Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Today we welcomed 36 new employees to the WM whānau at an Induction Day held at the Association office. It is wonderful to see so many new faces and we are very much looking forward to working with you all. And, this week we celebrate the Tongan Language, 'Oua lau e kafo kae lau e lava Stay positive and count your blessings! Jane 
COVID-19 update #15 Health Update From the Ministry of Health website: Case numbers
There are 4 new cases of COVID-19 today, 10 September, 2020. There are now 120 active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand. See the current cases page.
Senior Teacher News We are really pleased to announce that Simone Leaupepe has won the permanent role of Senior Teacher with the Association. Simone whakapapa’s to Ngati Toa, and brings a wealth of experience to this role, she has been supporting teams in the Kāpiti, Wellington and Porirua rohe for the last year, so we are thrilled that she is now a permanent part of our team. Welcome Simone - Ahakoa iti, he pounamu Sharon and the Senior Teacher team
PLD In The Term Break Kaz has sent sent confirmation emails to everyone attending a course over the term break. If you have NOT received an email but you think that you are, or should be on a course, please contact Kaz as soon as possible. She has discovered a few people who think they have booked themselves on a course in HR.Net but have subsequently found the booking hasn't been made. As all of our courses are full, any extras would have to be turned away. Contact Kaz in the first instance by email to karen.craig@wmkindergartens.org.nz. There is a change in venue for the First Aid courses that were to be held at the Porirua Club. These will now be held at the Tawa Union Church. A number of other sessions have had a venue change. We would hate for you to turn up at the wrong venue, remember to have a quick look at the PLD calendar the day before your session to check for any changes. Please also note the correct venue if you are attending on of the First Aid courses in Kapiti on the 28 September. There are two courses being run that day but at different venues. Please ensure you turn up to the correct place. Any queries please don't hesitate to Kaz on karen.craig@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Email Contacts In GOSH Just a reminder that email contacts for children in GOSH are imported from Infocare so cannot be edited by teams. We will be uploading email addresses from Infocare every Monday and Wednesday so any new email contacts entered later on Monday or Tuesday will not be available to access on GOSH until Wednesday morning. This also applies to new email contacts entered later on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. These will not be able to be accessed on GOSH until Monday. If you have any questions 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 whānau, 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 review the forms they have already emailed to ensure that there is an email address in this field. 
Hazards Week 9 of each term (which is next week 14 September) there are two tasks for Hazard Management that need to be undertaken: - Review of Hazard Register
- Review of Termly Hazard Checklist
- Review of Hazard Register
This is an opportunity to update your Hazard Register including: - Does the hazard still exist?
- If it does, review it to see if there are any changes to the actions and approaches to manage this hazard
As a result of feedback from teams, GOSH has created a more user friendly way to review your hazards. You will see now that there is a new icon on your “My Kindergarten” view (see red arrow below). 
There is a new form called “Kindergarten Hazard Review Audit” (see below). This form has been simplified the process for review as you no longer need to: - To edit each hazard individually instead;
- A tick box has been created whereby you look at the hazards and if it still exists and you are happy with the ‘controls’ then you just tick the box
Upon completing this record, all related hazard records on your Hazard Register will be updated to reflect this review. 
2. Review of Termly Hazard Checklist The Hazard checklist is able to be completed on GOSH and can be found in the “What would you like to report” section on the home page (please see the red circle below). Any hazards that are identified during this process that cannot be eliminated immediately are then entered onto your kindergartens Hazard Register using GOSH. 
AGM Its that time of year again!
As we approach the AGM we also need to elect new board members!
We will be electing 2 community representatives and 1 staff representative. Staff should have received an email to their work email addresses requesting you cast your vote in the staff election. If you have not yet received this email please check your clutter or junk folder!
Parent and whānau will have received an email to vote in the Community representative election if their email address was provided on the enrolment form. If not we are sending paper votes to the appropriate kindergartens to pass on to these families.
If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact Jane or Chanelle.
It's Tonga Language Week Mālō e lelei The theme for Tonga language week is "Fakakoloa ‘o Aotearoa ‘aki ‘a e Lotu Mo’oni" which in English means "Enriching Aotearoa New Zealand through Prayer and Faith". Each year a different theme is used to promote the richness of the Tonga language and culture with the Tongan community but also all New Zealanders. 
