to the end of our journey i feel i dont know how i can thank you 🙏 all, But if this message reaches nervous unsure parents n need of help find somewhere for there special little one then job done 😊