ERO damns Barnardos centre

A Porirua childcare centre withheld food from children for bad behaviour, bolted fire exits and provided dangerous play areas, a damning report says.

Barnardos Early Learning Centre in Driver Cres, Porirua, has been given 12 months to clean up its act after the Education Review Office found nine areas of non-compliance.

But the centre says the 35 children who attend are safe and the report was too harsh.

In a supplementary report ordered after a highly critical review last year, concerns about bolted fire exit doors and locked and "poorly maintained" emergency exit gates were raised.

Issues were also raised about dangerous play areas, including an open pipe protruding from the concrete and indoor play furniture stored against a barrier, which children could climb.

The centre was criticised for listing in its handbook for parents that children might be refused food as part of its behaviour management policy.

The report also said the centre did not have enough staff to cover mandatory non-contact hours and that the centre manager was new to the position and had not had "the benefit of good role models".

"There is no evidence of professional discussions between the centre manager and teachers about the quality of teaching practice."

The report followed a review done last year that found staff did not show adequate planning skills, provide sufficient activities or extend children's thinking. It was given a year to improve but had made very little progress.

There are 35 children at the full-day childcare centre from predominantly Pacific Island backgrounds. It costs $3.50 an hour to attend.

Barnardos early learning centres operations manager Carol Milner said she was stunned by the report and she believed the review office had been too harsh.

Children were never in danger from the bolted fire exits as there were two other doors out of the building. She said the food deprivation policy was an old one and had not been used in living memory.

"It painted a very bad picture but the staff all said 'what?' They had never heard of it."

She realised there were some issues that needed attention and an action plan had been drawn up to address ERO's concerns. But Ms Milner said the children were perfectly safe.

"I have no concerns [for the children] at all. The staff are very professional."

She denied the claim that the centre was understaffed and said the cook often covered teacher lunch breaks.

The report identified some areas of progress since the last review, including professional development for staff and a new literacy initiative for four-year-olds.

- NZPA