Next Week is Māori Language Week .....  and Māori Language Day is 14 September. This year it commemorates the presentation of the 1972 Māori language petition to parliament. Have you signed up for Te Wā Tuku Reo Maori? As part of Māori Language week, and to commemorate the presentation of the petition, there is an aim to have 1 million of us speaking, singing and celebrating te reo at the same time, Monday 14 September at 12 noon! At this stage over 290,000 people and businesses have signed up to take part in the Maori Language Moment! If your kindergarten has not signed up yet you can do so here. Here is a list of ideas to get you started: You can check out the full list of ideas to get you started here on the huatau/ideas page. You can also share what drives you and your kindergarten community to take part and why learning or speaking te reo Māori is important to you. There are a few ways you can share your ‘why’: - You can write a message
- You can upload an image, waiata or story
- You can record your kōrero, waiata or dance
Click here to share your 'why'! Sharing your kōrero encourages others to take part and do the same. The Māori Language moment is less than a week away - sharing your story will help get to 1 million. Click here to see what others have to say. We would love to see how you celebrate the week. Send your stories to korero@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Discounted Electric Bikes Available To Anyone Working In The ECE sector The Ministry of Education has announced that all staff working in ECE can access the Government’s electronic bicycle scheme. E-bikes are discounted by about 10-30% off the usual cost, and there are also discounted service packages, accessories and finance options.
Two websites will soon be available for you to look at bikes, order them and ask questions. In the meantime you can visit the two suppliers Evo Cycles or Sheppard Cycles (My Ride) in-store. If you take advantage of these discounts, please let us know at Korero. korero@wmkindergartes.org.nzkorero@wmkindergartens.org.nz
National’s Policy For Young Children National has released policy relating to the first thousand days for babies and young children, including an amount of $3,000 that new parents can use to purchase additional services. Parents who are in high need situations will have $6,000 to purchase services, but they must be from approved services. These could include parenting courses, additional paid parental leave, or extra early childhood hours for an older child. National is also planning to make paid parental leave more flexible so both parents can take it at the same time. National would bring the Before School checks forward, so they happen at three years of age, and they would be delivered by medical professionals at ECE services. The seven-part policy would cost $226 million a year. It would include parents of adopted and foster children, and would be available to mothers who lose their child to a miscarriage so they could access services like counselling if they wanted to. Mothers and babies with higher needs would be entitled to a further $3000 - up to $6000 in total - if needed. The policy includes improvements to the ratios in early childhood services for children under two but says this money will be reallocated, meaning there could be cuts to ECE funding elsewhere, for example from the 100 per cent qualified teacher band which has just been reintroduced by the current government. While it is great to see National acknowledging that spending money on young children and their families is an investment, it is worrying that National might improve ratios for children under two by reducing quality for children over two. There are also concerns that struggling parents might need cash – for car repairs or a washing machine for example – rather than parenting courses which they may not be able to get to with no transport or babysitting available. Here’s a link to the full policy.
Long Career In Teaching Karen Knight is retiring at the end of this term, after a long teaching career. She has taught at Birchville Kindergarten in Upper Hutt for 31 years. Karen trained in Kelburn, for the New Zealand Free Kindergarten diploma. She has seen many changes over the years, and one of significance is the introduction of computers. When Karen started teachers would handwrite everything, and then print copies on gestetners. There were no portfolios for children, no appraisal, and no registration process. She says the ratios have certainly improved from one-to-fifteen. Karen has seen many of the children she taught return to enroll their own children at Birchville, and even one grandchild has enrolled. “I think that’s important for me, the history you build up in the community”, she says. Karen will stay in Upper Hutt and expects to continue to see families regularly. She will miss the team that she has worked with, which has been like a family. “That’s the hardest thing.” She has a combi van and plans to travel around more often. She will also have more time for some of her interests such stone carving, painting and gardening. While Karen will miss many things, one thing she won’t mind is saying goodbye to early starts. “That alarm clock is going.” 
2021 Teaching Journals The team at Discovery thought that they would share the awesome and locally created Teacher Planning Journal that some of their kaiako trialed this year. They have found this journal really useful, especially for planning and keeping on track with learning stories, internal evaluations, meeting notes etc. The 2021 version is available now for preorder and this time all Discovery kaiako are ordering one! The planner contains: Te Whāriki principals, Teaching Standards, Tataiako cultural competencies, Tapasā cultural competencies, Learning dispositions and curriculum areas in both English and te reo Māori, Calendar of important events – also listed throughout the pages, Year calendar, Monthly calendar, Full page weekly calendar, Short term goals & Long term goals, Non-contact to-do list/extensions, Profile book children, Monthly planning pages, Monthly observation pages, Monthly reflections, Monthly staff meeting notes pages, Weekly to-do lists, Objectives, and to-do list, Monthly reflections, 6 monthly appraisals, full-year planner double-page spread, Moonphases, Month inserts, Māori phrase/word of the week relevant for your teaching practice – IT HAS ALOT! Anyway, they just thought they would share as they are about to preorder theirs. They always a lot of comments asking where they got them from when at meetings etc. The Teaching Journals are from Teacher Talk which is based in Plimmerton. You can click here to go through to their website for pre-ordering.  
Onsie Day At Nuanua The teachers at Nuanua got in the spirit last Friday to support Wellington Free Ambulance's Onsie. Looking great team! 
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