Nau mai ki te pānui tênei ko te Kōrero. 
Vaccination Update Thanks to all those who have been sending in their vaccination details. We have heard from nearly all our teachers and office staff, but we are still to hear from many relievers. Please talk to any relievers you have in your kindergartens to check they have read and know about these requirements. You can support them to send in their evidence of vaccination immediately to covidvac@wmkindergartens.org.nz. Any relievers who plan not to get vaccinated, please email covidvac@wmkindergartens.org.nz. We are in the process of following up with individuals, so people who have not sent in details of vaccinations or been in touch about their intentions can expect to have a phone call and possibly a letter about this. Even though we asked you to send in details to covidvac@wmkindergartens,org.nz by Tuesday night, you can still send in details to this email address. Please do so ASAP, so so we know we don’t have to begin an employment process with you. The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that they are planning to coordinate exemptions applications centrally, and that anyone who has a current exemption will need to reapply through the new process, which should be available next week. As explained previously, very few people are likely to qualify for an exemption. Experts say around 100 people in New Zealand would be unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons. We are waiting to hear further details of this new process. As soon as we have more information about this, we will let you know. Please click here for information from Dr Ashley Bloomfield. We know this is a difficult time for some staff so we appreciate your patience as we work through the issues to comply with the law.
Message From The Board The board met last week and received a full briefing on the Government issued health order and the impacts that will have on our organisation. The Board wished to acknowledge that, for many reasons, this is a really challenging time for staff and kindergarten whānau. They also expressed their support of the considered approach that the Senior Leadership Team have taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, children and their whānau. The Board thanks all staff for their professionalism and continued focus on providing high quality Early Childhood Education for the tamariki who attend our services.
Profiling Our Senior Teachers - Michelle and Lyn Michelle Somerville Our new Senior Teacher, Michelle Somerville joined the team this week. Michelle, who lives in Island Bay, has enjoyed a varied career in early childhood education, including leading community and private centres and working in professional development. “I have had the very real privilege of sharing in many communities and am greatly looking forward to meeting you all and sharing in your fabulous aroha and manaakitanga.” Michelle was born in Tamaki Makaurau and grew up in Papakura, moving to Taranaki where her mother is from for her teenage years.
She was a dairy farmer initially, and like many in the early childhood sector Michelle came to love playcentre when her sons were young, which led to a passion for early childhood care and education.
“My career has been in community leadership, area business management and over the last year with Massey University as a Kaitakawaenga (facilitator) supporting kaiako in early childhood communities.” Michelle is committed to leadership and is interested in developing responsive local curricula. She has three grown up sons, and two of them are solicitors (as pictured here.) “Two of my sons live here in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and one lives in Masterton. I have one moko who is nearly one. He is absolutely my true delight!"
Michelle is a keen runner and ocean swimmer with many marathons and swimming events to her credit. “I run up and around the wonderful tracks of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and sea swim with like-minded enthusiasts.” 
Lyn Wright Lyn’s working life began in the public service and she worked in several government departments before having children. Involvement in Playcentre in Naenae encouraged her to change careers and she used her Playcentre training to work for Barnardos in homebased care and education, supporting homebased carers in role that’s similar to that of a visiting teacher. She also worked in Barnardos centres, before moving on to work in professional development at the Wellington college of Education. Lyn moved on to complete a Masters of Education degree, with a thesis about how Te Whāriki was used in homebased settings. She worked in initial teacher education at the College, before moving to the Ministry of Education. Lyn's passion is in children's learning - her depth of knowledge of socio-cultural theory is second to none, and Lyn continues to play a pivotal role in the continuous development of assessment and planning in the Association. 
