Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Covid-19 continues to play a major role in how we manage ourselves, both at home and at work. This week we look at the impacts, in particular on our PLD and Appraisal, and what we are planning for the future. Mai i te kōpae ki te urupa, tātou ako tonu ai. From the cradle to the grave we are forever learning. Jane 
Covid-19 - Let’s Have A Reset – Changes For Now to PLD and Appraisal As you will be aware, we have been holding Regional Staff Meetings (RSMs) over the past two weeks, and will complete those meetings next week. At the meetings, we asked staff for feedback on Covid-19 and its impact on them and the kindergarten children and whānau. We also asked for feedback from Senior Teachers and senior staff about how everyone has been coping. It’s been a challenging, rewarding, and exhausting time aye? We have come to the conclusion that, in this environment where Covid-19 requires us to move between alert levels, we need to arrange things differently - we can’t keep organising PLD and meetings, and then cancelling because we change alert levels, or continuing, but having people feel unnecessarily anxious or unsure of the risks re: social distancing etc. We need to have a reset. We need to think about how we do things while living in this world where a Covid-19 vaccine has yet to be developed. But we still need people to remain connected - we still need you to stay connected with families and communities, and focus on progressing learning with children. To this end, in terms of Professional Learning and Development (PLD) and Gatherings, we have decided: - From 25 September, we will cancel all PLD and large meetings provided by the Association for the rest of the year. This includes the Leadership hui, Induction and Mentoring, the bus trip organised by Lou, and Learning Support Network meetings and Regional Staff Meetings for Term 4.
- The only exceptions will be child protection and first aid courses.
- We will talk to other providers of pre-arranged PLD such as iwi, and let you know what decisions are made.
- If you are in a full year kindergarten and have pre-booked a reliever, you can still take that day as PLD leave, just as you can continue to plan when you take PLD leave in Term 4: discuss this with your Head Teacher and Senior Teacher.
For Appraisal, we have decided: - You need to continue to develop an Appraisal Goal, as per our policy, but you are not required to gather evidence or keep an appraisal folder. Instead, undertake kōrero around your goal and keep records of this kōrero - focus on professional growth, not on collecting evidence.
What this Means We know that this announcement will probably raise lots of questions. Talk with or email your Senior Teacher, and we’ll sort things as we go along. We’ll provide regular updates in the Kōrero that address questions that come through. Essentially, we expect you to continue your own PLD through reading, engaging in team discussions and meetings and in online learning such as webinars. We also expect you to engage with your Senior Teacher because you need to ensure you continue your Strategic Teaching and Learning Plans (STLPs) because this is in itself PLD. But we want to use this time to take stock of the more formal PLD and gatherings we organise. So, over the next few months, we will explore how we organise PLD and gatherings in 2021, and what the Teaching Council’s new Appraisal or Professional Growth Cycle will look like for our association. And for the next few months, we want you to progress your STLP, and to focus on the day to day provision of learning for children, to nurture your relationships with the families, and each other, and to look after yourself. Life is too short. To quote Khalil Gibran: “Love has no desire but to fulfil itself!” Kia haumaru me ora koutou katoa! Be safe and well!
COVID-19 update #14 Health Update From the Ministry of Health website: Case numbers
There are 2 new cases of COVID-19 today, 3 September, 2020. There are now 115 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand. See the current cases page. NZ COVID Tracer If you have not already done so, it is a great idea to download and use the NZ Covid Tracer. If the virus reappears in the community, keeping track of where you've been will help health services to quickly trace close contacts and break the chain of transmission. If you use NZ COVID Tracer, it’s a lot easier for health officials to let you know about any risk of exposure. There have been more than 2 million downloads of the app. At least 2.1 million scans were recorded on Tuesday, averaging at just over one scan per account per day. Thousands of people are still not registering their movements. You can download the tracer here: Google Play Apple Store If you do not have access to a smart phone you can use the NZ COVID Tracer booklet to keep track of where you've been. If you use the booklet, you should still sign contact tracing registers when you visit places like shops. You can email the COVID-19 Response team if you'd like some booklets at Covid19Response@dpmc.govt.nz or you can download the booklet here. Cleaning including cleaning of bedding The Ministry of Education has reinforced the fact that at alert level two all surfaces must be disinfected daily, including bed frames and sleep furniture. The Ministry is also reminding us that linen should never be shared between children. It either needs to be washed daily or stored separately with the child’s name on it to prevent cross contamination. Love you guys xoxo Mandy
Message for Whānau Regarding Child Accident/Incident Emails  With the changes to how we are telling families about accidents/incidents at kindergarten we are suggesting that teams post the following notice both on their Kindergarten Facebook pages and also in Story Park. This will help families understand and know what to expect with the new way of reporting. Thank you to Katoa Kindergarten for the use of their words Kia ora whānau, This is just an update for you about our Child Accident/Incident forms.
We are now doing all of our first aid/accident/incident reporting online, so instead of signing the form at the end of the day, you will now be sent an email detailing the accident/incident. You should still expect a phone call if it is a more serious incident.
