Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. We continue to feature the Whanganui kindergartens and also have updated the information about conference, in particular around registrations. Make sure you check it out. Jane. 
Property Update Chris O’Connell is away from work, on sick leave, indefinitely. As a result, we may not be able to complete any electrical work that isn’t urgent in our usual timeframe. For all urgent electrical concerns please contact Dean Ward 021 563 094
We Continue Looking At Whanganui’s Kindergartens Three kindergartens, on the western side of the city, have come together this year to create a hub. Last week they held a special celebration for Samoan language week that also celebrated all cultures. Barsanti Kindergarten, Marie McFarland Kindergarten in the seaside community of Castlecliff and Gonville Kindergarten, which is closer to the city and hospital, have joined together to collaborate and share strengths and activities and build the community. Last week’s celebration included performances from the local high schools as well as the kindergarten children, and food including chop suey and boil-up. Families were encouraged to bring food from their culture. Katie, Senior Head Teacher for the hub who is based at Barsanti, says the hub works on transition to schools and teachers can share strengths and cultural knowledge. Moliga who is Team Leader at Gonville, where the celebration was held last week, says there were well over a hundred people and the community and the families contributed so much, as they always do. “The families that we have here are really amazing, nothing is too much for them.” She says Gonville Kindergarten has strong iwi relationships and strong links across generations within the community. People who have left the kindergarten come back to help and several generations within the same families enrol. “We don’t say the word no. We encourage children to lead their own learning, we provide the resources, the environment and the freedom for them to have fun and to follow their interests and to grow.” Jessica from Marie McFarland says the hub is really exciting because of the opportunities for collaboration for the teachers. There are weekly hub meetings and the chance to develop closer relationships with the local schools. For example, a parent from Marie McFarland runs a te reo story session and singalong at Whanganui library. The kindergarten has been able to promote this across the hub, with children travelling each fortnight to attend. Jessica says as the hub develops the community will continue to grow and become stronger, with opportunities for families such as weaving, knitting, and sporting teams to involve siblings and parents. Click on the kindergartens below to go to their facebook pages.  
Rima And Tino Graduate Former kindergarten-based students who graduated last week had a special morning tea at Whānau Manaaki offices to celebrate their success. Tino Faumuina, who is working at Nuanua, says she loves being a teacher now that she has finally gained her degree. Even though she knew many of the children while previously working with the transport team, she now knows them at a deeper level. “I really enjoy it, I do, it’s a privilege being with them on their journey.” She had worked in a private centre previously, however Tino says it was working on the vans where she really found her passion. “I actually realised what I wanted to do.” Tino says people who want to be a teacher, to “go for it”. Although she found the study hard, she had the support. “If I can do it, anyone can.” Rima also came to study as a teacher through working on the vans. She describes graduating as surreal. “It honestly was so good.” “We’d made it. I couldn’t believe we were there. It was the last minute of this whole degree.” Rima has a job at Toru Fetu. She is enjoying enhancing her knowledge of Cook Island Māori as well as picking up the other languages of the kindergarten. She says the study was hard, especially while working full time, but it has all been worthwhile. “I love it, working in my community.” Rima had previously worked in hospitality as a bar manager so she already had people skills. When her bar closed down a chance meeting lead to her working in the Etu Ao transport team, taking children to homebased services, kindergartens and playgroups. The teaching idea developed from there. Also celebrating were Hepe (see separate story) and Sammy Risati.  The graduates are pictured here with Debby King who has supported them in their study each Friday.  Hepe, Rima, Tino, Ake (former WM employee) and Sammy celebrate after their graduation ceremony.
Hepe Graduates Kindergarten teacher Hepe To’omaga Tapuai says it feels amazing to graduate as an early childhood teacher after three years of study with Open Polytech. Hepe had always wanted to be a teacher. He was working in corporate finance when he took the plunge to study, at a time when his children were old enough. Working at Maraeroa Kindergarten while studying meant he could could put the theories he was learning into practice. “I am the luckiest one.” Hepe urges anyone studying to try and get a placement at Maraeroa. “I can’t speak highly enough of the amazing team and my awesome mentor.” Hepe, currently teaching at Pukerua Bay Kindergarten, credits the support of Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens for his success, including the Friday study group with other students.  Hepe is pictured with his cousin, Moira Gallagher teacher and Whānau Manaaki board member Iona To’omaga.
