Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... I can hardly believe we are in the last stretch of 2018, it seems such a short time ago that we were beginning 2018! The term break time has traditionally been a little quieter in the office, however with 17 kindergartens now open all year, this has changed somewhat. We continue to receive positive feedback from families and staff in kindergartens that are opening for more weeks. We would love to hear from you if you would like to explore increasing the number of weeks you are open for. If you do choose to open for more weeks, you retain the same number of weeks of annual leave (31 days) and professional development leave (15 days), except you can choose when you take this leave. Jane. 
Nicki Cook On Leave Nicki is going away for the weekend of Friday 12th to Sunday 14th October. She will not be available to answer calls, texts or emails from 8.30am on Friday 12th until Sunday night (14th). As Nicki will only be able to action urgent requests on the Friday morning, it would be great if you can let Nicki know of any known requests: - for next term BEFORE Thursday (11th); or
- for Friday 12th Oct on Thursday (11th).
Nicki will action last minute / urgent requests for Monday 15th on Sunday night or Monday morning. If you have any problems or requests outside this time please contact your Senior Teacher.
Dhanaye Maule, Relieving Coordinator on Leave Dhanaye, the Relieving Coordinator for Upper Hutt and Wairarapapa Kindergartens, is taking leave from Monday 15th to Tuesday 24th October. Donna McDonald (Administrator for Kahurangi and Masterton West) will be taking on the role from Friday 12th October until Dhanaye is back from leave. Donna might not be as familiar with Teachers’ names and the hours of operation for the kindergartens so please can you make sure you give her as much information as you can when you text, specifically your name, your kindergarten, and the hours you need the reliever for. Thanks everyone.
Reminder Full Year Kindergarten PLD October 13th 9.30am to 1.00pm at the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt. Please see here for the kaupapa for the PLD presented by Monica Powers – we look forward to seeing you there!
Change Of Time For PLD Please note that there has been a change of time for the Tapasa Turu 1 session at Southwards Car Museum on 16th October. It will now be held from 4.00pm until 6.00pm.
He Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association Symposium 2018 When: Saturday, 10th November 2018 Venue: Cossie Club, Upper Hutt. The Senior Teaching team are pleased to provide you with the opportunity to enrol and engage in either one, two or all three of the following workshops/presentations at this year’s Annual Symposium. Presentation 1: 9.00am to 10.30am Mandy Moore: ADHD Workshop - Mandy is an Intern Educational Psychologist (VUW) enjoying the final year of her internship. She has a background in teaching, was a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour and has worked with many students with ADHD at varying levels of education. This workshop will give you overview of children with ADHD and the strategies that will support teachers when working with these children.
Presentation 2: 11.15am to 12.45pm Dr. Ann Milne: Presentation: Colouring the white spaces: Lessons from my Mokopuna - Ann is an educator, mentor, writer, and researcher who promotes developing a learning approach centred on students’ cultural identities and a critical understanding of society. Ann presented at our Conference this year, and due to the popularity of this presentation, not everyone was able to access this. Therefore, we are delighted that Ann is able to present to us again.
Presentation 3: 1.30pm to 3.00pm Bec Miller: Sensory Processing and Behaviour workshop - Bec Millers is and Early Intervention Teacher who works for Learning Support Ministry of Education. Bec’s has presented this workshop recently in Wellington sharing how to identify and support children with sensory processing behaviours. Many teachers found this workshop helpful, therefore, we are very grateful to have Bec’s share this workshop with us again.
You are welcome to attend the whole Symposium, however, please note that you will need to enrol into each individual workshop on HR.Net as places are limited and enrolment in one workshop will not secure a place in all workshops. Thank you.
