Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. We know it would have been a challenging week for some of our families and kindergartens with the release, this week, of the royal commission report into the Christchurch mosque shootings. Our thoughts have been with all those affected by this release. As we head into our festive season and summer break lets continue working toward a culture of peace tolerance and understanding. Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed firmly on the past As-salamu alaykum, peace be upon you. Jane 
Pays Over Christmas and New Year There is one more payday before Christmas – on Tuesday 15 December. The next one is Tuesday 29 December. The Payroll Team won’t have long to process this pay (as the office will be closed) so we need kindergartens to send in their returns a little early. - On Friday 18 December send in Returns/Staff Hour count for:
- Week of 14-18 Dec; and
- Prediction for the following week, Monday 21 (for part-year) and Tuesday 22 (for full-year)
- On Monday 21 or Tuesday 22 December (your last day) send in amended Returns/Staff Hour count for those days by 9am.
If you have any questions please email payroll@wmkindergartens.org.nz or call the Porirua office and someone in the team can help you. Or you can email karen.skett@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Finance Update End of Year Infocare Cut-Off It’s that time of year again when we have to close off Infocare for the end of month, and term, and year! We’re asking that you complete your year-end infocare work by 3pm on your last day of opening for the year, which will be: Part Year Kindergartens: Monday 21 December Full Day and Full Year Kindergartens: Tuesday 22 December This means the following is required: - Sign in sheets marked in Infocare (actual attendance)
- Fee invoices (for the week ending Friday 25 December, Monday and/or Tuesday only) created and committed
- Staff timetables (“staff hour count”) for the week ending Friday 25 December, Monday and/or Tuesday only) completed
- Online sign off of your monthly roll return
- Any ratio, frequent absence, attendance or roll issues are communicated to the Association (please call Tania Braybrook)
If your support staff are unavailable to work on Monday/Tuesday can you please make arrangements for this work to be completed by the due date – this may mean that these tasks need to be completed by Teaching staff before the cut off. Payments Processing over the Christmas Break Due to staff absences at the Association over the holiday break there will be limited payment runs being made over this time. The last supplier payment run for the year will be made on 21 December and we will endeavour to make payment of invoices, as follows, over the coming weeks: Invoices received at the Association by Friday 11 Dec - Paid on Monday 14 December Invoices received at the Association by Friday 18 Dec - Paid on Monday 21 December Invoices received at the Association by Friday 8 Jan - Paid on Monday 11 January Invoices received at the Association by Friday 15 Jan - Paid on Monday 18 January Please ensure that regular suppliers to your kindergartens are made aware of these payment timeframes. Also, we’d encourage you to get all your December invoices emailed in prior to 18 December so we can arrange prompt payment for you. During the coming weeks all requests for urgent payments should continue to be emailed to accounts@wmkindergartens.org.nz and marked as URGENT in the subject line. Banking Please ensure that there is little or no cash held at your kindergarten over the Christmas break. If you could aim to bank all petty cash and other receipts before Friday 18 December this will allow our Finance team to contact you with any queries they have before the end of the term. Can you also update Infocare with details of all deposits made. Fee Invoicing and Statements The timetable for fortnightly fee statements being issued to families over the coming weeks is as follows: Statements for fees up to Friday 11 December - Distributed Friday 18 December Statements for fees up to Friday 25 December - Distributed Friday 15 January Statements for fees up to Friday 8 January - Distributed Friday 15 January Statements for fees up to Friday 22 January - Distributed Friday 29 January Head Teachers will need to ensure that their support staff complete all invoicing for the last week of Term 4 (Monday and/or Tuesday 21/22 December) on the last day of term. Kindergarten Finance Reports Your November Kindergarten reports will be emailed to you next week and your December Kindergarten reports will be emailed to you by Wednesday 20 January 2021. As always your kindergarten accounts should be passed on to your Treasurers and Committees as appropriate. Infocare Lock Dates for 2021 Details of Infocare Lock Dates for 2021 will be circulated in the new year.
PLD The Senior Teacher team are finalising the dates of all PLD meetings, First Aid, Child Protection, etc for the coming year and we should have the full schedule available to you in next week's korero.
Learning Support Portfolio and Survey We are wanting to gain some information, such as statistics on the number of children in our Association who are connected to the Ministry of Education Learning Support and/or also HWM Learning Support. This information will support us to advocate in this space, and also help us to plan effectively for ongoing mahi with teams, children, whānau and agencies. Therefore, each kindergarten will receive an email tomorrow with a survey monkey link, a rationale for the survey and instructions to complete the survey. The deadline for completion is 18 December 2020. Thank you in advance for your support in this mahi. Andy Cairns and the Learning Support Team
2021 Curriculum Development Framework The Curriculum Development Framework for 2021 has been updated and you can check it out here. You can also access this document in the Teachers Toolbox plan called Curriculum Framework 2021 Open plan | Storypark The framework includes updates for GOSH as well as the new Professional Growth Cycle , Annual Reviews and STLP action plans. It provides guidance for you to implement specific key expectations within certain time frames throughout the year. You can use this document to support your planning and operations calendar for 2021.