OMEP Meeting - 17 June  Kath Cooper will lead a discussion and share evidence both from a theoretical and practical perspective about the inclusion of Rainbow Families in early childhood settings.
Practical steps will be shared about how to advocate for the visibility of Rainbow Families, and how to move past the phrase ‘we treat everybody the same’.
Incorporating inclusive practices have been identified as beneficial for children’s developing self-esteem and awareness of others.
There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and sharing of ideas in relation to own experiences.
Cost: $10 for non-members of OMEP
No cost for individual members and 2/3 organisational members.
$5 for extras from member organisations.
Student teachers $5 on presentation on 2018 student card or enrolment offer.
(Cash and internet banking available) Te Rito Maioha, 191a Thornton Quay 6pm, kai is available.
This Week On Facebook     Tairangi Kindergarten celebrate Samoan Language Week.
Handy Facebook Pages  5+ A Day is a Charitable Trust. The core activity of the 5+ A Day programme is developing education resources for educators in early childhood centres, primary and intermediate schools. The resources can be ordered on our website for teachers and educators, are curriculum linked for ease of use and promote healthy eating and fruit and vegetables. 
Appointments And Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointments: | Nicole Adam | Teacher | Kahurangi | | Eleanor Whiteoak | Head Teacher | Wadestown | | Jenny Caughley | .6 Teacher | Petone | | Jody Sellwood | Teacher | Fanau Pasifika | | Tania Pearson | .5 Teacher | Heretaunga | | Aisha Steele | Head Teacher | Onslow | | Stacey McDonald | Administrator | Awatea | | Catriona King | Administrator | Heretaunga | | Flora Shaba | Administrator | Island Bay | | Salina Young | Administrator | Tai Tamariki | | Tamiyah Putu Puhipuhi | Administrator | Taitoko |
We wish all the best to the following who have resigned: | Gillian Lamb | Teacher | Berhampore | | Lizzie Beynon | Administrator | Campbell | | Michelle Auld | Teacher | Campbell | | Katie Bramley | Head Teacher | Churton Park | | Marissa Prudden | Teacher | East Harbour | | Vanessa Conway | Teacher | Kahurangi | | Lisa Mitchell | Administrator | Petone and Petone Beach | | Emma Thomson | Administrator | Island Bay |
For Sale Plimmerton Kindergarten have 13 of these red 40 page portfolio folders for sale. They are surplus to requirements. $6.70 from Officemax, we are selling them for $5 each. If you are interested please get in touch! 
To Give Away Newtown kindergarten have this dress up clothes stand to give away. It comes with the hooks and baskets. Must be picked up from the kindergarten as soon as possible.  Scribbling/drawing books We have been approached by Amanda Dickens advising she has a large number of brand new A4, page a day, 2019 diaries to distribute from a charity. They do not need to be used as diaries, they can be used as paper for drawing/ writing/ pretend play/ anything that is useful for you. If you are interested in some of these diaries for use in your kindergarten please contact Amanda on 021 704 974 with the number you want ( she has a few thousand coming, don’t be shy), and an e mail address so she can contact you with arrival dates. They will need to be collected from Titahi Bay, on or close to whenever the delivery date is.