Australian Teacher Impressed With Our Programmes An Australian teacher, Kimmie Fenn-Lavington, visited three of our kindergartens recently. Kimmie, from Bomaderry Community Preschool in New South Wales, was interested in bush and beach programmes operating in our kindergartens. Her service offers a Living And Learning With Nature programme. Whānau Manaaki Senior Teacher, Paula Hunt, took Kimmie to Tai Tamariki, Sunshine Kindergarten and East Harbour. “I came away with great ideas to implement with the children and educators at my centre”, she said. "It was very evident that all the teachers have the same passion and desire to enhance the children’s lives. I was impressed with the way culture was very evident and acknowledged at the centres.”
Draft Disability And Learning Support Action Plan All children will be screened for special learning needs and recorded in a national database under a new Government plan. A draft Disability and Learning Support Action Plan, released by Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin, proposes a central data collection process for all children with learning needs - about one in five, or 160,000, children. It proposes more investment in early intervention services to improve waiting times, and a learning support co-ordinator in each school with a more flexible package of support to meet every student's needs. The plan is open for consultation until October 31. Here’s a link to the plan.
Last Chance To Have Your Say On The Priorities For Education The online survey on the future of education closes on 14th October, so if you haven’t taken part, now is the time. Encourage your friends and family to take part too. Although 16,000 people have already filled in the survey, more responses are needed, including from school students. The survey is simple and asks four open ended questions. You can use the first question to stress the need for 100 per cent qualified teachers in early childhood education and the funding to support that. Click here to be taken to the online survey.
New Zealand Shake Out Day  New Zealand ShakeOut, is being held at 9.30am on 18th October. It’s a chance for your school, business, household or organisation to practise the right action to take before, during and after earthquakes and tsunami.
Whether you’re a household, business, organisation or school, you can sign up to take part and find information on how to plan your drill, and how to hold a tsunami hīkoi if you’re in a coastal region. You can find more information and resources here.
If you haven’t already made an emergency plan with your household, check out happens.nz and work it out today.
We look forward to shaking out with you!
Toru Fetū Celebrate Tuvalu Language Week With Some Special Visitors During the week the teachers and children celebrated with song, dance and food. The week wound up with singing the Tuvalu national anthem and, while it was not the Tuvalu team, Toru Fetū did welcome some members of the Niue Rugby League Club who joined in the celebrations. 
Deputy Mayor Of Wellington City Visits Johnsonville Kindergarten Jill Day, Deputy Mayor of Wellington City, visited Johnsonville Kindergarten. Here's what she had to say about that visit: "Had a great time on Friday at Johnsonville Full Day Kindergarten talking to them about the construction next door for the new Waitohi Johnsonville Community Hub. Spent a lovely hour reading books, dancing, building libraries out of blocks and learning about what they knew about the new facilities.
They shared a lovely story of how they helped the workers next door when a truck got stuck in the mud. The kids called out suggestions over the fence - most from Big Digger Little Digger! And yes the little truck did pull the bigger one out of the mud!"
You can find out more about the community hub by clicking here.  
Greetings From China One of our teachers, Georgina Joseph-Tua, who is currently in China, sent the following after reading in Kōrero about Campbell Kindergarten celebrating the mooncake festival. It was great to read about Campbell Kindergarten celebrating mooncake festival. I can totally relate as we’ve just celebrated Autumn Mid-Winter Festival of the mooncakes here in China. I made mooncakes in kindergarten and my children also made mooncakes at their school. Thank Campbell Kindergarten for sharing your story 😊😊  
 
Handy Facebook Pages  Here is a page to follow. 
and their blog here.
This Week On Facebook  
 
The teachers at Strathmore Park are very excited because after the term break there will be a brand new children's bathroom to come back too. Work has been progressing through the holidays.  
Such beautiful weather this week, most of ngā tamariki at Kahurangi Kindergarten have spent their time outside. We've enjoyed lego, lego, lego and more lego! As well as lots of other quiet activities such as snuggles and pukuapuka on the couch, puzzles, building blocks, cars and rubber band boards.  
The children at Owhiro Bay Kindergarten demonstrate so much aroha through their play.  
Betty Montford have had a bit of a spruce up with a fresh coat of paint!
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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