To ensure this system is effective, we need to make sure that everyone's emails are up to date. If you need to update your email please let a kaiako know or send an email to (kindergarten email address)
This is an example of the email whānau will receive if their child has an accident at kindergarten: “This email is to alert you to an incident that occurred at kindergarten. If you require any further information, please feel free to contact the kindergarten directly”.
If you have any questions about this new system, do not hesitate to ask any kaiako!
Nga mihi
If you have any questions about this please contact Lorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz Child Accident/ Incident Reporting Just a reminder that if you are wanting to email a copy of a child incident/accident form to whanau, you must ensure that you have selected the email address for the whanau from the list in the drop down box labelled “Child Contact Details “(see below). If there is no email address entered in this field, then the email will not be sent . Can teams please the forms they have emailed to ensure that there is an email address in this field 
Rāhui Bubble Exhibition There is an exhibition that is being organised by the Whanganui Learning Centre that will capture stories based on experiences people had in their "bubbles" during the rāhui. Kaz is looking for information that can be included in a Whānau Manaaki Bubble for this exhibition, see below. There were lots wonderful initiatives that went onto Facebook and Storypark, including live recordings, etc. If you have anything you would like to be included can you please email it through to Kaz at karen.craig@wmkindergartens.org.nz. Kaz will obtain the appropriate permission if she uses anything with children in it. You may also enter as a Kindergarten and you can encourage your families to enter as well, this is - this is open to EVERYONE! 
Graduates Celebrate The Whānau Manaaki office held a morning tea last week to celebrate the graduation of teachers Rangi Kalman and Kevin Francis, who studied as kindergarten-based students. Rangi is now teaching at a Puna Reo in Thorndon in Wellington while Kevin is teaching at Adventure Kindergarten in Porirua. Kevin spoke of his appreciation for all the support he had received from Whānau Manaaki over his years of his study, including help from Debby King who teaches at Maraeroa Kindergarten and co-ordinates a study group each Friday for students. “I’m glad I’m out the other side. Thank you so much for your help” said Kevin. Rangi echoed Kevin’s thanks to the Association, and also paid tribute to the support from the Open Polytech. Rangi came into early childhood education through the Y-men programme which gave young men training about child development and a placement in kindergartens to encourage thinking about career options and further study. Kevin came into kindergarten through working as a teacher aide. 
TONI Recruitment
ECE Election Forum An online election forum on early childhood education is being held next week. Spokespeople from all the major parties will hear from Kaiako about the issues in early childhood education. The forum is being organised by NZEI Te RiuRoa.You can register for the event here. 
Early Childhood Teachers Are Shovel Ready Teachers at Newtown Kindergarten were among colleagues around the country who took part in a day of protest last Friday, calling for more investment in early childhood education. The use of shovels was encouraged because of the government funding for so-called shovel ready projects to build infrastructure and create jobs. The event was coordinated by NZEI Te RiuRoa as part of its ECE Voice campaign. 
UNICEF Report Shows New Zealand Children Fare Badly New Zealand is one of the worst places to be a child in the developed world, according to a UNICEF report just released. The international report looks at data ranging from suicide to literacy, as well as a whole range of factors that affect children’s wellbeing. New Zealand scores well for the natural environment but badly on other indicators, including suicide and obesity. The head of UNICEF New Zealand, Viv Maidaborn, says inequality is at the root of the problem. “When we look at this data we need to value our commitment to Tangata Whenua, to multiculturalism, and that leads us to value equality and that’s the pathway out of these terrible statistics.”, she told news website Stuff. Maidaborn said those directly affected were children who were Māori, those that live rurally, and children who live in low-socio economic areas where access to technology, wealth and suitable housing was lacking. “Income is key to reducing inequality,” she said. “And that seems to spark fears with people saying, ‘oh, they will just drink it away’, or that they will gamble it away, those comments are fear-driven and it is racist and sexist, more importantly, they aren’t true.” Here’s a link to a full story on the report.
This Week On Facebook  
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: | Hannah Anderson | .8 Teacher | Ascot Park | | Te Aomarama Miller | .6 Teacher | Doris Nicholson | | Andrea Cooke | Teacher | Cottle | | Michelle Zwart | Teacher | Otaki | | May Spackman | Administrator | Silverstream | | Megan Button | Administrator | Johnsonville West | | Anne (Yan) Zhang | Fees Administrator | WMK | | Chrystal Walmsley | Relieving Teacher to July 2021 | Ascot Park | | Meredith Kreiger | Relieving .4 Teacher to July 2021 | Betty Montford | | Ros Godfrey | Relieving Teacher to July 2021 | Silverstream | | Emma Hilleard | Relieving .6 Teacher to July 2021 | Silverstream | | Sam Hosking | Relieving .8 Teacher to July 2021 | Silverstream | | Debi McLean | Itinerant Reliever | WMK |
We wish all the best to the following who have resigned: | Janeen Walker | Teacher | Manaia | | Phoebe Henderson | Senior Head Teacher | Island Bay |
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