Mana Atua He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Staff Conference 2019 Update No 5 We are excited to welcome you to the fifth Conference update! There will be further news, information and guidance each week in the Kōrero, so you may want to print this off each week so you have a record of it for the whole team. We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s annual Staff Conference on 8 and 9 July. The theme of this year’s Conference is – Mana Atua Teachers Conference: The Teachers Conference will take place on Tuesday, 9 July at Te Papa in Wellington, beginning with a prompt start of 8.00am. More details regarding content will be available in future editions of the Kōrero. Water bottles: Due to our ongoing commitment to sustainability we will not be providing bottled water in the Conference bags. Water stations and paper cups will be available throughout the venue; therefore we encourage you to bring your own water bottles. Conference Lunch: Lunch will be provided by the Association using the Te Papa caterers and will be served in the Oceania room. In response to feedback from 2018 Conference lunch will now be served over two sittings, this allows everyone to have room to enjoy lunch more comfortably. Your Conference tag will identify which sitting you are in. Therefore, it is important that you only attend the lunch sitting you have been allocated; for example Kākāriki group will have lunch at 11.30am and the Kahurangi group will have lunch at 12.40pm. Mid winter celebration: We are aware that it can be difficult for staff who live outside of the Wellington area to attend our end of year celebration. Therefore, this year we are inviting all staff to our celebration at Macs Bar on Monday 8 July, after the Staff Meeting at 5.00pm to 9.00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to mix and mingle with each other. We will be providing kai and subsidised drinks, and there will be music along with a photo booth and flower wall so you can take photos to remember the celebration! Please RSVP for the celebration as part of your Conference registration, we look forward to seeing you there! Conference Registration: Registration for workshops and key presentations will open Monday 10 June from 9.00 am through HR.Net. Please note that each staff member must enrol into HR.NET themselves using their personal login details. Therefore it is important that you check that your personal login for HR.Net is working before registration opens. If you are experiencing any difficulties please contact Hannah To’omaga by email on Hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz and she will be happy to help you. If you are a relieving teacher please contact Hannah To’omaga by email on Hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz with your choices and she will enrol you. Registration for workshops and key presentations for Mana Atua Conference 2019! For this year’s Conference each teacher will have the choice of: - 1 x workshop in either a 11.30am time slot or a 12.40pm time slot (this choice will determine which lunch sitting you will attend)
and - 1 x key presentation in either a 1.45pm time slot or a 3.00pm time slot
Please note: you will automatically be enrolled into the main Keynotes. The workshops and key presentations are as below, however, you can also print them off here. Each Teacher to choose one of the following workshops: Workshop A: Te Kahu Rolleston Te Kahu is From Tauranga Moana. He is passionate about the power that words have, to educate heal and inspire action. Out of the things he has done, Te Kahu says he gets the most joy from the change he can see in young people within an hour. Young people go from shy and scared to share. To confident and looking like they have just climbed a Maunga. “This is real fruit of the mahi”. Sharing a skill with people that they can use after he leaves, is something he finds to be much more special than just speaking or performing. Te Kahu has won the National spoken word poetry slam. In 2016 he travelled to Guam for the world Pacific Festival, where he won the Inter Island Spoken word poetry slam. He has run spoken word poetry workshops and performed at hundreds of places all over Aotearoa and a few places overseas also. These include a bunch of international conferences, over a hundred schools, rangatahi groups, Kohanga, universities, education institutions, Pacifica festival, Ahi Ka Festival, Te Ra o Te Raukura Festival, Newtown festival. He has also completed the Banff world indigenous arts centres writer’s residency in Canada. Te Kahu has a goal of making learning fun for all ages by mixing learning with his passion for words. Workshop B: Logo Grainger Logo and his wife Vanessa work within the Porirua community alongside people to identify their health issues and work with them to better their health and lifestyle. This is not done by telling people what they can or cannot eat, but by educating them on the effects of food, and what it actually does to our bodies. Our aim is to empower people to make informed choices about food. Our goal is to ensure lifestyle advice given is always specific to the person/family’s needs so they can obtain the results they want and deserve! At ‘Ai ia ola – Eat to live’ we provide researched and up-to-date nutrition information, regular assessment, accountability and encouragement to help people stay on track. This workshop will discuss the work we do and provide attendees with strategies