Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. You will notice today there is PLD recorded in the calendar! It is great to be able to recommence these development opportunities for you. Jane 
Covid-19 Update As you are probably aware, the Government will make announcements this Monday, 8 May, about if and when the country will move to Covid-19 level 1. Yesterday the Prime Minister outlined what life might look like under Level 1. A link to the information is here. The information also includes a set of “Golden Rules for Everyone at Alert level 1”, and these are:
If you’re sick, stay home. Don’t go to work or school. Don’t socialise. - If you have cold or flu symptoms call your doctor or Healthline and make sure you get tested.
- Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
- Sneeze and cough into your elbow, and regularly disinfect shared surfaces.
- If you are told by health authorities to self-isolate you must do so immediately.
- If you’re concerned about your wellbeing, or have underlying health conditions, work with your GP to understand how best to stay healthy.
- Keep track of where you’ve been and who you’ve seen to help contact tracing if needed. Use the NZ COVID Tracer app as a handy way of doing this.
- Businesses should help people keep track of their movements by displaying the Ministry of Health QR Code for contact tracing.
- Stay vigilant. There is still a global pandemic going on. People and businesses should be prepared to act fast to step up Alert Levels if we have to.
- People will have had different experiences over the last couple of months. Whatever you’re feeling — it’s okay. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself.
Information out to staff On Monday afternoon, once we have the details of Cabinet’s decision, we will email you with details on how these decisions impact on Whānau Manaaki and the work you do. In the interim, we can indicate that at Alert Level 1, decisions about things like fundraising events will be made at the local level, by teams, in conjunction with their Senior Teacher. As always, we will continue to support families, and so if you feel that we may be able to provide some help, let us know by talking to your Senior Teacher in the first instance.
First Aid and Child Protection As we had to cancel/postpone PLD due to the Rāhui in the April break the PLD team have been working hard to arrange extra courses in July. Please note that because we have to prioritise people who have First Aid and Child Protection expiring, HR.Net is closed to any new enrolments. If you have missed a course or are already booked into a First Aid or Child Protection course Karen Craig will be contacting you individually to confirm your booking or offer a place in a course later in the year, so keep an eye on your WM emails! If you have any questions or would like to talk to someone about First Aid or Child Protection, please send Karen an email at Karen.craig@wmkindergartens.org.nz or phone (06) 345 6729. Thank you so much for your patience, we appreciate it can be tricky with having to move dates that you may have already booked with other commitments.
Compulsory Regional Staff Meetings Regional Staff Meeting dates and times have been set for Term 3. Please read through all dates and venues (in the PLD section of the Kōrero) as we have had to book different venues for some Regions so we can space everyone out safely. It is really important that you book into your Regional Staff Meetings, through HR.Net, so we are aware of the number of people attending. If you have trouble accessing HR.Net please contact Hannah Toomaga at hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz If you don’t have access to HR.Net and would like to attend please email Hannah and she will enrol you.
Staff Sync Reliever App Training We are continuing the roll out of training for Staff Sync (app for co-ordinating relievers, if you have already downloaded the app, many thanks. All of the remaining training will be held here at He Whānau Manaaki office, in Te Puna (the big room downstairs). This app is already used in some parts of our organisation and you may have already started to receive emails through it. It is really important that all relievers attend the training because it is the systems we will using for booking relievers from Term 3. We know, like any change, there could be some hiccups along the way so please let us know if you need further support or have any questions. We anticipate that there will be very little (if any) impact on teachers in Kindergartens at this stage, it will be Relievers and our Co-ordinators who will be using the App, but we need teachers to support where you can. Our reliever co-ordinators have been provided with training and they will also be present where possible at the training days being provided. Relievers will be paid for their time to attend the training and reimbursed for travel.
As the training is for a mobile based app, please make sure youbring your cell-phone and/or device: ipad etc. The schedule for the remaining training sessions is as follows there are 2 sessions per day: Region | Date | Times | Venue | City North | 8 June | 3.00pm and 5.30pm | He Whānau Manaaki - Te Puna | City North | 9 June | 3.00pm and 5.30pm | He Whānau Manaaki – Te Puna | Porirua | 15 June | 3.00pm and 5.30pm | He Whānau Manaaki – Te Puna | Porirua | 16 June | 3.00pm and 5.30pm | He Whānau Manaaki – Te Puna |
Please RSVP to confirm to Leigh.Comeskey@wmkindergartens.org.nz and let Leigh know if you have any dietary requirements. Ministry Requirements For Daily/Weekly Attendance Records Thank you for continuing to fill out daily attendance records for your children. We know it is an extra task at this time, and we appreciate your efforts. The Ministry has now indicated that you can replace your daily records with weekly records. Weekly records from Monday 25 May Starting Monday 25 May daily records will be replaced with weekly attendance records in Infocare. This means you will need to mark your weekly sign in sheets for every Friday. This information will then be automatically sent to the Ministry from Infocare. Your first week of attendance under this new process needed to be input on Friday 28 May. This weekly data collection is likely continue to be required until the end of Alert Level 1. If you have any questions about any of the above please call Tania Braybrook at the Wellington Office.
