Since its last A&R, Lawson Community Preschool has focused on strengthening its documented planning cycle, developing stronger partnerships with the local community and embedding a culture of reflective practice within the team.

So, when director Roslyn James was notified of the service’s upcoming partial reassessment, the team felt ready to showcase what they do to support, educate and care for children every day, as well as their ongoing quality improvement journey.

“The reduced notice period means that practices and principles from each quality area need to be embedded every day,” Roslyn reflected.

The preschool nominated Quality Area 6 for assessment. This enabled the team to showcase how it fosters a child-centred culture and environment through meaningful collaboration with early learners, families and their community, as well as how this engagement informs decision-making at the preschool.

After the visit, the Lawson Community Preschool team received an Exceeding rating – the first in the service’s history.

Using the Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Planning Portal has further enhanced the preschool’s approach to reflective practice and documentation.

“The self-assessment portal has made a positive change for all staff to reflect and contribute on areas of compliance and regulations, identify our key practices, and document our goals in an efficient and accessible way,” Roslyn said.

“All educators having access to the digital platform has meant that the team feels confident to voice their ideas and add their thoughts, which builds confidence to discuss and present our practices and goals.”

Roslyn shared that maintaining a live self-assessment document via the portal also streamlined the process of submitting this information to the NSW Regulatory Authority prior to A&R, reducing administrative load for the service.

Educational leader Meg Lockley reflected that the team found the refined A&R to be more authentic, as it shifts the focus to everyday practice and promotes ongoing quality improvement, rather than an event to prepare for.

“I feel that the more streamlined approach resulted in much less disruption to our teaching and learning program, which allowed educators to continue their focus on teaching and learning relationships without feeling stressed,” Meg added.

Lindfield East Before and After School Care (BASC) used its recent A&R experience to identify how it could refine its practices and work more efficiently.

The reduced notice period was a catalyst for action and prompted the service to rethink how it approaches reflecting on practice and strengthening its culture of continuous improvement, explained Sean Cartwright, Nominated Supervisor at Lindfield East BASC.

“We plan to adjust our ongoing self-assessment activities,” shared Sean. “Our educators will all collaborate on each quality area throughout the year to maintain or to suggest changes for our centre.”

The Lindfield East BASC team embraced the partial reassessment approach, as it provided them the opportunity to showcase their strengths in more detail, Sean shared.

“Focusing on 4 quality areas thoroughly throughout the day felt less intensive than a full A&R.” The service chose Quality Area 5 to be included in the reassessment.

“Having the ability to nominate a quality area really allowed us to display some of our greatest qualities of our centre to the authorised officer,” Sean said. “It gives centres an opportunity to present the great work they are proud of and allows you to prepare better for your chosen area.”

The team at Wagga Wagga Early Learning Centre Turvey Park were already active users of the Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Planning Portal when they were notified of an upcoming A&R visit.

Area Manager Jodi Pollard shared that using the portal has made the process of maintaining and tracking progress against the service’s self-assessment information and quality improving planning more efficient. This was especially beneficial in the lead-up to the long day care’s A&R visit.

“The portal has made it easier for members of our management team to keep up to date and on track with items in our QIP and the compliance checklist,” Jodi said. “It’s an accurate record of our practices that we can reflect on for continuous improvement to confidently move forward, grow and make positive change within our service.”

“The portal supported the management team to feel confident that they had provided evidence for all quality areas prior to submitting the final self-assessment”.

Navigating the revised A&R for the first time, including choosing a quality area for assessment at short notice and not knowing what to expect did present challenges and create some level of uncertainty for management and staff, Jodi explained.

"It was a busy time gathering extra evidence to showcase our service as much as possible,” Jodi shared. “It definitely highlighted the important role everyone plays in providing a high-quality ECEC setting at all times.”

Reflecting on her team’s overall experience, Jodi said: “We feel the assessment and rating day was positive, and the authorised officers who attended gave constructive feedback and had positive interactions with staff and management.”

We asked leaders to share their key learnings from their A&R experience and advice for other services:

• Treat your self-assessment as a live document, not just something you prepare for A&R.
• If your service has registered for the Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Planning Portal, use the compliance checklists to spot areas for improvement early.
• When nominating a quality area for your partial reassessment, choose the one you are most proud of.
• Reassure your team that A&R is a collaborative, team effort.
• Rethink how you approach quality by regularly reviewing your practices against the NQS.
• Make sure your documentation/service records, whether digital or hardcopy, are easily accessible. This will help make your A&R visit run smoothly.

• Learn more about assessment and rating, what to expect during your visit, and download A&R factsheets for centre-based and family day care educators.
• Watch the Spotlight on Assessment and Rating ECE Connect webinar to find out more about the improvements to A&R.
• Find information on the first tier reviews on the ACECQA website.

For support on A&R or using the Self-Assessment and Quality Improvement Planning Portal, please contact our Continuous Improvement Team on 1800 619 113 or ecequalitysupport@det.nsw.edu.au.