and information to address their own health and well-being. Workshop C: Wiremu Sarich Areare Ngao - Channelling mauri through play a practical guide to incorporating maramataka and atuatanga in Early Childhood centres. Wiremu will share his vast knowledge of indigenous games and offer rich insights into utilising games to enhance your understanding of Te Ao Maori (indigenous world view). Participants will engage with and or make various implements of play. We will learn key concepts for traditional use of games for environmental awareness that you can personalise to suit the needs and desires of your centre. Workshop D: Jason Te Patu Jase Te Patu is from Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. He has been teaching in the health and wellness sector for 27 years. Jase’s students include the All Blacks, the Hurricanes, the Pulse, the NZ School of Dance contemporary students and many more high-performance athletes. Jase is the creator of M3 Mindfulness for Children, and Co-owner of AWHI Yoga and Wellbeing. Now more than ever before, a spotlight has been shone on the mental wellbeing of our tamariki. Jase's programme ensures that our young tamaiti grow up learning simple mindfulness tools that will allow them to create better choices for themselves in times of challenge. Jase uses the model of Hauora - or Te Whare Tapa Whā to instil some long lasting habits that may have a profound effect on the overall health and wellbeing of our young ones now... and into the future! Workshop E: Anjam Rahamn MINZM Anjum Rahman is a chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience, working with a range of entities in the commercial, farming and not-for-profit sectors. Anjum was a founding member of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, an organisation formed in 1990 to bring Muslim women together and represent their concerns. Over the years, she has been Chair, secretary, and for many years, the media spokesperson. She has also been a founding member and trustee of Shama (Hamilton Ethnic Women’s Centre), a social service organisation that provides support to ethnic women through its social work service, life-skills classes and community development. She is a founding member of the Campaign for Consent Waikato, an organisation working on sexual violence prevention, and in that role, has been involved a number of programmes to raise community awareness. The organisation has been working on setting up an agency network to co-ordinate activities within Hamilton, as well as pushing for research into the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in ethnic communities. Anjum has been an active member of the Waikato Interfaith Council for over a decade, a trustee of the Trust that governs Hamilton’s community access broadcaster, Free FM, and a trustee of the Ethnic New Zealand Trust. The latter undertakes projects to promote awareness of human rights within the community. Along with these roles, she writes poetry, is a member of the interfaith choir, and is a mother of two. She takes on various public speaking engagements on a voluntary basis. Her favourite activity, for reasons which should be evident, is sleeping. Each Teacher to choose one of the following key presentations: Key Presentation 1: Diane Mara MNZM Dr Diane Mara after spending many years working within research, policy development and teaching is a consultant in Pacific education and community development. She has just completed her work as a Senior Lecturer for Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand in Hastings in December 2017. Diane is currently working with Heretaunga Free Kindergarten in professional support in meeting the needs and interests of Pacific children and their families. In her wider community involvements Dr Mara is the Chair of Hawkes’ Bay IHC Association, a member of the NZ Member Council of IHC, Deputy Chair of the Hawke’s Bay DHB Consumer Council, Chair of Tiare Ahuriri of Pacific Women’s Council, and the Chair of the Napier Family Centre, a social services provider in the Hawke’s Bay Region. Key Presentation 2: Jeanette Grace Jeanette Grace (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Ngāti Koata) is Dean of Te Wānanga Māori at Whitireia Community Polytechnic in Porirua. She has a background in Mental Health and Addictions and Indigenous Training and Education and has served on a number of Boards, including past Chair of Ngāti Koata Trust, Te Putahitanga o Te Waipounamu, Te Mana Whakahaere o Te Wānanga o Raukawa and is currently on the Te Wānanga o Raukawa Foundation. Key Presentation 3: Ritchie Hardcore Richie Hardcore is a board member at White Ribbon New Zealand, Ministry of Social Development ‘It’s Not Ok’ Champion, working to end men’s violence against women. He is an educator and public speaker, focusing on exploring masculinity and ending rape culture, sexual and family violence. He also speaks passionately about mental health and wellness, and as a former alcohol and drug harm reduction community worker, on how we can address alcohol and drug issues in our society. His experiences working with professional and amateur Muay Thai fighters, and in social and community advocacy, has given Richie a real insight into issues facing New Zealanders – homelessness, the justice system, violence and anger issues, mental health issues and drug and alcohol dependency.
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.
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