Social Competency Kit and Policy Review- Update The Senior Teachers' working group reviewing the Social Competency kit, criteria and policy is seeking feedback on the final draft. We have given some questions below to support your thinking. You can view the kit here. This working document for supporting teams in the development of your procedures has been reviewed and aligned against He Māpuna te Tamaiti -Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Early Learning and Te Whāriki 2017. This review included kaiako feedback and participation gathered from the RSM in term 1 this year when we introduced, He Māpuna te Tamaiti -Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Early Learning. In addition, the review of our Social Competency policy and Inclusive Education policy have been completed. You can view the policy here. Recent updates to the Education and Training Act 2020 have also resulted in developing additional guidelines for kaiako when managing extreme behaviours. This document will be part of our Social Competency strategy and is work in progress. - Do you believe the updated Social Competency Kit/Criteria and language used reflects the key messages in He Māpuna te Tamaiti -Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Early Learning? For example; does it now have stronger connections to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the key principles of Te Whāriki 2017?
- If so, how?
- If not, why?
- Do you have any further suggestions or additions?
2. Do you believe the current title Social Competency Kit, reflects the purpose and intent of the document? Do you have an alternative suggestion for a title, and if so please provide a rationale for your suggestion? Please email your responses directly to Catha.ritchie@wmkindergatens.org.nz by Friday 18th December.
Children Must Be Supervised And Seated While Eating The Ministry of Education has changed its licensing requirements to minimise choking. From January 25 next year, children will need to be seated and supervised while eating. We know kindergartens already practice this requirement, but this change just emphasises it. There are more requirements for younger children about food preparation and Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens will provide more guidance about how these will work in practice in a future edition of Kōrero.
Professional Growth Cycle As you know we are working on developing a professional growth cycle with a group of teachers. We are meeting for a second time next week. The Teaching Council are holding more live zoom webinars in the coming weeks as well as giving access to recorded webinars, you can access both here.
Giveaway Day We will be holding our final giveaway day for the year next Saturday, 19 December at Nuanua Kindergarten. We would welcome any items of linen, kitchen ware, furniture, clothing etc in good condition that you would be happy to donate. These items can be dropped off to the Association office from Wednesday next week.
Publicity For Our kindergartens As part of marketing the great services we offer, Whānau Manaaki creates pamphlets for every kindergarten. Obviously, we want these pamphlets to reach people outside your kindergarten, so the library, local schools, community centres, health centres and even cafes are places that might stock a few. While some kindergartens can easily drop off pamphlets – for example while doing school visits or regular library trips – or even on a community walk with your tamariki, for others there is not the chance to easily visit places in the community. So that handing our pamphlets doesn’t end up being just another job on the list, get in touch with Chanelle who does marketing for our kindergartens, and tell her what you need. Email chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Welcome Book Recall We are having to recall the square welcome booklets as they have been reviewed and the updated version will be printed and distributed in the new year 😃 Please can you return all of your stocks to Chanelle at the Association office as soon as possible. 
Facebook Is A Good Place To Create Publicity For Your Kindergarten Just a reminder that Facebook is a good place to advertise your centre, for free. Each kindergarten should post each week about the learning that is happening, using photos to engage the audience. This is a good way to keep in touch with your wider community and to celebrate the learning that is happening in our amazing kindergarten environments. Photos are an engaging way to communicate. When we first started using Facebook many kindergartens were naturally a bit wary about posting photos of children. However, we now know that most parents are happy and even keen for their children to feature on kindergarten Facebook pages. Obviously there will be exceptions to this and we should be aware of those exceptions, but in the main lets keep using photographs of the children. Each week in the Kōrero we try and show examples of kindergartens using Facebook well. If you need some help on what content can be used please get in touch with Chanelle at chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Hazards Week 9 of each term (which is this week 8 December) 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. 
Senior Teacher Hui - 3rd and 4th of December 2020 The Senior Teacher team met for a successful two day hui in the Wairarapa to continue their mahi and korero in the Te Manawa Review areas as below: - how to ensure Te Manawa reflects Tiriti o Waitangi,
- developing a shared understanding of what localised curriculum means and in relation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi,
- a position paper about Learning Outcomes and how they could/should be used,
- how we proceed with planning for a community of learners in a way that is not onerous for teams, and
- clarifying what we can do to support teachers to implement effective assessment and planning documentation practices.
Human Rights Day  Today, December 10 is the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights day. It’s a good day to remember the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1959 more than 60 years ago, which declares that children have the right to protection, education, health care, shelter and good nutrition.
Student Success A morning tea was held at the Porirua Office to celebrate teacher Matt Smith’s completion of his teaching degree. Matt was part of the Y-men programme and has been a kindergarten based student at Moira Gallagher Kindergarten. He has just been appointed to a permanent position at Waitangarua Kindergarten. He’s pictured here with Moira Gallagher teacher Iona To’omaga, head teacher Janine Brownie and Debby King who supports students at the Whānau Manaaki office each Friday. 
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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