Jacinda Comes To Toru Fetū Porirua’s Toru Fetū Kindergarten was chosen for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Consumer Affairs to highlight changes to the law on high interest loans and mobile shopping trucks which take effect this month. Jacinda Ardern and Kris Faafoi were warmly welcomed at the kindergarten this afternoon, with songs from the children. They were presented with a set of children’s books in Pasifika languages. Mobile trucks regularly drive around low income neighbourhoods and offer goods on credit to take advantage of people who may not understand quite how much interest they are being charged, or who may not speak English. The new law also introduces a maximum daily interest charge for loans of 0.8 per cent a day, to prevent $150 loans ballooning out to $2,000 debts. Fees associated with loans are also capped. Budget advisors and social agencies have long called for tighter controls in this area. Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens made submission on the law changes to protect vulnerable people amassing big debts through interest and charges. There’ll be more on this event in next week’s Kōrero.  
 
 
Matariki Tēnā rā koutou katoa I have set up zoom hui and sent out invitations for anyone in their specific areas to share information about the Rising of Matariki and what you may be doing to celebrate it. Lets have a discussion on what you and I know. Nau mai haere mai! Ngā mihinui Lou 
Support Staff Week – Next Week, 8 - 12 June  Next week is support staff week, a time for us to celebrate our fantastic support staff in our kindergartens and the important work that they do. The week is promoted by our union, NZEI Te Riu Roa. Obviously we need to remember the Covid restrictions as we celebrate, although it is possible there will be fewer restrictions at the end of next week. Support staff in schools will be celebrating the recent teacher aide pay equity settlement, and kindergarten support staff also have a pay equity claim in process.
Karen's House Another of our teachers featured on "Karen's House" recently. Tiffany Wagstaff, Head Teacher at Totara Puku Kindergarten in Whanganui, read a lovely pukapuka in te reo as part of an episode about different languages. Tino pai Tiffany and her children Alice and Greta! 
Kindergarten Recognised For Rāhui Approach Miramar Central Kindergarten features in a story in AKO magazine about transition back to kindergarten. Head teacher Amanda Raven speaks about what the team did to keep connected to their families, and how that helped maintain and build children’s sense of belonging. Here’s the link to that story.
Clare Wells Honoured Former CEO of New Zealand Kindergartens Clare Wells has been awarded a Queens Birthday honour for her services to early childhood education. Clare trained as a kindergarten teacher in the 1970s and taught in New Plymouth, Whanganui and Auckland, where she was head teacher at Myers Park Kindergarten in Queen Street. She has an extensive background in unions, being the president of the Kindergarten Teachers Association in 1988 - the union for teachers, and then the first president of the Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa (CECUA). Clare also worked for the Public Service Association for many years. She was working in the office of the Minister for Education as senior political advisor when pay parity for kindergarten teachers was introduced.  Clare says it’s a privilege to be given the Queen’s Service Medal, and it’s recognition of an extraordinary collective effort to lift the status of early childhood education. “The right for every child to access high quality ECE has been a driving force for me. We have a collective responsibility to make sure when children are participating in ECE - independent of their whānau - they experience exceptional teaching and learning.” Clare has been involved in the government’s early learning action plan, and says the recent budget moves to reintroduce funding for 100 per cent qualified teachers, and to take a step towards pay parity for all early childhood teachers are welcome. “Our efforts have achieved remarkable change for children and families … but we’ve still got a way to go.”
Resources Available Cut The Mustard, events company are selling off a huge range of textiles, ribbon, glass etc at their final garage sale in Paraparaumu on Saturday 6th June from 8.30am - 12noon. They would like to offer anything left over to Kindergartens for free after the sale from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. They don't want to landfill anything so hopefully it will all go to a good.
*Please bring your own bags/boxes for collection Address: Unit 4 (at the rear), Ihakara Court, Ihakara Street, Paraparaumu
This Week On Facebook  
Samoan language week celebrations continued, this time at Waitangirua!
Handy Facebook Pages  
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: Kylee Vettori | Head Teacher | Adventure | Rosemarie Saysell | .6 Teacher | Brian Webb | Amelie Bernhardt | .7 Teacher | Brooklyn | Clarissa Vicencio-Wickens | .7 Teacher | Newlands | Teetu Nukunuku | .7 Teacher | Newlands | Anne-Marie Strickland | .6 Teacher | Paremata | Karen Adams | Teacher | Petone | Rachelle Dempsey | .6 Teacher | Seatoun | Janelle Ketani | .3625 Teacher | Te Timatanga Hou | Jadwyn Lowe | Teacher | Wellington South | May Spackman | Administrator | Heretaunga | Emma Lavery | Teacher Aide | Matariki | Debbie Martin | Administrator | Meta Riddiford | Charlotte Strauss | Relieving Fulltime Teacher | Taitoko | Anna Hourigan | Relieving Fulltime Teacher | Carterton | Fiona Williams | Relieving .5 Teacher | Taitoko | Laura Jones | Relieving Fulltime Teacher | Titahi Bay |
We wish all the best for their future endeavours to the following who have resigned: Jenny Manning | .6 Teacher | Berhampore | Carol Price | .7 Teacher | Manaia | Rebekka Bell | Teacher | Martinborough | Sarah Day | Administrator | Meta Riddiford | Camellia Yuen | Teacher | Petone |
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