Piccolo Preschool
Education & Care
5 Cracroft Street, Merrilands · New Plymouth District
Piccolo Preschool is an education and care service in Merrilands with 32 children on roll. Our analysis of the ERO report from December 2021 found strengths in whānau partnership (Grade A), with family aspirations actively informing curriculum and planning. The service also demonstrated competence in bicultural practice, health and safety, and leadership and governance (all Grade B), though bicultural practice was identified as an area for continued strengthening.
AI-generated summary of this centre's ERO review data — verify against the ERO report below. How summaries are generated.
Roll breakdown
By age
By ethnicity
Note: a child may be counted under multiple ethnicities (total may exceed roll).
Operator
Standalone
Cultural & rohe
ERO operator-wide review
Akarangi · 2025-08-11 · covers the wider operator group
ERO's most recent review for this centre is an operator-wide review — ERO has chosen to review the parent group rather than this centre individually. The findings apply across all centres in the group.
Source: Education Review Office operator-wide review dated 2025-08-11, licensed CC-BY 4.0.
Earlier individual centre review
Akarangi · 2021-12-13· superseded by operator-wide review above
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"Focused partnerships with parents and whānau are highly valued. Their aspirations, learning journey contributions and meeting conversations inform and influence the curriculum."
Highly valued partnerships; family aspirations and contributions actively inform curriculum and planning.
"Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori rituals are authentically woven through the curriculum. Children share pepeha, karakia and appropriate tikanga, and participate in a responsive curriculum that prioritises exploration of tangata whenua landmarks."
Authentic te reo and tikanga integration; visibility of all children's language and culture identified for strengthening
"All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements."
Legal requirements attested to and systems reviewed; no non-compliance noted in report.
"Leaders and teachers are effectively embedding internal evaluation processes that support ongoing improvement. Distributed leadership enables teachers to grow their capability; they encourage each other to critically reflect on their practice."
Internal evaluation embedded; distributed leadership supports capability; professional growth cycle being progressed.
Source: Education Review Office review of Piccolo Preschool dated 2021-12-13, licensed CC-BY 4.0. The 4-point overall judgement is ERO's; the 6 dimension grades are our analysis of ERO's prose (see methodology). · Centre has 2 individual reviews on file — showing most recent.
Composite score
How this is computedOne or more dimensions missing from ERO data
Where Piccolo Preschool hasn't been graded on a dimension, the composite uses the national average for that dimension as a placeholder. Each affected axis below is flagged est. When a new ERO review lands, the placeholder is replaced and the score may shift.
The composite is a weighted average of six ERO dimensions, each scored 0–100 (A=90, B=70, C=50, D=25). The "(p47)" style suffix shows where the centre sits within its EQI band (peer percentile, when ≥10 comparable centres in band). See methodology for the formula + limits.
Location
5 Cracroft Street, Merrilands. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is Piccolo Preschool a free kindergarten?
- Piccolo Preschool is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at Piccolo Preschool?
- 32 children attend Piccolo Preschool (roll year 2025).
- Where is Piccolo Preschool?
- 5 Cracroft Street Merrilands New Plymouth District
How much will this cost you? Use our FamilyBoost + Childcare Subsidy calculator to estimate your weekly out-of-pocket after government support.
Nearby & related
Compare Piccolo Preschool side-by-side with another centre →
Find your zoned schools near Merrilands
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Sources & verification
Every fact on this page links back to its government source. Verify directly:
- Centre identity, contact, roll, ethnicity, 20 Hours ECE flag: MoE ECE Directory record (Service #50509) ↗ · CC-BY 4.0 via data.govt.nz
- ERO reviews: ERO institution page ↗ · Crown copyright (reuse permitted with attribution)
- Suburb safety & demographics: SafeSuburbs ↗ · crimestats.co.nz ↗ · NZ Police RCVD + Stats NZ 2023 Census, CC-BY 4.0
- Funding policy (20 Hours / Childcare Subsidy / FamilyBoost): parents.education.govt.nz · WINZ · IRD · Crown copyright (policy only — we cite parameters, don't republish)
- Map tiles: © OpenStreetMap · © CARTO · ODbL + CC-BY 3.0
- Machine-readable formats: facts.json · markdown.md
Full source list, licence text, refresh cadence: /sources. How we match, clean, and rank: /methodology.
Data sources & freshness (4 sources · last refresh 12 July 2026)
Service type, address, roll, ethnicity, Equity Index, 20 Hours, Takiwā, lat/lng
Annual financial returns (community-based + umbrella orgs)
Per-centre review reports + 6-dimension letter grades (curriculum / wellbeing / whānau / bicultural / health & safety / leadership)
Safety score, crime/1k, 2023 Census demographics
Last build refresh: . See full methodology + data sources pages for licences, refresh cadences, and known gaps.