Nau mai haere mai a tātou pānui ina noa nei.... (Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in...) There have been a lot of activities this week to celebrate Te Wiki O Te Reo Maori. We have included some stories below but would love to hear more. What did you do at your kindergarten? You can send these stories through to korero@wmkindergartens.org.nz. Jane. 
Facebook 101 The Facebook 101 PLD that was to be held at the Carterton Events Centre on the 18th September 2018 has been cancelled.
Celebrating Pedagogical Practice PLD 3rd October 2018 9.30am-1pm Copthorne Hotel, Solway Park, Masterton This is a great opportunity to hear what other teams and individuals are doing at their places. Celebrating each other’s Pedagogical Practices! Remember to book online through HRNet. Click here for an outline of the day.
PA1’s Cut Off  Just a reminder that the cut off date for PA1’s related to property work over the October term break is Friday 21 September 2018. Any questions please contact Lorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Dates for 2019  Key dates for next year are: - Wed 3 January: Full Day Kindergartens open
- Mon 7 January: Full-year School Day Kindergartens open
- Wed 23 January: Part-year School Day Kindergartens open
- Mon 15 April – Friday 26 April: Part-year Kindergartens closed for Term Break
- Mon 8 July – Full Staff Meeting (compulsory for all teachers)
- Tues 9 July – Conference
- Mon 8 July – Friday 12 July: Full-year Kindergartens closed for PD week
- Mon 8 July – Friday 19 July: Part-year Kindergartens closed for Term Break
- Mon 30 September – Friday 11 October: Part-year Kindergartens closed for Term Break
- Thurs 19 December: Last day for Part-year Kindergartens (closed from Fri 20)
- Friday 20 December: Last day for Full-year Kindergartens (closed from Mon 23)
We have developed calendars for the different groups of staff (Teachers and Support Staff) in the different types of Kindergarten, showing compulsory Annual Leave days, Professional Development days (where applicable) and Public Holidays. We will send the relevant calandars to each kindergarten over the next few days. There will be at least two for each kindergarten – one for Teachers and at least one for Support Staff. If you have any questions you can contact Karen Skett at karen.skett@wmkindergartens.org.nz or on 021 857 826.
Health and Safety Hazards: Just a reminder that the Termly Hazard Checklist is completed during week 9 of each term. The checklist is downloaded from GOSH and is then completed manually. Any hazards that are identified during this process that cannot be eliminated immediately are then entered onto your kindergarten's Hazard Register using GOSH. Once you have completed the Termly Hazard Checklist, please upload this onto GOSH using the Hazard checks form (see below) and then following the prompts.  Also week 9 of each term is the time to review your kindergarten Hazard Registers. This is an opportunity to update your Hazard Register, including deciding if the hazard still exists within the kindergarten environment, if there are any changes to the actions and approaches you are taking related to each hazard and ensure that hazards that do exist in your environment are included on the Hazard Register. As seen below, you will see that on the bottom right hand corner of each hazard on your register (using the edit option), there is a place to add the date the hazard was reviewed and by who. All reviews will show up on the Hazard Register. 
If you have any questions please contact Lorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Promoting Your Kindergarten Are you wanting to build up your waiting list for next year? Chanelle will post this flier to the Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten facebook page next week where it will be available for your to share on your own kindergarten page. 
Handy Facebook Pages  Some people have asked Chanelle what facebook pages would be useful for kindergartens to be connected to. Here are a couple that she thinks would be good for you to "like". Kotahitanga – Bi- Culturalism in Education The kaupapa of this group is for kaiako to collaborate and share ideas about bi-cultural practice as a collective to benefit Maori learners.
With this goal in mind please use this platform to pose questions and share ideas with fellow Kaiako in this forum. Also remember to add your friends.
Please note that all members are at different stages of their learning journey and keep the tautoko positive. 
Follow your local council! It’s a great idea to follow your local council as they will be sharing local events and need to know information. 
Giveaway Day The next giveaway day is being held this Saturday, 15th September, at Nuanua Kindergarten. If you have any goods you wish to donate to this giveaway day we would appreciate them being dropped off at the office by tomorrow, Friday. Donated goods could include clothing, bedding, kitchen utensils, furniture and linen. We are always appreciative of the generosity of our kindergartens; their staff, families and community. Thank you.
Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori  To mark Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, we spoke to several Whānau Manaaki staff about their te reo journey. Ascot Park Kindergarten head teacher Nic Fitzgerald enrolled at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa to learn te reo Māori and says it’s been an awesome experience. She studied one night a week for two years, and completed Te Ara Reo Māori up to level four. Then she did an immersion programme for a year, involving ten weekends. She recommends the Wānanga. “Absolutely, it was amazing, I really enjoyed it.” Nic says while the immersion course was a big commitment, the weekly Te Ara Reo Māori classes were easily manageable. Nic says at kindergarten, she uses te reo as much as she can. “You just have to decide to do it.” Charlene Lim, now teaching at Brian Webb Kindergarten, also studied at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Charlene has recently moved from Newtown Kindergarten and she says it was the whole team deciding to use te reo regularly that made the difference. “Everyone was trying hard, accountable to each other, supporting each other.” Charlene says the children picked up on phrases that they use all the time, such as “āwhina mai” – (help, please) or “te wa whakapai” – (tidy up time.) When a teacher asked a child “kei te wera koe?” – they would often immediately remove a layer of clothing. She says the children also use terms like rangatiratanga and manaakitanga which are discussed regularly and the words are used by kaiako to acknowledge children’s positive behaviour. Charlene recommends using Māori-speaking whānau in the kindergarten community to check how language is used, because often spoken language is different than the grammatically correct sentences used in class. Tania Walsh, who is currently at Tairangi Kindergarten, also studied through the Wānanga. She says the Te Ara Reo Māori course was good for pronunciation and sentence structure, and she has built on these sentences using different vocabulary. She uses te reo every day - “it’s ingrained now”. She, too, recommends Te Wānanga o Aotearoa for giving her a good foundation. “Every teacher should do it.” Tania Braybrook, at the Whānau Manaaki office has a story that is all too common – her father was a fluent Māori speaker who was punished for speaking te reo so he did not encourage his children. Tania has tried several times to learn te reo Māori, but is now having success using an online course, Tōku Reo. It’s free, and things are explained well, and you can repeat anything when you need to. Tania says this method of learning suits her because it is flexible, and can be done anywhere and combined with other activities. Click here to go to the Tōku Reo site and click here to go to the Wānanga.
Hīkoi Whakanui I Te Reo Maori Thousands of ECE and school children, parents, organisations, businesses and government representatives blocked the main street through Lambton Quay on Monday to celebrate te reo Māori. This year's Māori language parade was bigger than ever, with choruses of waiata ringing out to the crowds watching, school kids performing haka, and hundreds of people carrying signs printed with this year's theme, Kia Kaha te Reo Māori. Our tamariki from Tai Tamariki Kindergarten took part in the hīkoi and watched the entertainment at Civic Square. 
RNZ Releases Podcast RNZ has released a podcast series called Kīwaha (give it a go) that includes key useful te reo phrases to use in everyday conversation at work, with colleagues or with children, at home, or with friends. They include: ka pai te tutaki ki a koe (lovely to meet you ) karawhuia (give it heaps) āmiki rawa tēnā (too much information) and kia manawa tītī (don’t give in ) Here is a link to see or hear the podcasts.
New Offer For Primary Teachers Primary teachers are to vote on a new pay offer which would give an increase of three per cent a year for three years. It would increase the starting salary for teacher to $49,419 this year, $50,902 next year and $52,429 in 2020. Teachers at the top of the scale (that is, most teachers) would get $82,992 by 2020. If teachers accept the new offer, it would be passed on to kindergarten teachers. The union NZEI Te Riu Roa is not recommending the offer, and some teachers and principals have been vocal in their opposition to it. This offer is actually lower than what was previously offered to beginning teachers, and prinicpals say starting salaries need to be higher to address the teacher shortage. The Ministry of Education has made no offer on a claim for a special needs co-ordinator for each school, and there are no initiatives to reduce class sizes or workloads in this offer. The union will release results of the ballot on September 25.