Senior Teacher Update Kia ora koutou katoa, Head teacher release days, term 4, 2021 Just to confirm all head teachers are able to take a second head teacher release day this term. This additional day is to allow time for you to met with each of your team members and participate in an evaluative professional discussion around their P.G.C ERO Update Recently each kindergarten will have received the following documents as hard copies: These three documents support the Ngā Ara Whai Hua: Quality Framework for Evaluation and Improvement and compliment the earlier delivered document Te Ara Poutama – indicators of quality for early childhood education: what matters most. All of these documents can be accessed via the link Ngā Ara Whai Hua: Quality Framework for Evaluation and Improvement | Education Review Office (ero.govt.nz) Please note, we have had no indication as to when ERO will be with us again. In the meantime, take the opportunity to become familiar with these documents. The Senior Teacher team will provide further PLD and guidance around these documents in the future.
Waste Management Audit Waste Management will be undertaking an audit of all our bin types and locations over the next six weeks. If you notice someone scoping out your bins this will likely be what is going on. They will not need to come into the kindergarten at all and have been advised of the COVID related contact tracing and masking requirements.
Helpers Needed For Newtown Giveaway Day Newtown Kindergarten is holding the first Wellington city based Give Away Day on Saturday 13 November from 10am to 12 noon and is looking for helpers on the day. Everything is free for families to take, so no selling involved, just making sure everyone is looked after. If anyone has some spare time between 9am and 1pm, it would be much appreciated. Get in touch with Erin at Newtown 04 389 8245. Please also encourage families from nearby to attend the Giveaway day, at 9 Hospital Road (behind the Blood Bank near the hospital). There will be plenty of clothes, and also toys and kitchen equipment for free.
Regional Staff Meetings Please could you enrol on Tūhonohono for the Regional Staff Meeting if you are intending to attend. Due to Level 2 restrictions venue numbers are tight and we will not be able to have people just turn up on the day. If you are having difficulties with enrolling then please contact Kaz and she will enrol you.
Parihaka Day, 5 November Commemorates Dark Day In New Zealand’s History For Taranaki Māori, 5 November 1881 is known as 'Te Rā o te Pāhua' or the 'Day of Plunder'. The invasion of Parihaka — te pāhuatanga — happened when around 1500-armed constabulary and volunteers led by the Native Affairs Minister, John Bryce, invaded the western Taranaki settlement of Parihaka, which had come to symbolise peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land. Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi (prophets) were detained without trial for 16 months. The day is remembered not just in Parihaka but around the country. View the excellent moving film Tatarakihi: the children of Parihaka (NZ On Screen): Tātarakihi - The Children of Parihaka | Film | NZ On Screen which shows why this massacre is still relevant today. Look out for two PLD sessions on Parihaka facilitated by Kurt Komene who grew up in Parihaka and the chance to learn how to make a kono and rourou, coming up in Te Puna in the Porirua office in November. 
Tokelau Language Week Celebrated A number of our kindergartens celebrated Tokelau Language week. The theme for the week was Tapui tau gagana ma tau aganuku, i te manaola ma te lautupuola - Preserve your language and culture, to enhance spiritual and physical wellbeing. Nuanua Kindergarten had all the children involved in a flag raising ceremony which you can check out on their facebook page. It was a great event! 
Celebrating Diwali, The Festival Of Light Diwali, the Indian festival of light is being celebrated this week. The festival is celebrated by the Hindu community as well as Sikhs, the Jain religion and some Buddhists. It is widely celebrated throughout Asia. Diwali usually lasts around five days, and preparations include cleaning and decorating homes and workplaces. It symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, goodness over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Oil lamps and colourful rangoli –artworks in a circular pattern are often part of the celebrations. People dress up, sometime sin new clothes, and of course food is an important part of celebrations, with sweets being shared. Newlands Kindergarten have been celebrating each day this week, today it is about making Diwali sweets at out of play dough! 
Previous Kōrero Editions If you are wanting to access previous editions of the Kōrero you can find them at www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/archive or you can click here. It is a good idea to save this link as an icon on your desktop.
Thank you for taking the time to read Kōrero. Don't forget to check out some of the stories listed down the side menu. Just click between the stories of use the Kōrero bar to come back to this page. | 
