Small Steps Early Learning Centre
Education & Care
2 Eldonwood Drive, Matamata West · Matamata-Piako District
Small Steps Early Learning Centre is an education and care service in Matamata West with a roll of 75 children. Our analysis of the July 2023 ERO report indicates areas for development across curriculum and learning, whānau partnership, bicultural practice, and leadership and governance, with health and safety practices attested as compliant.
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 review
Akarangi · 2023-07-12
"Kaiako demonstrate variable understandings of tamariki learning in relation to the valued outcomes in Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum."
Variable understanding of Te Whāriki; inconsistent assessment practices and curriculum responsiveness.
Not explicitly evaluated in this review.
"Whānau aspirations are beginning to be gathered, however kaiako are at the early stages of enabling parents to contribute their aspirations and responding to these."
Early stages of gathering whānau input; limited responsiveness to family aspirations.
"Tamariki hear some te reo Māori. The learning environment reflects some Māori and Pacific cultures. Leaders have identified the need to grow kaiako capabilities to deliver a rich bicultural curriculum and respond to all cultural identities."
Limited te reo Māori and bicultural integration; capability gaps acknowledged.
"All early childhood services are required to promote children's health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements."
Service attested compliance with health, safety, and legal requirements.
"Leaders and kaiako are at the early stages of using internal evaluation for improvement. Relational trust is being built between leaders and kaiako to support collaboration. Considering the impact of improvement actions in relation to outcomes for tamariki are not yet part of internal evaluation processes."
Early-stage internal evaluation and professional growth systems; impact evaluation not yet embedded.
Source: Education Review Office review of Small Steps Early Learning Centre dated 2023-07-12, 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 Small Steps Early Learning Centre 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
2 Eldonwood Drive, Matamata West. Nearby centres marked in grey — click to navigate.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap, © CARTO · Brand-teal pin = this centre, 800m radius shown
Frequently asked
- Is Small Steps Early Learning Centre a free kindergarten?
- Small Steps Early Learning Centre is a Education & Care service. 20 Hours ECE applies for 3-5 year olds at participating centres.
- What's the roll at Small Steps Early Learning Centre?
- 75 children attend Small Steps Early Learning Centre (roll year 2025).
- Where is Small Steps Early Learning Centre?
- 2 Eldonwood Drive Matamata West Matamata-Piako 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 Small Steps Early Learning Centre side-by-side with another centre →
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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 #45777) ↗ · 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.