Rethinking Welfare Child Poverty Action Group hosted a national seminar about welfare reform this week, including detailed experiences from those living on benefits. The seminar comes as a taskforce is looking at the welfare system and what needs to change. It is expected to report in February. At the seminar, economists showed that while the benefit cuts of 1990 plunged many families into poverty, since then benefits have failed to keep pace with wages which have an even greater effect than those cuts. Beneficiary Debbie Leyland spoke about her difficulty getting medical treatment as even the bus fare was a hurdle, and of the humiliating experiences she had with Work and Income as she sought a loan to help pay for treatment she needed. Here’s a report on the seminar from RNZ, which starts with Auckland City Councillor Efeso Collins talking about the experiences his blind mother–in- law had at a WINZ office.
Victoria University EdD Information Evening Victoria University are hosting an information evening about their EdD programme on 25th September. The EdD is aimed at education professionals with a masters level degree who might be interested in doctoral studies but cannot really leave their work to study full time. They already have some of our colleagues in the programme and they thought there may be others in our Association who may be interested. If this sounds like something you might be interested in click here to read more.
OMEP Wellington Chapter AGM We look forward to seeing you at the OMEP Wellington Chapter AGM on Monday 17th September. Carmen Dalli is the guest speaker and the focus will be on the 10 Year strategic plan consultation document and process. We look forward to seeing you there. See more information by clicking through in the left hand column.
Foster Hope Assistance Last week representatives from the Foster Hope charity arrived at Tai Tamariki to pick up the packs that the kindergarten team and whānau had generously donated. Well done to all who made these donations. If you want to know more about the Foster Hope charity click here. 
Onslow Kindergarten Celebrates 40 Years On Sunday Onlsow Kindergarten celebrated their 40th birthday. There were over 300 past and present families, establishment committee, ex-teachers and supporters of the kindergarten community who came to help celebrate. Amanda Coulston, Cheif Executive of Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens and local MP Greg O'Connor both spoke at the event. It was a wonderful celebration for the team and children at Onslow as well as the many visitors. 
 
Owhiro Bay Kindergarten Win Scholarship  Owhiro Bay One Learning Community have been successful in winning a $5000 scholarship for 2019. The team at the kindergarten applied for this scholarship to provide sign language classes to all of the One Learning Community for the 2019 year. Well done team! If you want to know more about the Owhiro Bay One Learning Community that the kindergarten is part of you can check it out by clicking here.
This Week On Facebook  
Betty Montford were lucky enough to have one of their families bring along a brand new spring lamb! What a treat, many children were excited to get to pat a lamb for the first time. 
Brown Owl celebrated Tongan language week last week by making their own tapa cloths!
As well as learning new words, phrases and songs, they worked all week to make their own version of a special tapa cloth. The children loved exploring the traditional patterns and the tapa is now proudly hanging in their Kindergarten. Check it out! 
Seatoun children have been getting creative with their building blocks!
They have been keeping a photographic record of the buildings for the children to revisit. This has also helped with accidental knocks and tidying up the environment. From Una Williams page this week. Wairua written by H Thomson (2010) "Koro, what is wairua?" asked the child, eyes wide. "Wairua, my moko, is what gives us life Handed down to us from a time past At the moment of your beginning For I am your link with the past And you are the link with the future. The aroha of the whanau has wairua, And their words, their laughter, their tears The marae, tangi, waiata and whakapapa have a wairua that strengthens us, gives us pride. So too the sunrise and sunset, The soft summer rain, the raging storm, The song of the birds in the trees, The waves on the beach, The mist rising from the bush, The moonlight on the water, And the embracing darkness of the night. To sit quietly in the wharenui or the urupa And feel the presence of your Tipuna is to feel wairua. Your arms around my neck, your breath on my cheek Fills me with a special wairua. For there is wairua in all things that give meaning to life, To love and to the future. So moko, open your mind, Let your heart love, Your eyes see, Your ears hear, Your hands feel, Give of yourself, my moko, For in giving, you receive And the wairua grows."
For Sale Campbell Kindergarten have a table for sale. It is 117cm in diameter and 48cm high. A donation would be much appreciated. The table can be collected from Campbell Kindergarten, call 04 476 8809 or email them anytime for further information. 
To Give Away A friend of Cottle Kindergarten has this tunnel to give away. It has no sharp edges, and is 2.2 metres long. If you would like it for your kindergarten then contact Marguerite at Cottle, 04 528 3824. 
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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